<p>i visited a week ago. obviously i'm not qualified to judge a school after spending just 5 hours there, but it came off as really, really academically hardcore.</p>
<p>in brown the admissions officers talked about how there were no Ds and failing a course meant it wouldn't go on your transcript. i think it was columbia that gave students fridays off. yale was like, look at how amazing and beautiful and prestigious we are. chicago was like, we have a quarter system, AND a core, AND distribution reqs so you can take lots of classes and learn lots of things.</p>
<p>even my tour guide had to be reminded to talk about something other than academics. seriously, she went on and on about double-majoring, and how sometimes students were really proud of getting Bs. </p>
<p>so did i get the wrong impression? or is uchicago just that intense?</p>
<p>From the perspective of looking at all of those colleges over 40 years or so, I can tell you:</p>
<p>(a) They are much more similar than they are different, and much more similar than the impressions you got from the tour. They are ALL about academics. They are ALL beautiful and prestigious. People don't fail a lot of courses at any of them. If you have Friday "off", you still do something with it, and if you have a class on Friday there are still parties Thursday night.</p>
<p>(b) But the differences in presentation reflect some real differences in attitude and nuance. By and large, Chicago students seem to be proud of the energy they put into their coursework, even when they complain about it. My older kid is hardly "all work, no play" -- far from it -- but when she toured Brown and got the same vibe you did, her reaction was that people seemed anti-intellectual, and that turned her off. I think she was a little wrong about that, but there will probably be more people at Chicago who had that reaction about Brown than there are at Brown.</p>
<p>There's no real way to parce the difference between Chicago and the other schools you visited accurately.</p>
<p>(I was thinking of a statistic that involved the median and standard deviation of how many hours students spend a week on academics).</p>
<p>What I think you pushed upon tends to be pretty much universal here-- that Chicago students tend to be very academic and very academically driven, and I would argue even moreso than the students I know who attend other Ivies, who tend to be very smart and very academically capable but not necessarily academically passionate. (That's just my very limited impression, btw, but it's an impression that stuck with me and encouraged me to choose Chicago).</p>
<p>However, I think JHS is right on that few students work as often as they complain they do. The ones who are actually working hard are the ones who don't have time to complain (and watch Heroes... and make a detour to Bart Mart or Harold's Chicken...) Hey, if you complain enough, you might be inspired write a new t-shirt slogan about how hard the school is!</p>
<p>I've found my course experience so far (through all of core and half of my major) to be at a gallop, but not at a run. What I find incredible above all here is the intelligence of my peers, how non-academic conversations sometimes become academic conversations, and how the smartest girl in my class did the readings line by line, highlighting all the way, and still had time for Bar Night on Wednesdays.</p>
<p>(The other caveat to how hard you'll be working is what major you decide to pursue... I'm in one of the easiest majors here).</p>
<p>One more thing I'd like to add to my original post:</p>
<p>I'm probably in the bottom fifth or quarter of my class, on pure intelligence. Considering that the school has gotten significantly more selective from the time I was admitted, I doubt I'd be re-admitted if I were applying this year. So that I'm in a "gallop" in an easier major and that I'm doing well, but not very well makes a little more sense. And it's very likely that if you are admitted, you will find the academics here easier than I do.</p>
<p>I think the biggest difference is that UofC students take pride in their love of learning. After all, it can be a lot of work, although even at UofC there are slacker (OK, maybe slacker-likie) tracks. </p>
<p>It takes a lot of work to excel at UofC, of course. Same thing at Yale. Same thing at Harvard. And as the parent of one of those that really did excel, I can tell you it was not all work and no play. Far from it. Were there weekends in Reg? Of course - because the previous weekends (maybe even weekdays) were non-study.</p>
<p>But, if the intensity you saw scares you, you might want to think more about your choices. Campus culture does vary. UofC is not Brown, that's for sure. (Brown has better food nearby....)</p>
<p>I'm going to UChicago as a freshman next year. I certainly have no problem with Uchicago's academic reputation. What could possibly be bad about people perceiving you as extremely hard working and smart? The negative social stigma that comes with it, however, bothers me a little. Truthfully, I still dread, in the back of my mind, that I'll find a lotta kids who don't know how to party. We'll have to see...but my roomates this year (2 sophomores) both seem really cool. I am very excited =)</p>
<p>If party till you drop is what you want, you have some work cut out for you.</p>
<p>OTOH, I can tell you from direct observation (having lived a few blocks from campus two years ago) that parties on weekends are not hard to find. Actually, they are hard to avoid. It is weekdays that will be a bit quieter.</p>
<p>You'll soon see for yourself what Chicago is like, but here's what I can promise you:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A group of students who "know" how to party. You will find a traditional college-y scene here if that's what you want, but few students are interested in that traditional scene all the time, hence why they are here and not another more traditional party-esque school. It's not like we don't have fraternities or beer, though, and it's not like the beer at another school is any better than the beer at the U of C. </p></li>
<li><p>Students who are really fascinating to be around, sober or drunk.</p></li>
<li><p>Residence Hall Staff that are extremely lenient on alcohol consumption and just want to make sure students are making good decisions. I've consumed alcohol with Residence Hall staff and professors, both in groups where most of the students were underage. (Those situations were not parties,but it just goes to show that there's a lot of openness when it comes to drinking).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>It's totally natural to be hung up on Chicago's social life, especially if you're sitting at home while your friends are already in college, but it's something you have to see and experience for yourself. You will have many opportunities to go to parties-- as nmd notes, you'll just hear the noise-- and many opportunities to consume alcohol.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. No, I don't want to "party till I drop", which is why I didn't go to Cornell or Michigan. I'm just looking for fun and varied things to do on the weekends, with some fun people. I'm sure I won't be regretting anything once I get there =). I'm still very anxious though, that's all!</p>
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No, I don't want to "party till I drop", which is why I didn't go to....
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<p>LOL, that, to me, is the central premise behind why many students choose the U of C. Students who got into Chicago could have gone to a lot of other schools that offer more epic partyness, but decided that the party scene wasn't as important as the package deal.</p>
<p>So as a result you're going to find a lot of social and fun-loving people who were considering schools with more of a party scene, but decided to go with the intellectual/academic/socially carefree vibes instead. That's the best of both worlds to me-- the kids are smart, engaged, interested (as they'd be at any top school) who want to have a good time, but on top of that they're not the kinds of people interested in showing off how awesome or cool or rich they are (by showing off, by excessive partying, by demeaning women and others, etc), because they're not going to find a receptive audience here.</p>
<p>I know you're anxious. I know you're bored to tears. Stick it out. It will be worth it!</p>
<p>JHS,
S2 (current HS junior) visited Brown a couple of weeks ago and got the same impression your D did. He wants to visit Chicago... S1 and S2 have not attended the same school since 1st/3rd grade, respectively. What a hoot if they were both to wind up at Chicago!!</p>