On the quads

So long, Telnet
This May the University will discontinue its nonsecure Telnet/Pine e-mail system. The move dismays many fourth-years and recent graduates who like the Unix system's old-fashioned text-only interface. An alternative is Webmail, the online graphic system to which most first- and second-years already gravitate. Networking Services CIO Gregory Jackson cites evolving preferences as reason for the change: most high-school students nowadays use Hotmail, Yahoo!, AOL, and other Web-based e-mail systems. "As go habits in high school," he says, "so go the preferences of first-years, and in due course all students."

A scholarly equation
William Lopes, a fourth-year math and physics concentrator and nationally ranked chess player, has received a Churchill Scholarship. The award pays one year's tuition and living expenses at Churchill College, Cambridge, where he will complete the equivalent of a master's in math. After the year at Cambridge, Lopes plans to pursue a mathematics Ph.D.

Applications at all-time high
This year's College applicant pool was the biggest ever. A total of 8,179 students applied, a 10 percent increase over last year. The biggest gains, 20 percent each, came from Illinois and from the West Coast. Applications from African Americans increased 30 percent and Hispanic/Latino students 38 percent. Among this year's 2,439 early applicants the percentage of students in the top 5 percent of their class was higher than ever: 73.1 percent, up from last year's 71.3 percent.

News from the meritocracy
With 173 National Merit Scholars in the Class of 2005, Chicago ranks fifth among college and universities enrolling Scholars. That's up from ninth in fall 2000, with 139 Scholars. In 1998, 84 enrolled, for a rank of 21st.