Why have so many Chicagoans never heard of The University of Chicago? (Lincoln: transfer, high school)

[Frank the Tank]

Originally Posted by dcoolbro

I know it well because I was born at one of the University of Chicago hospitals. But UofI, UIC, and Northwestern seem to be the more well known schools in Chicago and where a large portion of Chicago area students go. University of Chicago is probably the least well known top tier school out there. The attendees are largely from the east coast. It's just not one of Illinois' flagship universities. But a great institution nonetheless. Go Illini!!!!

I think it depends on the crowd. For those in professional and academic fields such as business, law and medicine, U of C is extremely well-known and respected in the city and beyond. U of C also draws much of its student base from outside of the Chicago area (certainly compared to U of I and even when looking at Northwestern and Notre Dame), so as someone pointed out earlier, you don't see local high schools send contingents of graduates to Hyde Park. For those outside of the professional and academic ranks, U of C probably isn't on the radar much since it doesn't have D-1 sports and or the universal name recognition of places such as Harvard and Yale. That's a shame since U of C is an incredible asset for Chicago with how it churns out Nobel Prize winners in economics along with its leadership in the sciences. I'm not a U of C grad (Illini all the way), but it's an institution that's going to be key in keeping the Chicago region at the forefront of the 21st century global economy that's based on information technology and finance as opposed to manufacturing.

[ajolotl]

I just came across the U.S. News Best Universities in the World Poll. U of C is ranked 8th, behind only Harvard, Yale, Cal Tech and the four predictable British Universities. I agree that such polls are 80% stupid and meaningless, but it does indicate the strength of U of C's international reputation, something which I've noticed from working abroad a lot and telling people where I live in the U.S. I maintain that its international reputation exceeds its local reputation, which is at least a little curious and unusual.

World's Best Colleges and Universities: Top 200 - US News and World Report

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Manigault

To my experience, the institution is called "the University of Chicago". Not UC or U of C. I remember a professor at Cornell who thought it very snooty that his half-brother attended and called it "the University of Chicago". Well, that's its name.

Actually, the official name is "The University of Chicago" as in capital "T".

[PokerPlayer1]

It boggles the mind, how many people in Chicago haven't a clue about how insanely top-tier UC is.
I don't think I've ever encountered anyone who just totally hadn't ever heard of it all together, but I've encountered *multiple*people (otherwise bright types) who thought UC was something on par with a City College of Chicago, Chicago State University or UIC.

Isn't their law school consistently Top 3?

[surlycue]

Originally Posted by PokerPlayer1

It boggles the mind, how many people in Chicago haven't a clue about how insanely top-tier UC is.
I don't think I've ever encountered anyone who just totally hadn't ever heard of it all together, but I've encountered *multiple*people (otherwise bright types) who thought UC was something on par with a City College of Chicago, Chicago State University or UIC.

Isn't their law school consistently Top 3?

Their Econ is probably the leading school of thought for the "new American century" neo-cons.

[60-minutes-II]

Hmm, U of C's accomplishments is having more than 60 nobel price winners and having the most graduates who then went and became billionaires. Thats what sets U of C apart from the rest. But i don't think thats a big accomplishment. Its number one for its economic and history programs. But thats it.

[ajolotl]

No, that's not even close to it. Look into Mathematics, Physics, Law, Sociology, Business, Astrophysics, etc. etc and then repost. These are all among the best programs in the country.

Originally Posted by 60-minutes-II

Hmm, U of C's accomplishments is having more than 60 nobel price winners and having the most graduates who then went and became billionaires. Thats what sets U of C apart from the rest. But i don't think thats a big accomplishment. Its number one for its economic and history programs. But thats it.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

I don't think I've met a single soul who doesn't know about the University of Chicago! I don't know where you are meeting these people.

I agree, I've never talked to anyone in Chicago who hadn't heard of UC. It really doesn't come up often, but people certainly know what it is.

I'm going to assume the reason your average person on the street doesn't know much about it is because it doesn't have a major sports presence.

[mh7]

Originally Posted by 60-minutes-II

Right among the best but not the best. You repost later on, ok?

What are you talking about? There are few, if any, schools that have a larger collection of highly rated programs than U of C. The biggest problem the school has is that it essentially is sitting in the middle of a 3rd world country, which I'm sure limits some of its appeal when recruiting faculty & students. If it were not for that, its already extremely high academic rankings would almost certainly be even higher than they are.

[ajolotl]

I'll admit that my impression of this phenomenon is in part colored by my experiences in the 80s. I can guarantee you that at that time a sizable majority of people in the city didn't know where Hyde Park was and couldn't distinguish The University of Chicago from UIC. It wasn't just my experience -- everyone I knew in Hyde Park told stories about it daily. I agree that this in part was due to the impression that anything south of McCormick place was a war zone. The only people who seemed to know where Hyde Park was at the time were either very old and had fled in the 50s-60s or remember visiting the Museum of Sci and Technology at one point (and of course all of the people who read).

Hyde Park is more connected now with the rest of the city, Obama has put it even more on the map, etc. So it's probably more unusual to run into people with absolutely no knowledge of the area and university.

As PP said, though, it is common to not recognize its international prominence. When I work abroad average people know details about Fermi, Milton Friedman, what the best programs are, etc. I always found that weird.