<p>Now that my college acceptances are rolling in, I've started compiling a chart of different features in a college that are important to me to help me in my selection. </p>
<p>First -- is there accessible wireless internet throughout UChicago's dorms? If only in some, could you please specify which ones?</p>
<p>Second -- current students, how good would you say the career/academic advising at Chicago is? Do you feel that you are getting a lot of help in thinking what you will do after college and in choosing appropriate courses? Do you have any idea how UChicago's advising might compare to that of other colleges?</p>
<p>Pretty much all schools have wireless on the whole campus. Chicago does, and it has ctv where you can get TV through the hard wired internet connection-- there are cable tv hookups, but you don’t need an actual tv to get tv programming.</p>
<p>check out CAPS career advising and planning services. They’re the ones that keep sending you mail. From what I’ve heard (and read on their site), they are excellent in placing people in internships and fellowships, and amazing at grad school applications, but are somewhat lackluster when it comes to actually finding a specific job. They just tell you to use monster, etc. to find potential jobs, and they’ll help with the resume and interview. No special connections other than for paid and unpaid internships, and fellowships. Check out this amazingness: <a href=“Home | CareerAdv”>Home | CareerAdv;
<p>Just look around the site. Since you want to do grad school, CAPS should be a help. They also help set up shadowing experiences for freshmen and sophomores, and I’ll definitely be taking advantage of that. Other colleges have similar career advising places. I went to a ton of college rep visits, and they all claim that their program is unique, but it’s really not. However, you’ll find that the top ten schools have more funding and can give out more grants for internships and study abroad, whereas places like JHU or Duke have less smaller awards (around 1k-8k) and a couple of larger, more competitive awards. JHU has one $10k competition for funding, and little else if you want a paid internship (like a UROP), whereas Chicago has lots of smaller grants in addition to larger fellowships.</p>
<p>Thank you!! haha I feel stupid for asking about the wifi now…but I know a student at Tufts and he tells me that their dorms don’t have wifi and they have to use a wire.</p>
<p>Advising info was also very helpful, thanks. I didn’t really pay attention to all the mail I got re advising, research, study abroad, etc etc because, of course, colleges always try to make themselves sound much better at everything than they really are. That Metcalf fellowship looks amazing! I wasn’t aware that Chicago had significantly more funding than Duke et al. I’m not at all surprised that career advising is lacking…haha. Good thing I don’t want a job straight out of college.</p>
<p>Couple thoughts: the Metcalf program is amazing and for many students that experience will lead to a job. Note that Metcalfs are available both for profit and non profit organizations. </p>
<p>Also check out the CCIB web page - Chicago Careers in Business - a partnership with the Booth school of business.</p>
<p>Of course these programs are competitive to get into, but that is what attracts important organizations to the programs - they know that UC is vetting the candidates.</p>
<p>I have another important question that I just though of… My financial aid award included $2200 to be earned through the work/study program, and I imagine that I will have work/study in my award every year. If I choose to study abroad for a quarter or a year, how will the work/study money factor in? Can I participate in work/study abroad, as well? Will I have to take it out as a loan instead? Will it become UChicago grant money?</p>
<p>Your expectation to work is dropped when you go abroad, so it becomes grant money. You don’t have to pay your expected work contribution at all for the time that you’re abroad.</p>
<p>I figured out my work study issues, btw. It seems that getting a job is pretty easy in the sciences. :)</p>
<p>Just a quick note on this. CAPS is really geared toward people entering business careers. That’s not to say that they’re useless for other careers, but I’d say that a good majority of their services cater toward students looking into consulting, banking, publishing, and the like. Also, CAPS won’t really find a job for you if that’s what you’re looking for. They’ll tell you how, they’ll help you with your applications, and they’ll point you to a few opportunities. But don’t expect them to go out of their way too much. I’ve also heard plenty of horror stories about the Chicago Careers in Health Professions (CCiHP) advisors. UChicago is pretty focused on a) getting students into graduate schools, and b) getting its students into prestigious business careers. Other than that, the school could use some work on its career advising.</p>
<p>Another quick note about the study abroad office: it’s not that stellar. It’s hard to find their information online, and study abroad doesn’t seem to run as smoothly as it could. There are plenty of good programs offered, and there are plenty of people to help you make it happen. But there are some logistical issues, and the study abroad office isn’t as well-coordinated as those at other schools. </p>
<p>I don’t want to come off as too negative about these things, but these are definitely some things I wish I had known coming in. You will certainly have the support to make great opportunities for yourself, but expect to have to do some of the work yourself in securing them.</p>
<p>Since I’m only a first-year, I’m not really too knowledgeable yet. But support for those seems to be pretty solid based on what I’ve observed from upperclassmen. Assuming you can get into CCiB or CCiL, the advisors have a really good reputation. And even if you don’t, I know of people getting into good business schools, so it’s possible for anyone. I’m not quite as familiar with law, but JHS and Cue7 might have some insight on that.</p>
<p>As someone at UChicago, I think CAPS is mostly useless for anyone outside of CCiB. Don’t be fooled by the fancy website! Yes, the Metcalf program is amazing, but that has nothing to do with the advising services that CAPS provides. The resume-reviewing service is okay, but I had better results with some adults I know outside of school in the fields I want to work in. Most of the information I already knew from very little research. When I asked for available jobs, they simply redirected me to the student employments website and the Metcalf website, which I had visited plenty of times before. And the events they plan are mostly waste of time save for the summer/job opportunity affairs they hold with sponsoring companies. Even CCIHP, which many of my pre-med friends use, is complete garbage. </p>
<p>And the study abroad office needs some work too. To my impression, it looked basically like a one-man-show led by Mr. Fortner.</p>
<p>My point is that if you are a motivated student (like those on CC) who has gone through the available websites, CAPS won’t be too much of a help to you. To me, it looked like an office who makes students who didn’t yet think of career opportunities to at least start thinking of them. Just my two cents.</p>
<p>My son’s experience with CAPS has been frustrating. He worked last summer for a small publishing company in NYC. So he thought he would apply for a Metcalf and apply to similar jobs. He doesn’t neccessarily want to work in publishing after graduation, he would like a summer job that allows him to remain in Chicago but at CAPS they just can’t seem to understand that fact. They pigeonholed him as somebody who wants to work in the field as a career. CAPS also screens appliocants as a first interview and then selects the next round of applicants that will interview with the company. You don’t have the option of sending in a recommendation until the 2nd interview, however. Also, very vague on when they will pass you to the next phase of the process or when final notification will be. My impression - not as helpful as it could be. Basically playing catch-up to the Ivies and not doing terribly well at it.</p>
<p>@eliana - CAPS ain’t perfect, but here is some more perspective. They are trying to balance the fact that there is way more student demand for Metcalf’s then they have slots for. They have done a very good job of adding internships in both the for profit and non profit world, but they want to add many more. They also need to balance the needs of the organization providing the Metcalf - a big selling point to the companies is that these students are pre-screened, matched and interviewed - not just resume screened. It certainly can be better, but they have made great strides in the last few years.</p>