<p>For me and for about 98% of the college-age population, a social life based entirely around “debauchery” would be almost as bad as having no social life at all. One thing I’ve learned at college-- and yes, I’ve had the opportunity to learn it-- is that going to loud parties 4 nights a week with the same music, the same beverages, and the same dancing gets painfully old painfully fast. Sure, it might seem awesome now, but you will find you need variety (not to mention how taxing heavy drinking is on your health and your other activities).</p>
<p>Anyway, all I attempted to show was that people spend their free time at Chicago in all sorts of different ways. You’ll find at least a few of those ways “fun.”</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>I’m also reluctant to “sell” the school to students who aren’t genuine and passionate about wanting to be here. I get absolutely nothing out of convincing people they should come here if they really would be better off elsewhere, as you will be my future classmate, teammate, coworker, and if you’re unhappy here that doesn’t help me out any. Where I do get satisfaction from is talking to people who are unsure or who don’t otherwise feel they have the resources to learn about colleges and college life. The moment somebody starts “name-dropping” other schools is the moment I start to feel irrelevant.</p>
<p>I have to say that the people on here are being too overdramatic without explaining what they say. I’m a student here and thinking about going into law and am very conscious about my GPA because I know what law school admissions are like. Not everyone who goes here has to completely buy the whole life of the mind because reality might not fit that style. Sure, I do enjoy learning, but I would admit that I am learning more for the sake of getting a good job in the future. Yes, that pre-professional thinking doesn’t exactly jibe with the uchicago way of things, but it is possible to have both mindsets. I mean it is not a crime to be thinking of your future job while enjoying your college experience. Also, most of the people I know are definitely not the stressed out cramming type. They do their work to get it done and enjoy their free time. In this sense, they are not the unique stereotype that is often portrayed of uchicago students. And the attractiveness of the student body is more true that I thought it would be but that’s really not a big deal in the long run.</p>
<p>Aw nblazer201, don’t let one person (who’s not even a student at the school) make you think less of UC. Sure, I had some doubts about the school (and who doesn’t about a place they are choosing to spend the next very critical 4 years of their life at?), but of all the colleges I’ve applied to and interacted with, I think UC would be the best fit for me. </p>
<p>I didn’t make this thread to bash the school in any way; I just wanted to understand student life at UC better. Please don’t be discouraged about possibly attending–think about what you want out of college.</p>
<hr>
<p>Unalove, well I wasn’t referring to hard partying, just the willingness for students to talk and do activities together. </p>
<hr>
<p>uchicago2012, thanks for your input. I agree with you about the whole being practical part.</p>
<p>Sorry for the immature remark, but the thing about squirrels was really really funny!!! By the way, I have no connection with UChicago, but hear it’s a wonderful school. I’d love to be accepted to their grad school. Just having my harmless laugh at the squirrel thing! </p>
<p>I do think, though, that GPA is unfortunately a concern, and where you go to school does hurt your chances. Try being a premed at Berkeley and maintaining a high GPA – quite tough! And it’s often not just mastery of material, but just gross competition.</p>
<p>It’s not even the GPA, it just seems like
the students aren’t supportive at all of people that have some ambition
im not a GPA grubber, but since when is a competitive environment so discouraged by college students, let alone a top ten school
Isn’t that what brings out the best in every student?
And just kind of like constant despise of econ students that i see in so many threads, so what if econ students might happen to go into fields that tend to be associated with higher pay, economics is probably the most interesting lens to look at the world through, and holds the most promise for social solutions</p>
<p>I totally loved the life of mind, and the idea of becoming the most well rounded thinker I could be,
but too many people on this thread push it too far, to a point where UChicago doesn’t even seem like a regular college</p>
<p>there’s just so much immense hate towards anything but “learning for learning sake”,
but I don’t see how students that just learn for learning sake could ever be
as well rounded thinkers as those that both have a passion for learning, and a passion for achieving something in your life, which if you want to hit big, usually takes planning ahead</p>
<p>and i swear to god, I’ve never been on a board with so many people, who are usually parents or deferred prospective students, say “you should go somewhere else”</p>
<p>and I am just saying, when a prospective student says “is UChicago fun” of course there is going to be jazz clubs, museums, plays, theaters, and all the culture anyone could shake a stick at
but no duh we know that, its in CHICAGO
when prospective asks if its fun, they usually mean the good old partying, that UChicago has a rep for not having (which is of course ridiculous, its thousands of kids living together)</p>
<p>Stop beating yourself up! Your other choices–Penn, Duke, and Dartmouth–are great schools. It’s okay if you like them better. Just like it’s okay for the kids who choose Chicago to like it best. Now don’t jump all over me–I think you could also make a fine life for yourself in Chicago. When people tell you, “you should go somewhere else” though, it’s not because you’re not qualified or that you couldn’t be perfectly happy. It’s just that you’re sounding like perhaps you’re CHOOSING another route. And that’s just fine–you’re in this for you.</p>
<p>Yup NB201, Maybe Chicago is not the place for you. You hear this frequently because some of us are realistic enough to recognize Chicago for its pluses and also its differences, which are limitations for some kids. All of us parents, for example, heard stories of classmates of our kids that were just not happy at chicago and went through another season of gut wrenching applications for transfer. Maybe we’re just trying to save you some anxiety.</p>
<p>Heck, if you are attracted to Penn or Duke, I can just about guarantee you that Chicago is not the place. Other than prestige, high quality students and such, these places are quite different from Chicago, to the degree that I’m not sure what you are looking for. </p>
<p>A Chicago student’s definition of “fun” does often have some distinctive differences from Duke or Penn - little greek scene, less big party emphasis, and the classroom scene also has its differences, due to the core and due to the active presence of prominent faculty in college education. This is not for everyone.</p>
<p>It’s all about fit. Fun, as has been stated many times before, is different for different people. My child has a great time at Chicago. For her, fun is enjoying all the city has to offer, i.e. museums, concerts,theatre, movies, Public talks (i.e. NPR live broadcasts), tons of ethnic restaurants, shopping,etc. She loves all of the international events on campus, such as dinners, international movies, talks, concerts. She likes her friends. So for her, fun does not come to die. She sings in three choirs, enjoys her comrades, etc. Just so much to do.
