Hmmmm.....

[unalove]

<p>

I am a nerdy, socially awkward person who feels most socially comfortable around intellectuals and people who may be slightly, um… awkward.

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<p>+1 (or whatever is appropriate forumese for IAWTC or just plain ol’ “me too.”)</p>

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I see it as a place where people actually enjoy learning, working, discussing, etc, all in an intellectual and academic setting. But that doesn’t mean they have to be socially inept, does it?

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<p>Correct.</p>

<p>I think what needs to be taken into perspective here is that “awkwardness” however you define it, isn’t as magnified in high school as it is in college. Part of it is that you’re starting afresh, and the other part is that the people who surround you are going to share a lot of values with you, even if they make eye contact and party and you don’t.</p>

<p>I consider myself to be an “awkward” person with a lot of “awkward” friends, but I’m a social awkward person instead of a socially awkward person. That’s I think one of the best things Chicago has done for me-- while my close friends and I tend to be pretty out-there and wacky individuals, I am friendly with sorority sisters, athletes, etc., etc., etc., and get invited to all sorts of social events.</p>

<p>There aren’t as many “awkward” kids here as I expected. But again, I don’t know if that’s necessarily a bad thing.</p>

[motion12345]

<p>I wasn’t aware that intelligence involved being socially inept. Whatever, I guess I’m just not intelligent whatsoever. G.A. Cohen and Robert Nozick must have been idiots as well.</p>

[Divine_Comedy]

<p>Calm… this just shows that the Class of 2013 is the most social class ever in UChicago history…</p>

[neogop]

<p>Honestly, everyone is awkward in some way. And that’s okay. I think that there are probably a disproportionate number of intellectual book-worms who are socially awkward, but I don’t think that statement makes UChicago a place for “awkward” people just because there are a lot of intellectuals. </p>

<p>I really dislike the fact that people think UChicago is a place for JUST “awkward,” “quirky,” “odd” people. It’s a place for smart people who like to learn. Period. Are some of them awkward, quirky, and odd? Of course they are. I like awkward, quirky, and odd, people… but that’s not how people should choose their college. </p>

<p>The only actual student I know who goes to UChicago (2012) is actually a really cool guy. Hip, listens to good music, loves [midnight] soccer, really good with girls, parties a lot but also studies a lot, plays fantasy football, etc. But the reason he chose UChicago instead of State U is because he really likes learning, and he really loves high level math (his major). From what I can tell, a lot of his UChicago friends are similar to him in many regards and, in my opinion, don’t really come off as awkward, quirky, or odd in the traditional sense. </p>

<p>I think of myself similarly. I like to be around people. I love sports, movies, music, etc. I’m certainly awkward at times, and I like people who have “odd” interests. But I love to read, learn, and explore. I love politics. I love reading about politics. I love talking about politics. I love being around politics. But the fact that I love politics and I’m slightly awkward doesn’t make me weird or odd. </p>

<p>And if UChicago is heading away from attracting the traditional oddball intellectuals and moving more towards the social kind (e.g. the student above) then I don’t think that’s a bad thing. You don’t have some sort of birthright to the place just because you do nothing but study and don’t get out on weekends. In fact, I think it’s BETTER to have more socially-career-oriented intellectuals at Chicago. It promotes diversity within the community and ultimately helps UChicago produce more rounded and successful alumni. I think the single phrase that qualifies a UChicago student isn’t awkward, odd, quirky, intellectual, elitist, weird, etc as many people think–I think it is just people who love to learn… and I don’t have a problem with the University pulling in more people like that who happen to be of a different mental, social, or careerist mindset. And that’s what UChicago is to me and that’s why I want to go there. (Too bad that’s not really what I said in my admissions essay…)</p>

[Philosopher-King]

<p>That’s fine, but it’s not like being awkward just means “doing nothing but studying.” It’s about being respected if you don’t fit the standards of what’s “fun” or simply have social phobias or inhibitions. Surely, those social phobics among us need a haven.</p>

[mathgrad]

<p>I’d like to clear up a common myth: year after year, I hear students pointing to the relative quirkiness of the graduating class in comparison to the relative lack in the entering students, claiming that this proves the University is getting more ‘normal’. And it’s a very compelling argument, when you phrase it like that.</p>

<p>But here’s the thing: you’re taking a group of young adults who have been inundated in the UofC environment for years, grown familiar with the people, the surroundings, the system, become leaders and shakers and in general just people comfortable with themselves and their environment… and you’re trying to compare them to a group of teens, just transplanted into a new setting, trying desperately to make friends, fit in, find their place so they can start to find themselves? On <em>any</em> college campus, that’s going to make you believe that the seniors are weirder then the freshmen!</p>

