<p>I asked S1 about this and he said in an odd way the less socially adept students seem to be out and about more at Chicago, and are a little less inhibited about those "Marx" discussions then he found at the Ivy he attended. He said they were there, but one didn't actually see much of them outside of the dorm. At Chicago, he said, they may be more accepted for who they are. S1 and his friends are gregarious, outgoing, athletic, funny, and make full use of the city and travel. They even go to warm places filled with other college kids on Spring break (though the quarter system is somewhat limiting).</p>
<p>He did have one good story. He was helping to plan an event and the issue of whether to invite some guys from another organization to a party came up. S1 said he looked around the room and said, "We better invite them, we don't want to have more women at the party than social skills."</p>
<p>I would not consider kids here "socially immature," at least, not any more or less socially immature than any other sample of 18-22 year olds you could find anywhere. But I think you and I have different opinions on what it means to be socially mature.</p>
<p>It seems like for you, people should want to be "normal" (defining "normal" as within the football-beer-girls trinity) and those who don't find themselves fitting into that system are just those who haven't had the guts to make it there. </p>
<p>I think it's important to point out that some people just won't like parties all that much. Some will start off bitter towards parties and will warm up to the idea of going to parties once they find a group of people they like and feel comfortable with it. Maybe this is why I say sometimes it's better to be around second years... they are more likely to have found their center of gravity.</p>
<p>(I also think it's wonderful that fourth-years are open-ended career-wise. Sure, by June I'd be a little worried if they didn't know what how they were going to make money for July.... but to be perfectly honest, I don't think you can say with clarity that you want to do something or be something until you get your feet wet and see what's out there).</p>
<p>But getting back to social immaturity, my idea of social immaturity are those who are knowingly or unknowingly inconsiderate of others. In my mind, this includes everything from talking too much to wearing lots of expensive designer clothing. So I don't associate tendency to socialize with social maturity at all.</p>
<p>Just wanted to chime in and say that as a girl-who-likes-girls, I'm actually struck by how many attractive ladies I see here on a day to day basis. But I also accept that my taste is quite different from the "average" college male's. I mean, Rachel Maddow is basically the love of my life.</p>
<p>I've had a variety of experiences with social life here at the UChicago, despite my own lack of social skills or extroversion. There are your bloviating eggheads and your taciturn fourth-years and your fashionistas and hipsters and first years who are overdoing it and Latin students who wear $500 glasses and spend their summers in France and your two-inches-of-leg-hair-visible-between-pant-cuff-and-sock math majors, as well as the occasional normal human being. I find that for myself, it is a pretty good mix. I feel comfortable being awkward. And as a representative member, I know that I don't keep the attention of many popular frat-type guys, so I'd actually agree with cory in his evaluation.</p>
<p>Most interestingly, I've found that the most typically social and outgoing people at this school are here with me in Stony Island, the upperclassman/transfer dorm. Almost everyone I know from Transfer O-Week is yards ahead of the population average for normalcy. Maybe one or two maladjusted geeks here with me. Again, my standards are skewed, but I really do see a particular personality sticking out from among the four-year student body, and I was prepared to accept that this was a UChicago myth before I arrived. Nope, it's true.</p>
<p>On the subject of busy-ness, I'm taking two writing intensive core classes, an honors math/science course, and a beginner language course. In the last two weeks, there have been several occasions on which I've wanted to tear my hair out. But, I've been consistently making grades that I've been very satisfied with. So, the workload is heavy, but I feel like my work is paying off by objective standards--not like it's being sucked down a black hole like I heard rumor would happen before I enrolled here. If I were satisfied with B's, I'd be working a lot less than I am. But I'm by nature pretty committed to doing the best I can on any given academic project, simply because it satisfies me. A more well-rounded person probably gets very good grades without sacrificing as much time as I do. It's really up to each person how they manage their work and life.</p>
<p>Anyhow, I'm just rambling since I've got reading to do and I'm feeling a little burnt out by the end of... fifth? sixth week? I can't believe I don't know what week it is. I'm going to try to actually sleep this weekend.</p>
<p>Regarding parties and girls, if you want either in the more conventional college sense, go to bar night. Or hang out with the Ultimate teams, if you want all of that with self-respect. It's really not that hard to find people that look nice and care about their appearance. Likewise, it's easy to avoid the uncomfortably awkward people if you put in a little effort. I personally didn't feel fully integrated until last week, and I'm a socially-able, hygienic and considerately-dressed mathematics major. (Take that, stereotypes!) But now I'm perfectly content as far as socialising goes.</p>
<p>As for the housing system, your experience clearly depends on your house. I'm in Hitchcock, and it's great. One point I'd like to emphasise is that the housing selection is not random. I would encourage future students to put as much illuminating information on their housing form as possible. In recent years housing has been trying to match people with houses from a social standpoint. They're trying to create house personality, and also sometimes mix things up. That having been said, mistakes are made. If worst comes to worst, you could switch to a better house, or move into an apartment next year.</p>
<p>Also, your class schedule is on the easier end. That's not a bad thing! But if you get into quantitative social science, or once you take a proper mathematics or science course here, you'll see there's truth to some of your peers' complaints. On the other hand, you're right in saying it's not terribly hard to do well in your Hum class if you have a good background in close reading and academic writing. And of course a decent work ethic. The point of at least the first quarter of Hum is to get everyone on the same page skills-wise.</p>
<p>Question for the OP: which house are you in? You might try expanding your social sphere outside of your house, if you haven't already.</p>
<p>J'adoube, I am from a very small town, and I definitely feel a little weird in this environment. Not because the city itself scares me, but because in general my background is so different from almost everyone else that I've met. I've heard that there isn't as much class consciousness here as at other top schools, but I still feel very aware that I come from much less money than most people I meet on a day to day basis. It is a little alienating, but I'm starting to find where I fit in to an extent.</p>