<p>So how are the arts at UChicago? I absolutely love the academic feel of the school, but art has been a huge thing for me and I want to continue it in college. I've been dancing and drawing forever, I play a couple instruments, and act and sing a bit too. So yeah heh, does anyone know anything about the arts there? And if not at the school, if there are say dance or art studios nearby where I could take class ?</p>
<p>There's lots of cool stuff going on:</p>
<p><a href="http://arts.uchicago.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://arts.uchicago.edu/</a></p>
<p>Impressions based on my arts-focused child's reports:</p>
<p>It varies a lot art to art. </p>
<p>There seems to be a lot of students who have a serious interest in drama, and lots going on there, academically, official student productions, unofficial student productions, engagement with theater groups outside the university.</p>
<p>Visual art: a few classes, which are pretty good (and satisfy a Core requirement), but it's not a career focus for many students. Decent stuff happening around the university. Obviously, Chicago the city has amazing visual art.</p>
<p>Music: seems quite popular, lots of good amateur musicians, groups formal and informal to play in, good academic classes, practice rooms, etc. Again, Chicago the city is top-notch.</p>
<p>Dance: not so hot at the university. A fair number of people who danced in the past, but most of them are not dancing now, and on-campus classes are rudimentary. Chicago the city is decent for dance, but it's a shlep to get from campus to anywhere there's a good class.</p>
<p>Overall: Lots of kids like you -- fundamentally turned on by BOTH academics and the arts. But, compared to some comparable schools (ahem, most of the Ivies), there seems to be less going on at the university itself -- fewer productions, fewer organizations, fewer shows. Probably enough to keep you happy if art is a secondary interest, maybe not if it's what you want to do in life. The city of Chicago is a great, but expensive place to be if you are into the arts.</p>
<p>You should probably try to find and talk to a range of students with interests like yours to get a more nuanced picture. Also, there's a UChicago supplement to a free weekly publication called, I think, The Chicago Reader, and that tries to cover the arts at the university and on the south side generally a lot more than the Maroon does. So you might want to get your hands on some weeks' worth of that to get a better feel.</p>
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Lots of kids like you --fundamentally turned on by BOTH academics and the arts. But, compared to some comparable schools (ahem, most of the Ivies), there seems to be less going on at the university itself
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In addition to Chicago, you may want to consider Columbia. It's very close to Chicago in terms of academics/core curriculum, and it has plenty of arts offerings, including a thriving dance program at Barnard.</p>
<p>(Warblers is right, including about Barnard's dance program, but I think in general Columbia is probably the Ivy school MOST like Chicago in the sense of having LESS going on at the university itself than at the other Ivies, in part obviously because it's hard to compete with what's going on in the surrounding community. Columbia does have some joint-degree programs with Juilliard, though, and it's in NYC, so there are a few kids there who are bona fide performing arts stars. I don't think Chicago has seen any Julia Stiles equivalents recently.)</p>
<p>Ooh I'll definitely go check out Columbia then. I'm not planning on a career in dance or anything, but I'm thinking college is going to be one of the last places I'll get to do the dance and performing stuff. So yeah, a dance-y school would be great. :] The other arts at Chicago look pretty neat though.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses, everybody~!</p>
<p>I think you'd get your fill if you have an interest or even passion for the arts - as said, if you intend something to be the cornerstone of your college life then UC is probably less-suited for that.</p>