<p>How bike-friendly is Hyde Park and the University itself?</p>
<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I have a question about clubs at UChicago. I am a very passionate Speech and Debater and I was wondering whether UChicago had an established “debate” club, and what kind of tournaments did the club participate in. </p>
<p>Thank you for your help!</p>
<p>^Have a look at the Chicago Debate Society :)</p>
<p>Hello! I’m on the waitlist, and while I know that getting accepted off of it is rare, I’m hoping that it will happen to me. That said, do you know what happens with waitlisted students and financial aid? I would need a lot of aid to attend UChicago, but if I got off the waitlist, would all the financial aid be gone?</p>
<p>Hi, I was wondering if there was an orchestra at UChicago I could audition for without majoring in music?</p>
<p>how do fraternities work at UChicago? When is rush week and do the kids actually live in the fraternity houses? thx!</p>
<p>@lizdarcy: we are committed to meet 100% of demonstrated need for all students; should you be admitted off of the waitlist, your aid package would be the same as a package you would have received had your been accepted outright during the RD round.</p>
<p>@alexislee88: yes, definitely! We have two main orchestras on campus, the University Chamber Orchestra and the University Symphony Orchestra, both of which take students who are not music majors. In fact, although the groups perform great works and have high-quality performances and great conducting staff, the majority of students who participate in these ensembles are not music majors or minors- just people who want to be able to participate in music alongside their other academic pursuits.</p>
<p>hsmomstef, check out this other thread about fraternities at UChicago: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/830376-fraternities.html?highlight=fraternities[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/830376-fraternities.html?highlight=fraternities</a></p>
<p>Hopefully that will answer all of your questions but if not, don’t hesitate to ask more questions on this thread.</p>
<p>Is it true that the U of Chicago almost never gives good grades…therefore making it almost impossible for students to graduate in four years?? 
My sister was seriously considering this school until she heard this…</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear there are opportunities for non-music majors to continue playing if they want to! But my question is, if I want to do a varsity sport, would it be pretty much impossible to also do other activities like music (or any other student organizations) as well?</p>
<p>How competitive is the Law, Letters, and Society major? I know only 25 students are accepted, but roughly how many apply?</p>
<p>busy123, where in the world did you get that idea? U. of Chicago has a much higher graduation rate than most colleges: [Colleges</a> and Universities with Highest Graduation Rates](<a href=“http://www.collegeatlas.org/highest-graduation.html]Colleges”>Colleges and Universities with Highest Graduation Rates) It’s 86%.</p>
<p>@RynoWeiss- I’m sorry but I don’t know how to answer your questions on Law Letters and Society more specifically; here is the information about the major, including contact information for the program secretary, who may better be able to answer. [Courses</a> & Programs of Study](<a href=“http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/programs/llso.shtml]Courses”>http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/programs/llso.shtml)</p>
<p>@imbri3: Varsity sports do take up quite a bit of time, but students who participate can also engage in other activities. You will want to make sure that practices/meetings for other groups don’t conflict with practices or away games, but you can always make it work- for example, we have a PSAC board member who is also a varsity swimmer, and the president of my house is a varsity football player. While, of course, you may have some tricky times scheduling yourself when your sport is in season, varsity athletes are more than welcome to participate in other activities on campus.</p>
<p>@busy123- I echo MathMom in this… while the University of Chicago is known for rigorous grading, and it may be very difficult to come out with all A’s, our graduation rate is high. Failing grades are rarely (if ever) given, and professors do a lot to reach out to students who are struggling to make sure they can complete the class in terms of availability during office hours for extra help, extensions on papers, allowances for family circumstances requiring travel, and granting an incomplete/withholding a grade even for several quarters until a student can complete the required material.</p>
<p>I’m parent. With the quarter system, do they put a whole regular semester worth of week in 1 quarter, or is it somewhat adjusted for the shorter time period?</p>
<p>Typically for the sciences it is assumed 3 quarters = 2 semisters = 1 year of credit, …in say chemistry. It becomes a little less clear for those interdisciplinary & Core courses. S1 compared his work load to friends at some peer schools and often found that 1 quarter = 1 semester. But, he was quick to add a quarter at Chicago is less than a semester at Chicago would be. Also, students typically take fewer courses per quarter than are taken per semester. Usually it is 3-4 courses per quarter, and 5-6 semester. (Though at Chicago class time is set by the prof, not by a credit hour system.)</p>
<p>busy123: from other threads I’ve seen that Dean’s List is around 3.2 and that more than 50% of the graduates achieve it.</p>
<p>I question idad’s numbers. Has anyone looked into it? I think that most quarter schools think that 3 classes is the norm, with Chicago’s 3-4 being a little more intense. And I think most semester schools suggest 4-5 rather than 5-6. But before I go looking, I wonder whether anyone else has already made the comparisons.</p>
<p>S2 is attending Tulane this fall and was told 5 courses a semester was the minimum to graduate in 4 years, many kids take more. Dartmouth, I believe, does require fewer courses than Chicago, 35 courses rather than 42. Students at the University of Washington take 3 or 4 courses a quarter, at Stanford it is a little more complicated. Students must take a minimum of 12 units a quarter, a course may be 3, 4, or 5 units.</p>
<p>Most semester schools use the credit-hour system. Tulane is extremely typical in that they require 120 credit-hours to graduate, and over 8 semesters that is 15 hours a semester. Most courses are 3 hour courses, hence the 5 courses per semester. Ofter introductory language courses, science courses with labs and a few others are 4 hour courses, and there is the occassional 5 hour course. Most students will take enough of these 4 hour courses over the first 2 years that they can sometimes relax a semester and take 12 hours instead, especially senior year when they might be heavily involved in research and/or writing a thesis. Anyway, that is where the 5 course per semester average comes from. Naturally, any credits a student may have from AP help lighten that load as well as provide more flexibility.</p>