opportunities for the arts/creative endeavors

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>I consider myself a very creative person, and I'm wondering how easily I can find similar minded people at Chicago. </p>

<p>Judging by the emphasis on essays for admission, It seems that most everyone would be creative in some way, and I think that "creative" and "intellectual" go together. But I'm wondering about less academic things. I love writing, and I'll probably pursue the creative writing (emphasis? minor?) or at the very least take a couple of classes. Is it very popular? Will I find outlets for my writing? </p>

<p>I've heard theater is the most popular extracurricular, but what is this like given that there is no theater major? </p>

<p>Are there very many people interested in the visual arts? </p>

<p>I'm sure that all kinds of people exist at Chicago, but I'm wondering how the "artistic" types of students might compare to those at other universities.</p>

2

<p>I believe we do have a theater major now, but to be honest, I've only heard this. We do have a visual arts major and a creative writing minor, which certainly prove that there is student interest in these fields academically speaking.</p>

<p>To be honest, I don't know how "arty" our school is compared to other schools. It's not a major thing here, but I do know a lot of theater/writing/music/visual arts people who pursue their field as a hobby, and they're not hard to find. As an erstwhile fiction writer, let me try to add some of my own experiences in:</p>

<p>At one point I too was looking to go to a school that offered an extensive creative writing program-- the only school I found that offered a solid creative writing program and lined up with my other academic and social preferences was Johns Hopkins. I decided that I preferred academics to arts (I've never liked creative writing courses anyway), though it just so happens that four or five of the people I did a particularly intense creative writing program with one summer are students at the U of C right now.</p>

<p>Choosing Chicago over a school like Hopkins was a good decision for me, as my interest in liberal arts and academics is more stable than my interest in writing fiction. (I hate to toot my own horn, but I was at a level of mastery with fiction where a good program was rather important to me).</p>

<p>There are some solid literary magazines, too, all of which have a different edge to them. My favorite is probably Gordian Knot, but there are many. (Sliced Bread, Euphony, Otium, etc. etc. etc.)</p>

<p>Gordian Knot's website:
gordian</a> knot :: default</p>

3

<p>I feel the same way. I would never MAJOR in creative writing or something like that. And I think that in order to be a good writer, I need to have a solid background in a lot more than English. But I also think that for me to develop my skills further, I need to have some kind of writing community that will give me feedback and that I can share ideas with.</p>

4

<p>Oh no.. now I'm considering JHU..? I don't know, I don't think I can count on writing/theater being my main focuses for the rest of my life. I'm TOO well rounded. Is that possible?</p>

5

<ol>
<li><p>It's true, there are a lot of people interested in theater and creative writing at Chicago. And all of them also believe that you have to KNOW things other than theater or writing in order to bring something to the table. The theater people are the kinds of people that take Greek tragedy or Restoration farce really seriously, in addition to whatever is hot now.</p></li>
<li><p>You absolutely should consider Hopkins, which also has a great English department to support its writing and theater programs.</p></li>
<li><p>My kid tells me that the creative writing courses at Chicago are probably not up to the standard of schools (like Hopkins) that have strong creative writing programs. She cares about that; sometimes she has second thoughts about having chosen Chicago, but most of the time not.</p></li>
</ol>

6

<p>So your daughter is interested in creative writing? Why did she choose Chicago? What are her regrets and what are the things she likes best about Chicago?</p>

<p>I'm not sure I have enough time to apply to hopkins..</p>

7

<p>She chose Chicago because she liked the idea of the core, and the intellectualism of the student body, and because it seemed to have a huge number of people who were a lot like her. And because it was in a big, cool city, and it wasn't fratty/preppy. (And, frankly, because she didn't get into Columbia. Not so much because she liked Columbia more than UChicago, but because she liked Manhattan and the Upper West Side a lot more than Chicago and Hyde Park.)</p>

<p>She hasn't loved loved loved the core so much, although part of that was just bad luck with her Hum section I think. She has loved the people and the spirit of the university. At first, she envied her friends who were getting to take focused courses on topics that really interested them, but over time she has liked her experience more than most of them have liked theirs, and many (not all) of them feel that they have to hide their intellectual interests socially, while that is not at all a feature of my daughter's life, to say the least.</p>

<p>Sometimes she has regrets about not having chosen a more professional writing program. If she were starting over, she would probably look carefully at Carnegie-Mellon, Johns Hopkins, and Penn, none of which she really considered when she was in 12th grade. But that doesn't mean she would choose one of them over Chicago -- she would think about it more than she did. One of her creative writing teachers splits the year between Chicago and Columbia, and says the experience of teaching in the two colleges is very different. Many (not all) of the Chicago creative writing students are essentially hobbyists, and it is not that difficult to get into the classes. At Columbia, competition is fierce, and many of the students already have book deals.</p>

