<p>Any positive impressions?</p>
<p>I didnt go on an overnight...but you could read all of the positives people have posted elsewhere (or on the chicago LJ group).</p>
<p>When I did visit, I enjoyed it but I wasnt there at a very active time.</p>
<p>what's chicago LJ? i need impressions, because i have no chance to fly there...:(</p>
<p>check your PMs</p>
<p>I'd like to check my PMs as well, ottothecow. :(</p>
<p>i just got back from the stay on friday. heres what the deal was for me:</p>
<p>my impression beforehand was that it was an intellectual-type place, with a lot of interactions going on inside; that is to say that there wasnt much vibrancy when i visited in the fall for the first time, yet when i stepped inside any of the buildings there was always some buzz. this time though, there was a whole lot going on around campus, people were out sitting on the quad, walking, talking, moving around, much better impression since im once who likes to walk around with interesting people to see. the people who istayed with were very cool. one guy (my host) was clearly very smart, yet socially cool as well. he stayed up doing his work on that thursday, but it was cool, he was communicating with other people during and offered a few times to hook me up with a party scene if i wanted. his roommate was at uoc for the wrong reasons. he didnt like it, didnt mesh with the atmosphere. he thought the classes were too hard, required too much work, and the people didnt party as much as he'd have liked (every night, all over the place). the negative perspective was good for me, though, since i know that im not like him and these aspects wouldnt bother me much; lets me see where those impressions come from and how theyre going to shape my experience at uoc.</p>
<p>otherwise, everyone was very cool, no pretention that others have mentioned. about the rumored socially inept pop.: i found that theyre not average college students; therefore they might come off as inept when, to me, theyre actually just more reserved. about the rumored workload: about 5-10 hours per class per week HW. thats 3-4 classes per quarter, which isnt hellish given that youre only in class about 3 hours per class per week. about the supposed bad location: it doesnt bother me or preturb me in the least. i walked around the campus alone at midnight on that thursday and felt completely safe (male). there are people checking your ID at all times if you go in anywhere sacred; ie dorms or library.</p>
<p>dunno what else to say. the bad things i found were the fin aid and the difficulty of study abroad programs; ie one has to apply and the limited locations one can access through the uoc. good luck to all, fyi im matriculating in september, see ya then. chicago c/o 2009!</p>
<p>Qwert's impressions of Chicago were a lot like mine when I did an overnight in the fall, if that counts. Fun, normal, with an intellectual bent. See y'all there.</p>
<p>About feeling safe...I stayed in Shoreland, and my host went to a party at Delta Kappa Epsilon. The boyfriend of her roommate said that she better travel in a group because lately single males have been getting mugged in Hyde Park. Then he whipped out the knife that he always carries with him. My cousins are Chicago cops, and they warned me about the horrible crimes of Hyde Park. Plus...all of the dorms that I visited were crap shacks. No joking. I was scared that I would be infected by some horrible virus. Other than that I really liked it enough to affirm my choice of Chicago. However, financially it's probably an impossibility.</p>
<p>The dorm I visited, Snell-Hitchock, is the oldest on campus, and while it wasn't quite as spick-and-span as Max P. (sterile is the word that comes to mind), it doesn't at all fit the description of a "crap shack." Nor did Max P. or Pierce, from what I saw. Take tansytroll's comment with a bit of salt...</p>
<p>I agree. I visited Pierce, and I didn't have to worry about disease, lol. The thing I liked about U Chicago was that people were serious about studying, but there were signs of (you better believe it) an active social scene. Regenstein was extremely quiet (I felt nervous going in), but I was amazed at its size (I always like looking at the libraries). There were flyers around campus announcing campus events, people talking/playing/whatever on the quads...I thought the whole campus was very active, but in a good, serious way, if that makes sense... The class I visited (I don't remember exactly which one, but it was a fiction writing course) was small with a lively discussion. The professor wasn't really saying very much (allowing the students to speak, I think), which really surprised me. The students weren't exactly warm and fuzzy, but they weren't arrogant or pretentious. I really liked my visit, and I think you should visit if you get the chance, LooseCannon. :)</p>
