I was really hopeful about attending UChicago before but it looks like I might be going somewhere else instead, and now I’m curious about what the graduate experience is like there. Do graduate students get to experience the same sort of culture as the undergrads?
I was really into the idea of a really intellectual campus where everyone is very focused on and immersed in their studies. I also liked the idea of the House t-shirts and Scav hunts and also how the House Masters lead discussions all the time on ideas, and theories they have about society, etc (is there a certain name for that btw?)
Do graduate students studying at UChicago get to take part in that?
The grad school culture at UChicago (and more or less at every insitution) is different from that of the undergrad. You most likely live in an off-campus apartment, do not have a meal-plan, or do anything that’s remotely as time intensive or frivolous (in the objective sense) as Scav. If you are in grad school for science (guessing from your username), then you will be spending nearly all your time in the lab and working on your project - conducting experiments, reading scientific papers, discussing results with your faculty advisor, and presenting at conferences. In lieu of talks hosted by House Masters, you will be attending lectures by visiting professors. Grad school is in no way “fun” like undergrad is supposed to be - instead of taking part in a variety of classes, clubs, and activities, you spend >90% of your time working to answer your research question and gain a broader knowledge of your field. There is some camaraderie between grad students in their first and second years, but as you become more immersed in your lab work, you can expect to interact less with people outside your lab. Of course, talks on campus are open to everyone in the UChicago community, but very rarely will you have the time or interest to check them out as a grad student, and this is true of grad school everywhere. It sounds dreary, and the hours are long, but to go to grad school anywhere is to commit to studying a single subject for the rest of your life; most people who are prepared to do that are willing to sacrifice the diverse intellectual experience and a good part of the social life that constitutes undergrad.
More realistically: Notwithstanding the fact that some grad students participate in Scav – although generally at a level that’s less intense than that of the competitive undergraduate teams – @ramboacid is right that grad students do not generally participate in the fun aspects of undergraduate life. They absolutely do participate in the intellectual culture of the university, which is shared among the faculty, graduate and professional students, and undergraduates. For obvious reasons, they spend much more of their time focused in one area than undergraduates do, but that doesn’t keep them from attending talks in other fields that interest them if they have time.
Some graduate students serve as RAs or RHs in the undergraduate dorms. They get free room and some meals to participate in some of the undergraduate fun, although their participation mostly consists of cleaning up after it, physically and metaphorically.
Also, if you are a third- or fourth-year undergraduate, you most likely live in an off-campus apartment, do not have a meal plan, do not participate in any kind of house activities, and don’t miss any of that. You still enjoy your life. So do most grad students, even if they whine about it a lot.