<p>The University of Chicago might be surrounded by the ghetto, but I assure you that the ghetto is pretty far away. No students ever go there anyway. Students here stay on campus, go across the Midway (which is decently safe. I walk 15 min, to my part-time job over there and have never had any problems. In fact, there are dorms over there, and the new freshman dorm will be put up there as well.), and take the bus or train to the Loop and North Side. Safety is really a non-issue, at least for those who have seen the neighborhood for themselves.</p>
<p>I live in Hyde Park, and I feel pretty safe. Sure, peoplehave been held up, and there have been burglaries, but such is life in one of the biggest cities in the country.</p>
<p>The University of Chicago is definitely a respectable institution, but I think there's room for a greater variety of personalities at Northwestern. I've grown up in Southern California and up to June UCLA was my top-choice, but I found myself making some compromises. And when I looked at Northwestern after I had my new grades, it just kept opening up to me, and it's definitely THE perfect university for me. However, U of C probably has some students who thought the same of it. Personally, I wanted a school that was small with a nice campus, with access to a big city rather than being in the midst of it. Which makes Northwestern perfect. Also, about a fourth of each incoming class are those who applied Early Decision, like myself, which is great because you know those are people who were sure that they really want to be there. And of course as a prospective theatre major, it would be amazing to attend a school with such a great example of graduate success in that field and to have the Northwestern Mafia on your side, of course. So definitely, with that and the personalities that can thrive there, it's Northwestern for me!</p>
<p>Just be aware: the difference between North and South campus cultures is extreme, and it for those who have elements of both cultures within themselves (such as myself) it becomes extremely difficult to pursue all your interests.</p>
<p>That's right, I've heard about this. But it's never been really clarified. I've heard that North campus is more modern/tech/math/sci/etc. and South is more classic/arts/soc. sci/ humanities/etc. So far that seems fine, but the whole thing about people barely "crossing over" kind of confuses me because the campus is so small. Could you offer some insight?</p>
<p>Pegahpz, I'm an alumni so take this with a grain of salt, but I didn't find the big divide between N and S campus that Arbiter refers to. The campus is small enough that everything is within 10 mins walking distance. It's more convenient to live down south if you are in theater / humanities and more convenient to live up north if you are in Tech, but plenty of sorority girls live down south and are in Tech, plenty of fraternity guys live up north and are in humanities ... I just never saw this big divide. FWIW.</p>
<p>I'm a current student, so take what I have to say with a half grain of salt: While the academic interest divide may be (and is) inconsequential across north and south, the cultural divide is substantial. I got my last choice for housing (though all were south campus) and ended up in a small south campus residential college. The environment is quiet, quiet, QUIET. This can be nice, and the people are really fun, and some like to party now and then. However, for most people on south campus who do party at all, its an entirely different sort of thing: I enjoy going to frats, but I have to go with my friends from north campus, because the vast majority of south campus kids won't. The differences are more relevant in terms of leisure time than in terms of academics. And while I love South Campus' culture, it'd be nice to have a somewhat less polarized atmosphere.</p>
<p>P.S.- 1 mile isn't that long, but its long enough to be a pain in the ass, especially if you end up making the trip 4-8 times a day.</p>
<p>I spent last year in a small dorm on south and this year I'm in a big dorm on south. Last year was quiet, quiet, quiet. This year is pretty exciting. We aren't that close to the fraternity quad, but plenty of fun things go on in big dorms, because people are always around and doors are usually open.
Some dorms on north (Slivka, CCI, Foster House) are also very quiet. THe north-south divide is primarily based on major (engineers up north, humanities down south). I think it's unfair to extend the analogy any further. Big dorms are social. Small dorms are more tranquil. I'm not sure there really is any more to it.</p>
<p>The second video is sad yet hysterical. I've seen the video before :-)</p>
<p>The first one doesn't have enough context to it to really understand what's going on.</p>
<p>That said, I've never really felt unsafe in Hyde Park, but I do take safety precautions. I don't travel with valuables on me, I walk on well-lit routes, and if it's late, I take a shuttle. The U of C is such an amazing school, and it's been so great for me-- that I'm living in an urban environment and need to be aware of my surroundings is par for the course.</p>
<p>All of the people I know who have been mugged have been rather careless about their surroundings... a combination being on deserted, poorly lit streets, being alone, being drunk, being out after 11pm.</p>
<p>Speaking of cool UChicago youtube videos, these are from last year's Scav Hunt:</p>
<p>Ed1229 "YouTube - University of Chicago: Best University"</p>
<p>Nice to see Chicago having two of the best Universities in the US. Northwestern similarly was the Princeton Review's choice for "best academic experience" five years ago.</p>
<p>I visited both U of C and NW. I liked NW better because the campus was more "new" which is more of my preference. U of C's campus reminded me very much of Hogwarts when I went. I didn't like that old gothic feel.</p>
<p>Wow, I had no idea how similar the libraries look. I clicked on the U of C one without reading the name and thought, "Hmm, that's the NU library all right, but I can't figure out the angle from which it was shot"! It's the neo-Brutalist school of architecture. Glad it's limited to the libraries.</p>
<p>U of C and NU share a little bit more than just similarities in libraries, though. Some faculty have ping-ponged back and forth between the two schools, and undergrads at one will often do grad at another (should I ever want to go to grad school, NU offers what I would want; Chicago doesn't).</p>
<p>And even though the schools are indeed quite different from each other, it's entirely conceivable that the same student finds that both schools appeal to them in different ways. NU appealed to me when I was a high school student because I liked the big school feel combined with the performing arts flavor-- when I visited, NU kids seemed happy and very well-adjusted, with a bit of a geeky feel tossed in. U of C students seemed to me to be more introverted and more intense about learning, but not any less happy or friendly. Considering that I'm introverted and intense about learning, I felt I would fit in better at the U of C.</p>
<p>I agree with you, Unalove. I loved my NU experience but I could have equally loved U of C, I'm sure. And I think there are plenty of kids at both schools who would have or could have liked the other one. I hate how it gets set up as a rivalry between the two schools or a "which is better" game. NU is a bit more a "typical" college experience (with the Big Ten athletics and the performing arts and the Greek system) and U of C is a little bit more offbeat (deliberately) but they're both great schools and you really can't go wrong attending either one.</p>
<p>FYI, if, say, U of C is courting a professor from another school, and the professor has a spouse also in academia and U of C doesn't have an opening for the spouse's position, they will work with NU to see if NU will employ the spouse so that the couple can move. And vice versa. At the top levels, I think there is much mutual respect and cooperation between the two colleges.</p>