<p>I visited. </p>
<p>My experience was that it was very quiet and serious during the week, but that the students came up for air on the weekend, beginning Thursday night.</p>
<p>Most of the students that I met were very impressive. I met two students that I thought were very strange, but the others were gracious and smart and accomplished.</p>
<p>I posted the thread because I'm very dismayed about all of the negative remarks being posted in this forum. In all of the other college-specific threads, the posters seem really thrilled about the school. I'm wondering why this school is different.</p>
<p>A party school is not high on our priority list. But we are looking for a school where meaningful, life-long relationships can be forged. I think it will be possible to make this kind of friendship at UofC.</p>
<p>I did say in my other post that I met two weird kids. That is true. But they were in no way representative of the majority of the students that we met at the UofC. Most of the people that we met could not have been more gracious and charming. My daugther was hosted by at least two students, and both took her to class, where she was warmly welcomed and encouarged to participate. She had a wonderful time on the weekend participating in the clubs that interested her.</p>
<p>In short, its wrong to paint such a negative picture of the school. There are very nice people there. There is nothing wrong with studying. That's what a college education is for.</p>
<p>I agree with the crap shacks. We saw Broadview and BJ, which wasn't horrible, but definitely needed some help. Shoreland needs some TLC, too.</p>
<p>Without detailing my entire visit, i must say i absolutely love u of c now, after doing the overnight this week. my host was both social and intelligent; she managed to get all her work done before the "prospie fair" and take me out to see the social life. i didn't see any "weird" people or people who would otherwise be out of place on any university campus. and it definitely seemed like people knew how to have a good time; i went to a few parties and generally enjoyed myself.</p>
<p>the location of the campus didn't make me feel uncomfortable at all. on the contrary, i walked with a group of students to someone's apartment for a party and absolutely nothing scary or remotely dangerous happened. i think you need to just exercise good sense and all that jazz; no one will harm you if you're smart about travelling around.</p>
<p>i definitely had one of those moments that define what chicago is about when i returned with the students to their dorm (max p) after the majority of them had consumed a fairly large amount of alcohol. they all gathered, talked for a little while, and decided to return to their rooms "to get a head start on the next reading." basically, it was work hard, play hard. and i think that's a great philosophy.</p>
<p>what seems to be a consensus here, which i agree with, is that theres gonna be something here for everyone. no one is going to press anything on you (save academics, maybe), and you can find just about anything here. theres a syndicate of people who party pretty much every night who you can join if thats your thing. theres certainly a group of people who dont party ever, really. and theres of course a middle ground. take it or leave it.</p>
<p>Chicago's awesome; no doubt about it. So pretty much ditto to every positive thing that's been said, except that I wouldn't exactly call the dorms dumps. I think they're what you make of them. I was in Shoreland, and I saw well-kept rooms that were gorgeous, and then unkempt rooms that were well...ugly and smelly. Overall, I got the feeling that Chicago has various niches and you can fit into whichever one you want.</p>
<p>i was somewhat (pleasantly) surprised by my visit... there were lots of people hanging out in the common room of my house (in pierce) that were not studying, went out drinking, and were fairly "normal," for college kids. there were also a good number of unusual people. definitely a place i could fit in, and a lot of other people, perhaps not everyone.</p>
<p>+the house system is really nice... my house had a house meeting while us prospies were there and it was really nice--baking brownies and sitting around, definitely something i would like to have in college, and sitting at the house table is also nice</p>
<p>also i did not find the dorms that awful. a dirty dorm room is not the fault of the college but the kids who live in it. max p was my favorite in spite of its sterile-ness. i think you kind of have a choice of sterile or old with "character" that some may percieve as "crappiness" but i really found b-j quite pretty too.</p>