No Fun?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>I'm a rising senior from California. Both my parents attended the University of Chicago for law school, where they say they studied hard (as most law students do) but still enjoyed themselves. I really want to go to undergrad in the Midwest, and I'm looking at schools like Carleton, Oberlin, Grinnell, and WashU. I also really like U of C. My dad took me on a tour there, and I really liked the vibes--very intellectual, very focused. I want to be pre-med, so I know that wherever I go, I'll be working damn hard. Thing is, my mom thinks the University of Chicago is "where fun goes to die." She says it's an awesome graduate school, but that when she was there, all the undergraduates seemed to be working much too hard and not enjoying themselves quite enough. She worries because during my sophomore year of high school, I got over-stressed and ended up in the hospital with severe depression/suicidality. Of course, I'm all better now, and stress doesn't get to me like it used to. </p>

<p>I want to go to a serious, academic school, but, yeah, I do want to have fun in college (and stay sane). My mom tells me she refuses to help me with the application. My father, on the other hand, is all for it, saying that if I want to go to a school where love of learning is prime, U of C is a great place for me. I'm getting different messages from them, and I'm afraid to follow either piece of advice! </p>

<p>Is my mom right? Should I take U of C off my list?</p>

2

<p>I’d like to know the answer to this as well because UChicago is on my list…</p>

3

<p>You’ll work hard. You’ll have fun. “Where fun comes to die” is purely self-depricating humor. People party on the weekends. We have frats. We have, even better, a plethora of apartment parties which are more in line with the “intellectual” vibe of the school. We have Summer Breeze. We have intramural sports. We have strong house rivalries over silly things like Scav. People go downtown often. People do stress out. People do spend hours in the library on weekends. People do disappear for weeks at a time during busy school periods. Etc etc etc etc…</p>

<p>Be prepared to work very hard, but understand that such work not come with the cost of having fun…</p>

4

<p>Also went to a high school with lots of work/depression/suicide attempts (1 successful), etc.</p>

<p>Chicago was a crappy place to go a generation back but it’s really fun now - I went to a nice party when I stayed for an overnight visit a while back and got pleasantly surprised by a couple girls that were better at beer pong than anyone I know. Anyway, saturated with just really witty, smart people that you can’t help but be entertained by.</p>

5

<p>I’m very sorry to hear about your hospitalization and I’m glad that you’re placing yourself at the center of your college search.</p>

<p>That said, I don’t think of myself (or anybody else here, mind you) as an expert on mental health in college, particularly individuals with a significant history.</p>

<p>Yes, you can go to the University of Chicago, go out four nights a week, and graduate with a decent GPA and a job offer. I’ve seen it happen countless times. Yes, you can go to the University of Chicago and never come out of the library. The variable here, as you can imagine, is not the University of Chicago, but you.</p>

<p>College is a universally challenging experience, and my most challenging experiences at Chicago were not academic. So instead of playing therapist, let me outline some recommendations for any student at any school that relate to work/life balance:</p>

<ol>
<li>Get to know “the adults” (at Chicago, the advisers and RHs) and don’t just assume that they’re “the administration” or “out to get you.” Their first motive is to keep you a happy customer, their second motive is to keep other students happy customers too.</li>
</ol>

<p>1a. Develop humilty and a skill that will benefit you for the rest of your life in college: if something seems overwhelming, announce your need for a band-aid before the wound gets infected and you need to go to the ER on a stretcher. Probably the worst mistake I’ve seen kids make is that they pretend they can do more than they really can. Telling your professor that you’re having a hard time keeping up in class is a sign of your maturity to admit a weakness and address it proactively. And usually more often than not professors realize they assigned or expected too much from the class to begin with. Having been a college student and being somebody who has lots of grad student friends who teach college students, I feel most of my friends would appreciate students who voiced their questions and concerns more often. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Make sure you have “non-negotiables” in your daily and weekly routines- sleep, exercise, club meetings, talking to family and friends. No matter what, you go. Believe me, telling yourself that you value some things over school is half the battle. And schoolwork will expand to fill all the time you give it.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t be afraid of social risks (going to an event alone, for example.) I struggled with mild social anxiety for much of freshman and sophomore year before a job at the Telefund basically desensitized me to talking to strangers. My friends and colleagues now are impressed whenever they see me in “telefund” mode, mostly because they know my M.O. is to hide under a table until I don’t see any strangers any more. Which leads me to </p></li>
<li><p>Find a hobby or a part-time job that is pure fun for you. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Clearly these recommendations are not meant to sail folks through a difficult developmental stage on a clean bill of health, but they are a start.</p>

