<p>The decision is probably at least a day or two away, so I thought we, the international applicants, could chat a bit. Frankly, I am pretty interested in where you come from, why you want to study at UChicago and in US in general. </p>
<p>As for me, I come from Poland, from a city of merely 40.000 inhabitants. On interview I learned that only a handful (at most) of people apply to UC each year. Why US? I do not have the best opinion about universities in Poland. The best of them is about 400ish in the world rankings. But it is also about taking advantage of opportunities, seeing the world, getting world-class education. UC was appealing mainly because of renowned economics department. The city, with a lot of Poles (actually, one can find more Poles only in Warsaw, the capital) and direct flight certainly is not an obstacle. Moreover, the quarter calendar is an important advantage. </p>
<p>That's mostly it. So, how about you?</p>
<p>It would be also nice to know how current international students feel about UChicago, if there are any reading this forum.</p>
<p>I am reading:)~ well, it seems i should write another “why UChicago” essay here~ I live in London but I was born in Singapore and my nationality is Singaporean. My reasons for studying in US are generally the same as yours. I think Cambridge or Oxford are ossified( a little bit, and this is only a personal opinion) I’ve heard so much about “the American Dream” and I have my own American dream-to be trained by the best colleges in order that I can be qualified to be a professional scientist. as for my place, well, I think there’s no need talking about London. a pity that I must belong to the Singapore pool. quite a small place but so many applicants and I haven’t got an interview(I am lazy and some my friends didn’t so I thought it would be okay~I repented soon afterwards)</p>
<p>“the quarter calendar”? If I remember right, there are also many schools which use terms rather than quarters</p>
<p>btw, I learnt Polish once~quite hard a language. I think harder than Chinese</p>
<p>^ I’d have to disagree about Cambridge. I went there and the place/people were AMAZING. I’m not sure how UChicago compares (I’ve no experience to base it on), but I really think that Cambridge’s reputation doesn’t do it justice :P.</p>
<p>Anyway, I still love UChicago (though maybe not as much as Cambridge), mostly because of the atmosphere I THINK I could potentially find there (fun & serious). But it’s probably all relative; that’s just how I see it (them) :D.</p>
<p>Oh, just of curiosity - how did you come up with the idea to study abroad? I know some people participate in IB, some come from prestigious schools, but that’s not always the story. </p>
<p>For my part, I was considering taking up IB (which would be synonymous to moving to Gdansk, a city 120 km aways from my hometown) but eventually dropped the idea. Now I wish I did not, but that’s another story. Anyway, while exploring IB possibilities I stumbled across SATs and people applying to US in general. Then one thing lead to another and now here I am waiting anxiously for decisions to be released.</p>
<p>Btw. a friend of mine is applying to Cambridge. He was in UK for an interview last weekend as a matter of fact. He mentioned extremely difficult test but said he had a pleasant conversation and made up at least a bit for medium performance on the test.</p>
<p>Hi~I’m a bit on the late side for this thread~I’m from China,not an IB or AP or international-school-student…I chose US because it’s liberal and diversified.lol And my family supports the idea of studying in US. Well,they wanted me to study in Jp(Tokyo-two hours away from home by air…),but I failed to love learning Japanese and I also don’t wanna stay in Asia.</p>
<p>U Chicago！ because it’s in a cool city,and for its IR as well as the buildings and all!(sorta shallow).I just love it,does there have to be a reason? And DEFINITELY the life of mind.I like the school even better after the interview!=)</p>
<p>To get back to an earlier post,my Chicago interviewer thinks Chinese is easier than Spanish in a way…because after the tones and writing,things make sense faster,no conjugations,no tenses,easy clauses.Haha.</p>