<p>while building my lsit of colleges i would like any suggestions of schools like uchicago in the sense that the people love to learn and social life isnt centered around binge drinking
on the off chance (more like more than likely chance) i dont get into uchicago</p>
<p>Reed and Swarthmore are the uber-intellectual LACs, MIT and CalTech are by far more studious, but more math/science oriented. U-Chicago is, I would posit, a blending of the two.</p>
<p>I was looking for schools like UChi, and found Carleton College in Northfield, MN to be a great fit. I also think Macalester is pretty similair, and it's much easier to get into, and it's in St. Paul, MN, so it has a little bit of the city feel like chicago than northfield (though st. paul isn't nearly as big as chicago, it is a good sized city, and you have minneapolis connected to it). </p>
<p>I've heard Grinnell likened to carletong and chicago, but i haven't visited it, myself. </p>
<p>other than that, reed and swat are popular comparisons, and lasermouse said.</p>
<p>If Chicago is part of a smart and slightly kooky family, its siblings would be Carleton, Macalester, Barnard, Grinnell, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Columbia, Reed, Yale, and Brown.</p>
<p>I like the analogy of "siblings" rather than "similar" because, just like siblings in a family, each sibling is his or her own person and the similarities don't appear to anybody in the same way. (Am I the only one who, when standing next to my brother, will hear comments like, "You guys look so much alike!" and "You guys look nothing alike!" simultaneously?)</p>
<p>For other "nerd-positive" schools, check out the other schools in Chicago's UAA conference: Rochester, Emory, Case Western, Brandeis, Wash U, NYU, Carnegie Mellon. And I think I'd be remiss not to mention Northwestern as another possibility for somebody who likes the idea of integrating the city of Chicago into academic life. And I hear they might have some smart kids there, too ;-)</p>
<p>But.... there are a LOT of schools that I could see as "similar" to the U of C. If you give a more detailed list of what you like about the school, I can come up with a better list of schools.</p>
<p>The other obvious comparison college in terms of setting and general attitude is Johns Hopkins -- research university with top-flight academics.</p>
<p>Emory is not a nerd-positive school.</p>
<p>S1 would include MIT and Harvey Mudd for those interested in intellectual strength and quirkiness, with inclinations toward math.</p>
<p>S2 did not find Brandeis sufficiently intellectual for him -- I was hoping he would like it. Would love to hear more about Macalester from anyone here who is knowldgeable -- the CC threads have been very quiet and not responsive when I asked about their IR program. S2 is interested.</p>
<p>"Emory is not a nerd-positive school."</p>
<p>gkc4 -- Elaborate?</p>
<p>It's a hard thing to come up with "schools that are just like..." </p>
<p>I laughed when I looked at unalove's list, because my D (for whom Chicago was that "perfect fit") had visited 8 of them, and only 1 of the 8 remained on her list. The other 2 didn't even rate a visit. Others might laugh to see engineering schools on a list of Chicago-like schools.</p>
<p>I think what you have to do is be more specific--looking at what it is you like about Chicago, rather than thinking to somehow match it completely. And keep in mind that there might be some very different alternatives that you could like too, just in a different way from how you like Chicago.</p>
<p>I've never visited Emory.... I assumed it was nerd-positive because it doesn't have a football team and attracts a lot of smart kids. Smart kids tend to be quite nerdy ;-)</p>
<p>My hypothetical list then (I only ended up applying to Chicago because I got in EA):</p>
<p>Harvard, Yale, Princeton (because they're famous)</p>
<p>Cornell (because I had a family obligation to apply to them as long as I was doing HYP)</p>
<p>Hopkins, Northwestern, Tufts (because they are somewhat nerd-positive schools in/near cities with a decent-sized student population)</p>
<p>In-state safety (because it was everything I wanted in a school... smart, slightly nerdy/hippie, extremely unpretentious and non-name brand).</p>
<p>If I were to do it now...</p>
<p>Chicago</p>
<p>Reed, Swarthmore, Carleton, Earlham, Haverford (because I think they capture a lot of Chicago essences well in completely different ways and have a strong community)</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Wellesley (because I think I would fit in well at a women's college)</p>
<p>Hampshire, Bard, Wesleyan, Marlboro, Sarah Lawrence (because those schools would help fill in the gaps in the ways that I am unlike the typical U of C student and those schools would help me have a completely different yet similarly informative four years).</p>
<p>I'm less a fan of the Ivies now than I was then. In all honesty accounts of life at Carleton, Reed, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, etc. get me drooling, and accounts of life at Brown, Columbia, Penn, etc. don't.</p>
<p>St. John's should also be included on account of the oddball student body, rigorous core curriculum, and conspicuous intellectual atmosphere.</p>