Secondly, although I too am biased, people are always commenting to me on how beautiful my daughter is and on numerous occasions she has been compared to the actress Ann Hathaway.
Thirdly, my daughter does study and has around a 3.6 cum in her third year, but she still has time to have fun and do the things I mention above. So the negative stereotypes should be taken with a grain of salt. Check the school out personally. Go visit and if possible stay over. It might be the best experience of your life. I know it is for my child.</p>
<p>My kids like all the things that newenglandparent mentions, but they like “good old-fashioned partying” too. I would be lying if I said I thought they never got high on anything but life. During their combined 12 person-days at home over Christmas break they (and not so many friends) consumed enough alcohol to have lasted us and our friends through the winter. They are perfectly happy socially at Chicago. But they are both pretty serious students, too, and their classes and other academic stuff take up a larger part of their lives than is true of many of their friends elsewhere.</p>
<p>No one has ever compared either to Anne Hathaway, but they aren’t ugly. The one who is interested in relationships has had more of them than is strictly necessary. Some of their friends (not all) would pass muster as very attractive anywhere, even USC. More the women than the men, however. The number of men who could win a beauty contest against the squirrels seems limited.</p>
<p>A few anecdotes:</p>
<p>When Child #2 was deciding between Chicago and University X (an academically reputable public university), he said, “I like to party. I have some residual fear that if I go to X, I will fall down a pit like [the cousin of close family friends, who drank himself out of a merit scholarship at X freshman year]. At Chicago, I’ve seen the bottom of the pit – it’s [my sibling] and friends. It’s a pretty shallow pit.”</p>
<p>Child #1, after a road trip to visit friends at other colleges: “As far as I could tell, no one would talk in public about anything but TV. I like TV fine [this is true], but it was awfully boring when that was all people talked about. [Friend] says she never talks to anyone about her classes. Sometimes I’ve been envious of her not having a core, and getting to take all classes she liked, but I made the right choice.”</p>
<p>Same kid, after I asked about news stories that suggested that the Ultimate Frisbee team was moving their party headquarters to her building. “Are you kidding? My building has real people in it, with jobs, and children, and dogs. It’s no place for a bunch of ****<strong><em>s who think they are still in high school. They’re moving to [my friend]'s building, two up the block.” (The point of this last is that Chicago DOES have *</em></strong>***s who think they are still in high school and regularly trash their living quarters with large parties, and everyone knows where they live, which is right among everyone else.)</p>
<p>Careful - one of last year’s grads was a Rhodes Scholar And an Ultimate Frisbee Player And lived in the ultimate team dorm. It is true that the courtyard nature of the building lent itself to some pretty good socializing, but from the kids I knew (on the team), no one would describe them as wastrels.</p>
<p>Well, the word she used wasn’t “wastrels”. But it just goes to show you that partying and serious academics aren’t mutually exclusive at the University of Chicago, and that, as I said, the pit isn’t very deep.</p>
<p>I was thinking about this thread earlier tonight, and I realized that there is a sizable population of students who talk about a) getting drunk, b) going to parties, and c) what happened at those parties… a good portion of the time. I don’t really pay much mind to most students in this population, because I find that sort of conversation boring, but I realize that my ignorance of this population taint a lot of what I have to say about this school. My friends are the kind of people who take obscure languages (and then have debates in them) and who think that Greek life is about Aristotle and Herodotus.</p>
<p>So yes. There is a population of students here who are not self-consciously intellectual in this way, and I think they do just fine.</p>
<p>However, I will stand by the general premise of the thread that the U of C is not a school where students put grades first and beer at a close second. Most students here (even the ones who talk about drinking a lot) are active, passionate, and involved in many things, and social life is one of them.</p>