6

<p>We have a neighbor who just graduated this spring from U of C who sounds kind of like you. She was a science major, came in with some stress-related issues in her background, and… is sorry she went to U of C. We spent quite a bit of time talking with her this past year because my D2 was accepted at U of C and considered attending. D2 is very bright and not scared of hard work, but U of C has a reputation of not being very supportive of students when they are struggling. This student we know (and her parents) tried to give us a balanced perspective of the good & bad of U of C. But she had some real issues with stress her last 2 years there. I think she graduated with very good grades, but on the whole could not really recommend the experience. She did say that non-science majors seem to have it easier, for what that is worth. But as you are pre-med, that may not help you. My D ended up picking a different school that is also very rigorous, but smaller and by all reports more supportive if a student is struggling.</p>

<p>D2 had a hard time turning down U of C because of the prestige factor… but now says she thinks it was a very smart move for her. She may apply to U of C for grad school someday (knowing perfectly well that she may not be accepted). The “life of the mind” still tugs at her, but she decided that she wanted a different environment for her undergrad experience.</p>

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<p>S1 remarked to me that if he had it over to do again he might chose a school with a more typical university experience. After saying that he paused, smiled, and said, “But, if I have children, they will go to the University of Chicago.”</p>

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<p>They enjoy themselves BY working much too hard. </p>

<p>It’s a win-win.</p>

9

<p>Can’t believe I wrote chose not choose, or might have chosen… :(</p>

10

<p>I am really glad that parents are coming to share their experiences and express opinions about uchicago. It is very sad to see people getting offended when the opinions expressed here are not all positive.</p>

<p>One of my children goes to uchicago. He is generally happy and doing well. However, the level of support and guidance he gets from his councelor and profs is pathetic compared to what his younger sibbling gets at our state university. </p>

<p>AnitaLend, listen to your mom.</p>

11

<p>My kid is very happy in the University of Chicago as her friends.Her experience with the support and guidance is great.Again, nothing is perfect, and no two individuals experience the same thing equally.My experience is very good, not complaints.I was just expressing my discomfort with somebody’s post regarding the school, without even having a kid there.Good luck, your kid is in one of the best schools in the world.</p>

12

<p>Re: professor support</p>

<p>Honestly, you’re going to find more variation in “professor support” within a university than between them. If you’re in a smaller major (particularly an honors college or honors track within a smaller major) at a larger university, private or public, and particularly if you’re one of the tops of the undergraduates, then yes, I’d expect that student to have a lot of golden resources and “professor support” in front of them, particularly if there were professors interested in reaching out in a way that personally appealed to the undergraduate.</p>

<p>Are there ways to predict level of support before an undergrad jumps in? I think there are ways to guess at it- through what’s on the department’s website, how many advisors are department-specific, whether the professors list mentoring ugs on their CV’s, and so on. But in other ways trying to predict how well you’ll get along with your future professors is like trying to predict how well you’ll get along with your future roommate.</p>

<p>[Edited to add: this idea is even more important for graduate school, where relationships with professors mean a lot. Some of my friends fell into a trap of going to a school with a good name in the field and a good funding package, only to find themselves left to the wolves as far as support goes. Others are going to grad school at the institutions I turned my nose at when I was looking at colleges, and they’re having a wonderful experience. Some have both the prestigious school and the wonderful experience. But this is just a reminder that results ALWAYS vary!]</p>

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<p>I had fun at the U of C. My friends there had fun too. Threw a lot of parties; went to a lot of parties; spent a lot of time exploring the city’s art, music, and theater scene. Worked my butt off in classes and at the Maroon, and WHPK, and in student politics. It was more of a grown-up kind of place than a kegger scene. </p>

<p>In terms of supporting students: It is not a small college, and you are not going to have the coddling that a small liberal arts college will give you. Nor will you have the same kind of spoon-feeding that a place like Princeton engages in. But I have friends who attended Harvard who had a pretty brutal time, and no one shies away from Harvard because of that. </p>

<p>So: The best advice I can give to urge you to visit the place. Have a look. Try and arrange to stay over and sit in on some classes and spend some time socializing with the current students, and see what you think.</p>

14

<p>I too am trying decide about applying to U of C. I think I would love an intellectual environment, but I also feel like I need my free time to be able to do fun extracurriculars and hang out with friends. I don’t want to do nothing but study my way through school, half asleep and stressed out.</p>

<p>I’ve heard some conflicting stories about the school. My aunt, a professor at a small college, told me that she knows four people who went to UC, and all of them dropped out because of the workload. A girl from my school went to UC a couple years ago, and from what I’ve heard she loves it. Still, I haven’t really heard about it first-hand from her.</p>

<p>I would say that maybe you should not apply, based on your previous experiences with stress. Several people in my family have anxiety issues and seem to have learned that it is better not to place themselves in an overly stressful environment. Still, I don’t know you personally so I guess I can’t really make much of an educated guess.</p>

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<p>I’ve deleted several posts that were little more than attacks on other posters. Please abide by the CC TOS!</p>

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