City: Chicago, IL

Category: Education

Telephone: (773) 702-1234

Address: 5801 S. Ellis Ave.

Description: The digits at this Hyde Park university are impressive: More than 154,000 alumni worldwide; 85 Nobel Prize recipients, 13 of them faculty; 24 Pulitzer Prize winners; research that has led to more than 3,300 patents filed since 1987; and 211 acres that were designated a botanic garden in 1997. The University of Chicago sure has plenty of fame to its name—and add to all those numbers the fact that President Barack Obama taught here for 12 years as senior lecturer at the law school. Since its founding in 1890 by the American Baptist Education Society (it’s a nonsectarian school) and John D. Rockefeller, UChicago (previously referred to as U of C) has always emphasized academics, class discussion (over lectures), research, and strong interdisciplinary studies. In other words, although the original buildings are a traditional throwback with their gargoyle-decked English Gothic–style architecture, the superior education that takes place inside them is innovative, challenging, world-changing, and sometimes controversial. The same academic standards that started the school continue on for today’s 5,252 undergrads and more than 10,000 graduate, professional, and other students. The school offers 49 undergraduate majors and has four graduate divisions and six graduate professional schools, all tops in their categories. Modern architectural additions to the sprawling campus have included the Chicago Booth School of Business (in 1943, the university created the first executive MBA program); the futuristic Helmut Jahn–designed library; the Reva and David Logan Center for Creative and Performing Arts; and the Ratner Athletics Center, a 150,000-square-foot facility designed by Cesar Pelli, which is, among other things, the home of several of the school’s 19 intercollegiate NCAA Division III teams.