<p>I’ve become quite the poster on these boards, whether I like it or not (I do) and my general impression is that there are a lot of prospective students and parents lurking on these boards who are just trying to get a taste of the school and what it might be like and are unable to visit the school.</p>
<p>So here I present a long list of reasons to love Chicago, according to unalove:</p>
<li> **The opportunity to be smart, the opportunity to feel stupid. ** I grew up in a wealthy, un-intellectual town, and went to ho-hum public schools. Later on, I transferred to one of the most competitive and academically demanding high schools in the nation. I didn’t fit in in either set of schools. Though the elite high school kids were “smarter” in the sense of SAT scores and classroom contributions, they were not motivated by anything that did not have a grade attached to it. At the end of the class period, they wanted to shut academics off entirely and talk about parties and gossip. I like parties and gossip as much as the next person, but I also like talking about Henry James and differential equations.</li>
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<p>At Chicago, I am not looked down upon for being “elitist” (i.e. introducing an academic subject outside of the realm of the classroom). If anything, I am continually astounded by the intelligence of the people I’m surrounded by. Like me, they see no reason to cover up the fact that they might be really, really into something and are okay with making a show of it. For some people, I imagine this academicking is uncomfortable and “snobbish.” For me, it’s the most wonderful thing there is. I wasn’t the top dog in my high school, though I often felt like it, and I’m far, far, far, far, far from top dog here. I love not feeling smart. The smartest people I know here do not feel smart here either, and that’s in part why both chose this school too. I’m not alone in not feeling smart. It’s rather lovely.</p>
<li><p>The opportunity to live in a different social setting. I knew that I didn’t want to live in ritzy retail-ville for college (I sort of live there at home), and I love Hyde Park for its socioeconomic and racial diversity. I come home to New York City and I think it’s white. (I live in the suburbs with M, too, where it’s only whiter). Hyde Park is not your Ann Arbor, it’s not your Evanston, it’s not your Cambridge. I like it that way.</p></li>
<li><p>** The core curriculum. ** Not only does it set the academic standard here quite high, but it is constantly being molded and re-molded. (Some criticize Columbia’s core for being too much a dead white guys course; while I don’t necessarily think DWG are bad to study, Chicago offers options that are non-DWG for those who want a different kind of core experience). Core provides an immense sense of intellectual communality, especially in the first and second years of college.</p></li>
<li><p>** The University’s wackiness, sense of humor, inclinations towards self-criticism. ** Nobody is more inclined to criticize this school than a current student, and while I myself don’t have that many criticisms (I can maybe start a thread on things I don’t like and I’ll see how far I can go with it), one can open up the Chicago Maroon and get a very good sense of what students point out as “wrongheaded” about their U of C. Perhaps the most encompassing slogan on these three things is the “Where Fun Comes to Die” shirts. It’s our perverse way of saying that we love this school, while criticizing it and being funny about it.</p></li>
<li><p>** Lack of a sports scene/ old boy network.** Though there are wonderful schools that have both, the idea of going to a “sweatshirt school” rather repulsed me. I did not want my mom or my dad or myself to feel like I was part of some obscene country club hierarchy because I attended a certain school. The U of C has a small alumni network of rabid devotees, and in terms of country clubness, let’s just say it shares facilities with the Penn Club in New York.</p></li>
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<p>I won’t deny that Chicago grads can do well for themselves based on a combination of their own achievements and the name of the school, but the post-graduation aspect of college seems radically de-emphasized compared to other schools, where it seems like you go to have access to an exclusive career network. </p>
<p>I think we lost to Carnegie Mellon at Homecoming earlier today. I didn’t stay for the end. I was just having fun being there, and being happy that my school spends money on other things. Our football “stadium” is a set of bleachers off on the side, with enough room for maybe 300 or 400 people. My high school was about the third the size of Chicago, had no good sports teams, but has more bleacher space than we do.</p>
<li><p>** A laissez-faire attitude on…. just about everything. ** It’s 10:30 on a Saturday night, and I’m taking this night to ponder and get ahead on midterms. Last night I stayed up very late and watched movies with some housemates. The weekend before I partied and went into downtown. I do not feel judged or categorized for what I do and don’t do. The same thing goes for the way I dress (which is to say: very simply). I feel connected to people who look, dress, talk, and think like me, and I feel connected to people who don’t. Occasionally I’ll come across somebody I don’t like that much, whom I get the feeling did not do well socially in high school, but who has been given space to be one’s self in college and has improved on that. I know a lot of people who were recluses and non-fits in high school come to blossom here—I think part of that comes from a sort of “we don’t care what you’re up to as long as you’re not killing people” attitude.</p></li>
<li><p>** The House system. ** You have a house. You have a house table. You have Resident Heads (superawesome and relatively young grad students/ employees). You will be meeting people in a structured way and you’ll always have people to order in Chinese food with. I can’t stress how amazing the house system is… far more than a dormitory or a floor, it’s a bona fide community, with a distinct membership, intramural sports teams, traditions, etc. Some houses are more hardcore into being a community than others (ex. Alper, Wick, Henderson, Dodd-Mead, Snell, Hitchcock, Breck), but a house is a house regardless. (A house is a subdivision of a dorm. For example, Pierce Tower is home to Henderson, Thompson, Shorey, and Tufts Houses-- students choose dorms, not houses, but I think they can special request a house).</p></li>
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<p>To be “fair and balanced”… a list of things I don’t like:</p>
<li><p>** We’re too selective for our own good. ** Most kids at the U of C were either pretty dead-set on attending in the first place or visited the school and realized it was right for them, a more “right” school than another school that might carry more prestige among a wider population. However, I feel like there are students who are right for the school and up for the academic challenge who are not getting in favor of students who are not right for the school but have the academic credentials. I have no idea how charitable our admissions office is in terms of turning down 800s for 600s and 35s for 27s, but I can imagine it’s not that easy, as the tide of admissions is against that.</p></li>
<li><p>** Some ethically shady financial dealings. ** Specifically, Darfur divestment (why can’t we just divest and be done with it?) and the conflict of interest regarding room/board/food quality and the fact that the CEO of Aramark food company is a trustee of the University who gave a very generous gift when a panel researched revamping food options at the U of C. That’s not to say that our food is bad (it’s actually quite good for college food), but that we are roped into certain things as a result of this Aramark connection. This is part of the reason why I imagine the room and board is inflexible and costly.</p></li>
<li><p>** A more centered communication site for activities and events. ** Yeah, we have lots of cool and crazy things going on, but unless you read every poster in Cobb and Bartlett, you’ll miss so much of it. I was unaware about Steven Levitt’s lecture and Robert Redford’s movie had friends not told me about them. I already subscribe to lots of University-related RSS feeds, but I get a lot of miscellaneous stuff on them. ORCSA’s (student organization organization) website is not that helpful, either.</p></li>
<li><p>** More secure commute options for students coming back from downtown alone at night. ** This is not really a concern when I’m with other people, but I’m not a big fan of the Garfield Red Line stop if I’m by myself at night. As in, I won’t do it. I might be alone on that one (and most of the time other University students are hanging out and waiting for the 55 too), but ech. I feel a little limited if I want to go and meet friends in the city—I’ll take the 6 bus or the Metra instead if I’m alone at night, as both stops are practically on campus, but less convenient.</p></li>
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<p>Is it just me, or did the 174 bus camp out at the Garfield Red Line stop last year?</p>
<p>Yeah, I think that’s all I can come up with.</p>