<p>So is UChicago actually getting more normal? I don’t really know. I think, in order to really measure that, you’d have to compare the current first years to what those older students were like in their own first months at the University: a tall task, considering how memories tend to be rose-tinted and somewhat selective. I definitely remember alcohol abuses and sexual assaults my first year, and every year thereafter, and no matter what the rates I would caution you to look at which students are having these issues before jumping to conclusions about our normalcy - that shy and brainy student in the corner of your Hum class might surprise you by just how badly she wants to fit in and how little knowledge or regard for her own limits she has in doing so, while the hulking idiot frat boy who’s been drinking for years may similarly surprise with his already-developed self-esteem and self-control in these situations he’s already very experienced in. Not to say that none of these abuses are the ‘normal’ kids you immediately want to assume they are - there’s probably a fair portion of both. But I’d say that quirky 18-year-olds are just as prone to social pressures and the occasional bad decision as any others, and that it only takes one bad night to make a contribution to a statistic.</p>

<p>What I do admire about <em>this</em> University in particular, in comparing it to those my friends attended, is the bonding between classes: in my fourth year, I continued making strong connections with incoming first-years, and I know many others who did as well. <em>This</em>, I think, is what keeps our rates of such abuses generally lower than your typical university - the connections young students have to their more experienced and grounded counterparts. I don’t really know what this new spike says then about the trends at the school: it may just be one of those moments where we have to resign ourselves to recalling the difference between correlation and causation.</p>

<p>… of course, I’m not on campus anymore but stuck out here in Boston, so I’d really have no idea about the current state of things…</p>

[unalove]

<p>

I would caution you to look at which students are having these issues before jumping to conclusions about our normalcy - that shy and brainy student in the corner of your Hum class might surprise you by just how badly she wants to fit in and how little knowledge or regard for her own limits she has in doing so, while the hulking idiot frat boy who’s been drinking for years may similarly surprise with his already-developed self-esteem and self-control in these situations he’s already very experienced in.

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<p>Mathgrad makes an excellent point. I conveniently forgot how many people I knew were OBSESSED with alcohol my first year (I’m a fourth-year now), and how it became so-not-a-big-deal, particularly after everybody turns 21. Now I see the people around me treating alcohol respectfully because they know it’s here and it’s not going anywhere (like the Svedka in my freezer that I haven’t gotten around to drinking yet…) Rose-tinted glasses ftw.</p>

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I never understood the “i’m socially awkward and would like to go to a place filled with other awkward people” statement. Do people enjoy being socially awkward?

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<p>I don’t know if this was intended to be a trollerly comment or not (on the internet, nobody can hear your inflections), but I’ll take it at face value. For the sake of these and other threads, I call myself awkward because it might give you insight into how Chicago specifically is a good fit for me. I don’t feel awkward, though, and it’s not like I go around saying, “Aw, shucks, now if only I was like everybody else.” Instead, I feel like myself. </p>

<p>One thing I love about so-called “awkward” individuals is how honest they are to themselves and their interests. That self-confidence is extremely attractive, and many of my “awkward” friends attract “non-awkward” friends because that confidence exudes, and people like other confident people. A couple of my closest friends will never be without a romantic interest for exactly this reason ;-)</p>

<p>Also, social awkwardness/dorkiness/etc/ is also not a dichotomy. The biggest gamers I know walk around with gelled hair and popped collars. In other words, they have the dorkiest hobbies in the whole entire world, but they fit right in.</p>

[neltharion]

<p>

Also, social awkwardness/dorkiness/etc/ is also not a dichotomy. The biggest gamers I know walk around with gelled hair and popped collars. In other words, they have the dorkiest hobbies in the whole entire world, but they fit right in.

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<p>Not to mention those people who certainly don’t look or act like D&D freaks . . . (Said with the most affectionate of tones, of course.)</p>

[phuriku]

<p>[Rise</a> in alcohol-related hospitalizations spurs adminaction - The Chicago Maroon](<a href=“Delays keep Proof from silver screen – Chicago Maroon”>Delays keep Proof from silver screen – Chicago Maroon)</p>

[mummom]

<p>^“Fewer than twenty…” What does that mean? 19? Why not just give the actual number? 19 is still a LOT, IMO.</p>

[ImmanuelKant]

<p>The awkward thing is really off base. Nobody I met was socially awkward. They were all charismatic, well-spoken, and had wicked senses of humor.</p>