Those who have attended Family Weekend in October, is it a good program? My older son is at UMD and he basically says don’t come on family weekend, come another. I’ve looked at the UMD schedule and the UChicago schedule and on the covers, the UChicago weekend looks much more engaging. Is it good content or just good marketing? Assuming that the two hotels in Hyde Park fill up, do you have recommendations on where to stay if you do attend? Downtown and the train? Indiana and the train? Indiana and drive? Any help would be appreciated?
If you want to stay close to downtown and in an interesting part of the city, check out the Jaslin in China Town. I got an $80 rate there last Nov. using Hotels.com.
There is also AirBnB in and around HP; however, last time I used it the person had to cancel due either to a policy change in the building or he/she got caught violating some existing policy 
Too bad, too, because that was an ideal location - close enough to campus and my kid’s dorm.
If you can’t get a room at a reasonable rate at either Hyatt Place or the new Sophy Hotel, then I would advise to stay in a hotel in South Loop and take the Metra Electric Line to Hyde Park. Indiana is too far away and there is nothing to do at night. On the other hand, if you stay in South Loop, you can go to a CSO concert, Hamilton, Second City and so on: the entertainment choice is almost unlimited.
Best Western - Grant Park is at 1100 S. Michigan. Currently way underpriced compared to other surrounding hotels so that’s a possible option. Plus, it’s just a block north of the very delicious Kurah Mediterranean (1355 S. Michigan) - if you like Middle Eastern food this is a great place to eat and the savory aroma greets you as soon as you step inside.
South Loop is really quite the neighborhood now.
In the past, the Chicago Hilton in the South Loop runs shuttle buses to UChicago during family weekend. I believe the Hilton also offered special rates to UChicago families for that weekend but I do not know if that will be true for 2018. I just stayed there this past weekend and it’s a very nice hotel.
Thanks all on the where to stay. Has anyone experienced “Family Weekend?” Is the program engaging and will we be glad we attended?
We (my wife and I) attended twice (first two years). Yes, we enjoyed it. Maybe mostly because it gave us an excuse to spend time with our son. But we enjoyed some of the “mock” classes that were set up. It helps that generally the weather is pretty nice in H.P. and Chicago that time of year.
It has been more than a decade since the last one I attended, but in addition to seeing my kids and to taking them and selected friends out for a nice dinner someplace beyond Hyde Park, I really enjoyed the fake classes. I learned a lot about the Core from chatting with the professor after one of them, and Kid #1 learned a lot about the creative writing program at another. A fake class I attended with Kid #2 contributed to changing his life – he was bowled over by the famous anthropologist who taught it, began an e-mail correspondence with him that lasted until the professor got recruited away by Harvard, and ultimately shifted from a pre-med lab science focus to social sciences.
They have a football game, too, but I never went to that.
Thanks JHS, I do believe my son may have a XC meet that weekend, so I most likely won’t make the football game either. Although, I think I’d enjoy it even DIII.
What are the dates for this? Can someone link me?
Homecoming! We’ll try and watch the football game. Also enjoyed this video of Maroons:
Sports Illustrated featured UChicago Maroons football, video starting at 4:50
https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/10/25/football-america-chicago-bears-maroons
Go Maroons!
Hey gang, so is Family Weekend worth it? We live in Boston and we probably won’t bring kid home for Thanksgiving (or fly TO him for Thanksgiving). I mean, don’t want to sound like I’m not gonna miss my kid, but seems a bit silly to be flying out there a month after dropping him off…I have empty nester things to do! (Kidding, but seriously, is FW worth the trip?)