I’ve continuously heard of the rigorous classes, and these in part seem to be a staple of UChicago. I believe Chicago ranked number 6 (unsure of exact number but it was very close to the top) for university students that study the most, and across every video of UChicago I’ve found, students indefinitely mention the intense course load and diminished free time.
So just how much free time would a UChicago have during the week, how much time per day is spent studying (and does “studying” consist of reading or doing homework or other additional work as well?), and for someone who is not used to college or an extremely rigorous schedule, would it be manageable?
I’m not particularly used to a rigorous schedule, but I am in all offered APs and my school and no one has graduated with a perfect 4.0 from my school. My unweighted is about 3.88 and by the end of senior year will finish around 3.95+. I’m not saying that I was lazy at my school, I’m just know that there are many other high schools which are much more challenging than mine, so how smooth would one expect the transition to be?
Study hard from day one. The quarter system can be frantic. Later you will find out how hard you have to work on a regular basis. That will be better that starting with a C on your first test and regret that you did not study enough.
First-year HUM seminars are designed for first-years. If a class was too hard for a significant share of students, it wouldn’t be required. The rest depends on course selection, but while there is such a thing as an impossible schedule (multiple CS classes, Honors Analysis, and an honors science or upper-level class would probably do the trick) advisers will steer their charges well clear of traps like that.
Don’t apply if you aren’t prepared to work harder and adjust to a faster pace than in high school, but don’t be deterred by the idea that college is a gigantic step up.
Visited Carleton with my son this summer and there is a lot to like about the intellectual rigor of the school and the choices the kids are making for majors there (a good number opting for STEM, bio, and Econ). Of course it’s much smaller than UChicago undergrad, isn’t part of a research uni, and is a bit of a more cloistered environment in many respects. IIRC it’s on a trimester system so progresses at a good clip.
One particular thing I noticed is that Carleton accepts a whole lot of AP scores of less than 5 which can actually be applied toward your major(s) - very different from UChicago and other elite universities. I would think that points to a less rigorous curriculum overall.
At least for AP it’s mostly as elective credit with a 5 on the AP. Not sure about IB. There are some exceptions. For instance, a 3, 4, or 5 satisfies the FL requirement and a 4 or 5 on Bio allows you to waive Core Biology (a gen. ed. credit). A 5 on the B/C or some of the higher physics AP exams will allow you to waive a pre-req. course or perhaps start higher on the Core sequence but you don’t fulfill Core or Major courses. So fairly strict and they seem to tweak it each year to make it more strict. I wouldn’t trust the FAQ page because it might not be updated. Here is the link with current info - scroll down for AP :
Looking over Carlton’s AP, it’s more lenient - for instance, they give credit for Calc. AB (4 or 5) or Physics 1 (3, 4, 5). Neither of these tests are accepted for credit at UChicago. They also accept AP credit for things like CS, Poly Sci, Psych and Environmental Science (none accepted at UChicago).
UChicago allows up to 400 / 4200 credits via AP; Carleton allows almost 2X that - up to 36 / 210 credits.
The University of Chicago is very rigorous, no question. In linguistics it would be as well, since the school prides itself on exceptional social sciences, and in that respect what many consider “soft” humanities subjects the bar is very high.
–Empirical elements in linguistics are likely to be more important than you realize.
My favorite slogan is “Harvard, the University of Chicago of the east.”
Actually, in social sciences (anthropology, sociology, linguistics, economics, etc.) I’d say Chicago is “harder” than Harvard.
–Won’t vote on AP transfer credit, though.
But I will say, do not underestimate the demands of any program there, would be the safest overall approach.
I didn’t have the most rigorous schedule in high school and I did not feel like I had to adapt to a significantly more rigorous one at uchicago. The key is balancing out hard classes with easy classes. You can have more than half of your quarters have only 3 classes and still graduate early with certain majors. You can even have quarters with weekends almost totally free!
How difficult of a time you have will depend on which major you choose and how much extracurricular work you plan to take on. From what I had gathered, harder majors included math, physics, computer science, anthropology, NELC, history, music, etc. Easier majors include economics, public policy, geology, evolutionary biology. These majors require less in terms of raw coursework, but you can still challenge yourself by putting serious effort into research.
UChicago has an extremely prestigious economics department and their research is top notch, but the undergraduate major is not that challenging if you have a good grasp of calculus. I even heard that they have been planning to make the econ major even easier and more accessible in coming years.
Most kids who do the econ major end up pursuing finance careers anyways. The ones who engage themselves with the department and pursue Phds in economics tend to have majored in math in addition to econ.
The rigor at UChicago seems to vary dramatically depending upon whether you are taking the regular or honors level courses. D reports thst she spent much more time in honors courses than the regular ones.
Yes. The Econ department offers several paths to its degree. Some rigorous courses and others more rigorous courses.
It still requires 5 math related courses and 4 math related core courses - they have changed the requirement a bit recently. Some Econ electives could be more theoretical and others could be more practical.