<p>but would faculty ever be interested in taking part in something like the DARPA grand challenge?</p>
<p>I really, really doubt it. First of all, which faculties would take part? The closest you'll get to a 'grand challenge' at Chicago is probably writing the Putnam, or some other competitive theory-based activity.</p>
<p>sucks. i wish the curriculum was a bit more application-based.</p>
<p>You haven't yet experienced the curriculum.</p>
<p>well i know(or have heard from chicago students) that it is more theory based. im guessing that extends into the types of endeavors uchicago students take up?</p>
<p>Fairly true. There is a notable dearth of investment clubs compared to most schools. One got off the ground a few years back but only because it received a lot of outside money. An attempt to put together a team for econ competition turned out to be a disaster. Chicago lost to like DePaul or something in the local first round. </p>
<p>I guess all in all you are not going to see students building a solar car or what have you. I think it is also in part because UChicago students <em>comparatively</em> eschew extracurriculars that are overly involving save model UN, the annual ethnic shows, and scav hunt (note the last two are very fun and laid back). Alternatively, I am really impressed by the crap the UG's get themselves into at the places I attend for graduate school, sacrificing considerable study time to do so.</p>
<p>Olin and MIT were also on my list when I applied here, and I definitely have an interest in engineering and technology, but I am very happy here. The education here is not about learning very specific skills, so leaving out engineering makes some sense. I doubt a team would go that far.</p>
<p>There was a decently longish post about this awhile back in the fall (that I contributed to). I cannot find it, but the gist was there are people who switch over to technology jobs quite effectively by going to graduate school, but that it entails a higher degree of commitment than a straight BSE program does.</p>