<p>Do professors teach classes (even freshman level)? How often do TA's teach? Are professors available to undergrads?
Thanks.</p>
<p>I can’t answer the first two questions, but I can do the third. Yesterday evening, right around midnight, I emailed 5 professors (including three nobel prize winners) asking if they had space for a volunteer freshman research assistant. By noon today, I had one volunteer job offer and four PAID RA spots, including one that wanted me to start this summer.</p>
<p>So no, I don’t think professor access is a problem.</p>
<p>Professors teach almost every class. Some exceptional graduate students might teach some math classes. Most classes have one or two TA’s in addition to the professor. The professor will teach the main class. The TA’s might lead the on-the-side writing seminars or seminars. But generally, expect professors to teach most classes. The faculty to student ratio is fantastic compared to other schools. </p>
<p>And yes, professors have open office hours and many love it when undergrads pay them a visit. A great atmosphere!</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies!</p>
<p>Any current UC students or parents want to respond?</p>
<p>Although this thread focuses on professor-student interactions, I’m curious as to what constitutes the “typical” TA in U Chicago. Are these mostly grad students or is it also common for upperclassmen undergrads to be TA’s? I’m asking because a friend of mine at a well regarded university (top 30 in US News) was offered the opportunity to be TA at one of the most rigorous introductory science classes. He just finished his first year at that college.</p>
<p>Bump. Bump.</p>
<p>My son considers easy access to faculty one of the top advantages of going to U Chicago.</p>
<p>When he thought he could only audit an advanced course because he did not take a sequence of two pre-requite courses, the faculty spent an afternoon tutoring him, and waved the requirements. He took the course, got an A. </p>
<p>His papers are returned to him often with comments longer than his original content (comments by the faculty, NOT TA’s) - and no it’s not because his work was shoddy: he got As on these papers.</p>
<p>Any time he wants to talk to faculty, no problem. Several times, he said, he went to visit a faculty with an intention of spending 30 minutes. The professors went on and on. Ended up being there for 1.5 hour and late for his other meetings :)</p>
<p>While he was living in the dorm, he struck a particularly close relationship with a faculty who was residing in the dorm as a residential master. He spent hours and hours well in to the wee hours discussing all matters academic or not. He said, he truly learned how to read and write from this faculty (and, he was an avid reader and a terrific writer to begin with). He considers “talking to XXX” course 
to be worth half of his tuition.</p>
<p>I don’t know whether his experience is an aberration or a routine. I am just reporting his experience. your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>I have never heard of an undergraduate TA at Chicago, although I suppose it could happen for some of the lowest-level math and econ courses, where the demand for TAs might outstrip the availability of grad students, and there is an abundance of undergraduates who are effectively taking a grad school curriculum.</p>
<p>Where undergraduate TAs are really common is at LACs and smaller universities where there aren’t enough grad students on campus (as opposed to writing their dissertations) to staff the courses.</p>
<p>By the way, neither of my kids ever had any problem with faculty access. One kid was in a large department that wasn’t especially chummy. She had access to faculty, but actually preferred her relationships with a few grad students, whom she liked a lot more than the faculty members. The other kid was in a medium-size department that seemed very close, and he had meaningful relationships with 5-6 faculty members, including working with or for them on various projects.</p>
<p>I know that there are undergrad TAs for the 130s math sequence, and possibly one or more of the similar intro science sequences. However, the 130s, easiest of three intro calc sequences, is far from rigorous. I don’t know of any other cases of undergrad TAs at the U of C, but I do know that most TAs are advanced graduate students who are more than capable of fulfilling their role.</p>