<p>When I visited Swarthmore College, one of the things that struck me was the feeling that a big part of campus life is multiculturalism and social issues. I remember when I looked at the bulletin board in the admissions building, it was full of fliers either promoting multiculturalism or talks about political and social issues. This was also reflected in the fact that pretty much all the clubs that gave 'specs' introductions were about multicultural/social issue organizations. </p>
<p>It seems like UChicago doesn't really have such a presence on the campus. It's not a bad thing, but I'm writing this because I'm trying to differentiate the student body of both schools. It seems like UChicago would be more about hardcore academics. What do you think?</p>
<p>Swat tends to have more of a "whole school" culture/attitude and Chicago is more a collection of individuals. Swat clubs each hold a an event for the entire school each year (or more?). I think the academic rigors/pressures are similar in that both are demanding of each student. </p>
<p>That was a feature that I observed during decision making in my house.</p>
<p>Swarthmore is a historically Quaker institution; both as an institutional matter, and in terms of the students it attracts, it is going to be much more upfront about multiculturalism and social issues. Also, although Swarthmore is very diverse for a LAC, its small size means that any particular identifiable group will be relatively small, and it takes more work to make certain that everyone feels accepted and supported.</p>
<p>While "political correctness" is hardly unknown at Chicago, among elite educational institutions the political center of gravity of its students and faculty is probably to the right of most of its peers, and I think the relative volume of PC-speak is somewhat less than at many other places. Plus, as noted above, the Core cannot help but being a little dead-white-male-centric. So even the nonwhite students that Chicago attracts are probably, as a group, more comfortable with seeing themselves as part of the mainstream of Western Culture than students from similar backgrounds at a place like Swarthmore. Please understand: I am talking relative weights, not absolutes.</p>
<p>Finally, the Chicago student body, including graduate and professional students, and the city of Chicago, are very, very culturally diverse. Swarthmore PA, when you take two steps off the campus, is not. And even Philadelphia is meaningfully less diverse than Chicago. So one would expect Swarthmore to have to do more to promote diversity.</p>
<p>(A few years ago, when I visited Wesleyan with one of my kids, the campus was plastered with flyers proclaiming that it was GBLT Arab and Arab-American Awareness Month. We wondered what was the ratio of any particular subset of that group -- say, transsexual non-American Arabs --, or even of all of them, to the number of days in their special month.)</p>
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Anyway, since we're discussing parties, how would you say the drug scene is at uchicago? I spoke to a girl from the school who said lots of people smoke pot, but that she had never heard of anyone doing anything 'hardcore.' Is that true? Is there really no typical college drug community (not counting coke, though)?
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The drug culture, outside of pot which is more commonplace, is present but quiet. I wouldn't be surprised about someone not hearing about it. The drug scene is small and insular, but it's probably about what you'd expect (i.e. coke, hallucinogenics, no heroin, pretty small on the party-drug front, etc.). PM me if you have any specific questions.</p>
<p>Just wanted to add to my post above that I'm not a big fan of drugs myself, so my knowledge is all from friends and my own observations, which may or may not reflect the campus community as a whole.</p>
<p>You can go to the WHPK website, look at their schedule, and know what University of Chicago students in general are NOT listening to. But it's a pretty authoritative guide to what the hipsters-who-hang-out-at-the-radio-station listen to (twee, noise, metal, prog, dancehall, jazz . . . not so much dance or R&B).</p>
<p>Well, we play the Smiths at our parties because our friends across the hall play Soulja Boy and Flo Rida at theirs. We make good bookends to each other, and often attend each others' parties (we have the champagne and Grand Marnier, they have the Bud Light).</p>
<p>I give you props for knowing who Morrisey is, though.</p>
<p>The only two kinds of music that I think the majority of UChicago students will agree upon is Regina Spektor and 90's music.</p>
<p>^ When people talk about the University of Chicago applicant pool being self-selecting, they mean that it's full of people who would write something like this. (Not necessarily a good thing.)</p>
<p>Glancing at unalove's LastFM link, I am reminded of one of the idiosyncratic requirements of being an educated person in Chicago: liking Wilco. Jeff Tweedy is sort of a tutelary god.</p>
<p>"^ When people talk about the University of Chicago applicant pool being self-selecting, they mean that it's full of people who would write something like this. (Not necessarily a good thing.)"</p>
<p>Err... sarcasm is difficult to convey online. Haha, I wasn't seriously comparing N Sync to Beethoven.</p>
<p>In addition, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is one of my favorite albums so far this decade. Let's be friends.</p>