<p>Anyway, two more vignettes about her experience at Chicago:</p>

<p>She loved the multi-quarter history of drama course team-taught by a famous, senior Shakespearean scholar and the director of the University Theater. One of the cool aspects of the course was that, in lieu of papers, students could produce a scene from a play. She did that -- once -- with her very drama-oriented friends. She didn't do it again, because it was three times as much work as writing a paper. But the drama kids were in heaven (and killing themselves, repeatedly, doing super-professional productions).</p>

<p>Basically, anyone who wants to produce/direct a play and who can put together a decent proposal can get university resources to do it. But there aren't so many people who are into theater that you are guaranteed to get a good cast and crew. It takes a lot of work, and some luck, to round up the necessary ingredients. (At the Yale of my day, which was roughly the same size as Chicago, the volume of undergraduate theater was probably 2-3 times what it is at Chicago. There were just a lot more people who were into it.)</p>

8

<p>Hmm.. well, I think I'll definitely consider applying ot Hopkins.. I'd better get to it! I really like the idea of the core, but I can see how it wouldn't turn out to be as good as it ideally seems.</p>

9

<p>Let me just throw this out there: the idea of the core made me come to Chicago, but the actual fact of it made me want to leave.</p>

<p>e.g. Often, "Hum" & "Sosc" are just code for critical theory.</p>

10

<p>So would you choose a different school if you were to do it all over again? Is the core really that bad?</p>

11

<p>Well, I'm a English/Creative writing Major/minor at the UofC. I've only taken two fiction class so far though (beginner and advanced). and I've taken a slew of English courses. Overall, my experience with the department has been very positive...with the exception of one teacher who I found mostly useless. But, even in that class the students "replaced" the teacher lol. You can't go wrong with the department here. I'm a vastly improved writer since I've been at Uchicago. </p>

<p>CesareBorgia is right. The core is a beautiful thing when you're applying. But once you get here and have to deal with these texts in a Uchicago manner, it will make most people want to go running, including me. Hum and Sosc will become quite strenuous for most first years at the university, but like all of us, we make it through. Right now, I somewhat tutor the first years in my house, helping them with their Hum and Sosc essays. Once you're done with Hum and Sosc...I'm not kidding... the way you see the world will change. Its definitely worth the all-nighters. It must be said that some students don't struggle at all with Hum and Sosc, but most will struggle quite a bit.</p>

<p>Hope this helps</p>

12

<p>
[quote]
It must be said that some students don't struggle at all with Hum and Sosc, but most will struggle quite a bit.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I struggled with both, but not enough to ever lose heart. I don't know if that's because I have an iron stomach for academics (I think I do) or because I'm a reading/writing oriented person who was used to high school classes filled with lots of both. Probably a combination of the two.</p>

<p>I know a lot of people (myself included) who will read over housemates' and friends' essays. When I was taking hum and sosc as a first-year, the upperclassmen in my house offered to do the same for me. So even though Core might be an intellectually exhausting experience for some, there are a lot of rewards to gain intellectually and knowing that you have a community behind you is also quite helpful.</p>

<p>I should also add that even though I am no longer in core, student-initiated collaboration on essays continues. (The same is true for problem sets... I'm not in any quantitative classes, but my housemates who are group together to do work on problem sets). For example, though, I'll get an e-mail from a student in one of my classes inviting anybody who wants to go out to dinner or to a coffee shop to chat about an upcoming assignment.</p>

13

<p>newenergy, what do you mean it changes the way you see the world? </p>

<p>I do WANT a challenge. I defiinitely haven't gotten that in high school, though I've taken the most challenging classes possible. Maybe my high school is just ridiculously easy or maybe it's me, I don't know. But I'd like to struggle through something for once. </p>

<p>The community sounds wonderful. I'd like to feel like I'm not alone in my learning.</p>

<p>I suppose it's good I have a few more months to figure this all out, because I'm still not exactly sure what kind of education I want. I suppose when it boils down to it, it's all "pointless" so a little (lot of?) theory couldn't hurt anyone, right? It seems interesting to me now, but maybe that's because I haven't been overloaded with it. </p>

<p>I do know this much: I'd rather be overwhelmed with academics than barely touching the surface of things and faking my way through it all, which I feel a few of my college friends are doing.</p>