This is fun, I wish the notebook had a hand drawn picture of a Stargate in it :-) (I know I know, don't cross your franchises, always thought it would be an interesting in an Aliens Vs Predators sort of way to squeeze out another movie).
That this has happened now though, at a time when my college age daughter is being deluged with colleges trying to get her attention, suggests to me an attempt at a viral campaign by the admissions department to raise UChicago on the radar of prospective students.
I kind of doubt the econ department of UChicago needs this kind of advertisement. It's probably the most famous in the world. They have the record for econ Nobel prizes as a university. If I had to take a guess, they are probably overwhelmed by applications rather than lacking some.
Agreed, but think about what you just said, "record for econ Nobel prizes." So how many 18 yr olds look up which institution has produced the most Nobel winners? I'm not saying that is zero, I'm just saying that its a great follow up fact but not a good discovery fact. I think we've seen about 300 post cards and letters over the last 12 months starting with the PSAT results getting recorded.
I wonder if there isn't a startup idea like developer auction called "Student Auction"[1] where kids can list their qualifications, interests, and grades and have these universities bid on them with scholarships, etc.
Anyway, I don't doubt we'll get down to the bottom of the mystery, I like the idea. But I also liked the first 'hire me <foo>' web site idea too, would hate to see it get over meme'd.
[1] I'd probably call it 'Scholar Discovery' the business model would be that its free for college seeking students to sign up, has a monthly college based fee, privacy between student and university is assured, but current offers (sanitized) could be shared to show the recruiters what they are up against.
That this has happened now though, at a time when my college age daughter is being deluged with colleges trying to get her attention, suggests to me an attempt at a viral campaign by the admissions department to raise UChicago on the radar of prospective students.