<p>Sam Lee implies that UChicago students have no social life while posting on CC at... 04-01-2006, 04:29 AM.</p>
<p>Mmmmhm.</p>
<p>Maybe it's just a time zone difference?</p>
<p>Entirely possible. I, however, am an insomniac. I shall go try to sleep now.</p>
<p>neverborn,</p>
<p>I didn't imply that. I said it's perceived by others as such. That's a world of difference. Two Fridays ago, I didn't feel like going to club after dinner with my few friends; I stayed home; watched TV while typing on CC. Yea, I was anti-social that night. Are you interested in my personal life? ;)</p>
<p>The never-ending debate continues. I think both schools just attract different people. Last year a girl named Rosie at my school went to u of c...she was one of those over-achievers, but still cool and very intellectual....and a guy from my school, Eric, went to NU...he was valedictorain along with Rosie and very intellectual only he partied with the swim team every week and had a social life...and i found it funny that these two people match the descriptions of the schools they are going to, so I think the descriptions hold some truth. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>Katharos - my interviewers had generally negative perceptions of the U of C. This is what I was told:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is going to grad school at the U of C and said "have you heard the things about the undergrad?" And went on to say, "grad school is a whole different story though."</p></li>
<li><p>Bad overnight experience: said his host took him home and went to work on a rocket leaving him in the dorm bored.</p></li>
<li><p>Another bad visitation experience.</p></li>
<li><p>Suicide stories.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>That's all I can remember. I'm sure the academics are great there, but you hear things, and it grows on you.</p>
<p>The only interaction I had with UC students was during a basketball match between the Hong Kong student associations of both schools. We won; the final score wasn't very close but it still looked to be a competitive game. But I found that their team was filled pretty much with Chinese Americans, not students from Hong Kong. LOL! I thought they were cheating; I was like "they didn't even have enough people that play basketball?" ;)</p>
<p>i got into NU and UofC and am choosing NU. I like UofC alot,academically of course but aesthetically as well, especially the campus architecture and beauty of the facilities; however, the campus LOCATION is not the greatest. I, being a paranoid mutha', hate having to follow stringent safety codes like not walking out at night by myself, or making sure to avoid certain areas in an overwhelmingly close vicinity to where i will be living. Cities and downtown slums associated with them are prevalent everywhere, but i'll let the city dwellers to the industrial work, the banking, the business, while i enjoy my afternoon in evanston by the lake, where i can walk whenever and with who ever i want at any time and not feel in danger of being mugged or even worse.</p>
<p>Don't bother with stats either, i know very few UofC students get into trouble like that- but it's not so much BEING mugged that scares me, its the FEAR that makes me uncomfortable.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong- this wasn't my only decision making factor, but it was a big one. UofC is a great school and i respect and admire everyone choosing to attend the school because it's a top notch academic institution; however, FOR ME, the suburbs, the trees, the flowers, the park benches, the gardens, and the LAKE! fit snugly. </p>
<p>Oh, and by the way, Northwestern is one of the world's best schools.</p>
<p>SASWombat, thanks for sharing for your personal experiences. :)</p>
<p>From what I have heard, the U. of C. undergrad experience is one of the most intense in the country. I have even heard this from a grad student at the U. of C. who attended Princeton for her undergrad; she was implying that the U. of C. was worse than what she had. </p>
<p>Grad school here tends to be tough but not the killer experience the undergrads have.</p>
<p>Princeton, along with Harvard and Yale is not known to have the most rigorous undergrad curriculum in the country (very few people complain about the workload at these respective schools); I think it's mainly their overall well-roundedness that makes them such great places. Academic-wise, I would agree that only a handful of student bodies at other schools can compare to the intensity that Chicago students experience as undergrads (maybe even MIT).</p>
<p>Here's a question: I don't endorse the USNews and World Report, but why is Northwestern ranked higher, as an academic institution, than UofC?</p>
<p>Because of the methodology they are currently using.</p>
<p>I thought so, but what makes it so that the methodology puts UofC lower?</p>
<p>The selectivity for one--chicago gets a narrower field of applicants for a fixed number of acceptances (and hence fewer people to reject) because of its uncommon essays. More people would apply if they could recycle their essays from other apps.</p>
<p>I'm choosing NU over UC because I felt like it gave me the best mix of a practical, business-oriented curriculum with traditional economic theory and liberal arts, as well as a good measure of social life and school spirit. While UC may be number one in econ, I feel like NU can capture excellent prestige in econ <em>and</em> business with kellogg's trickle down prestige.</p>
<p>RisingSun: I thought so, but what makes it so that the methodology puts UofC lower?</p>
<p>Note: Acceptance rate is only 1.5% of ranking.</p>
<p>Here is how US News compiles the score for NU vs. UC (higher ranking in CAPS):</p>
<p>25% Peer assessment..................................nu 4.4........UC 4.6
16% 6 yr grad rate......................................NU 92%......uc 87%
10% Financial resources rank........................NU 13.........uc 18
7.5% SAT scores........................................nu 1410......UC 1430
7% Faculty salary (Fac resource rank<em>)...........NU 5 (?).....UC 11 (?)
6% Top 10% class rank students...................NU 82%.....UC 82%
6% Class Size <20 (Fac resource rank</em>)..........NU 5 (73%).uc 11 (55%)
5% Graduation rate (actual - predicted).........NU -1%......uc -3%
5% Alumni giving.........................................NU 29%.....UC 29%
4% Freshman retention................................NU 93%.....uc 90%
3% Prof w/ highest degree(Fac resource rank<em>).NU 5 (?)....UC 11 (?)
2% Class Size >50 (Fac resource rank</em>)..........nu 5 (8%)..UC 11 (6%)
1.5% Acceptance rate.................................NU 30%......uc 40%
1% Student-faculty ratio (Fac resource rank<em>).nu 5 (7/1)...UC 11 (4/1)
1% Full time faculty % (Fac resource rank</em>).....nu 5 (93%).UC 11 (95%)</p>
<p>*Faculty resource rank is sum of all 6 related factors (20% total) with no specific values given for Faculty salary and Professors with highest degrees</p>
<p>chicago >>>> northwestern. its just a fact</p>
<p>That is one fact I did not know. Guess you learn something new everyday...</p>
<p>I don't think any of us really understands US News methodology in the sense that no one can reproduce the result just by reading it, not as far as I know. I don't think they tell us how exactly the final scores are calculated.</p>
<p>I'm choosing NU because it has a great bio-med engineering program, but I also U of Chicago's pre-med program and they have excellant research opportunities...but I'll wait for med school. Should you write a letter to the schools you don't choose?
U of chicago
USC
Emory
U of Virginia
UT Honors
Ohio State Honors
Baylor Honors</p>
<p>US News methodology: Evidently all the statistics have to be converted to sub-rankings, they do provide a few of them. And then the best schools overall average is assigned '100' and everyone follows as a percentage of that to determine the final overall ranking. But it is true, they don't provide easy plug in sub-rankings for others to easily compute them.</p>