Perspective of a Current First Year

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
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<p>There's probably a lot of thread similar to this, but I felt like sharing my experience so far to anyone who's considering this amazing school (and I'm procrastinating... of course). Sorry for such a long post, but I hope it helps at least one person!</p>

<p>Difficulty: Yup, it’s pretty hard. It depends largely on you; I know some people who feel as though they’re drowning in work and others who don’t know what to do with their free time. Soo, I’ll discuss my own situation. My schedule is rather tough (honors calc, honors physics, self for sosc, and human being and citizen for hum). My free time is very limited, and there’s always something that I could be doing, but I can fit some in. For example, I went to the Art Institute on a whim today and ate downtown in Millennium Park. However, for most of this week, I worked nonstop, whether it be on 17 page calc sets or reading 100 pages of the Iliad. A note about math: I placed out of calc, into the “let’s teach you about proofs and then throw you into analysis course”, but I’m really glad that I chose to do honors calc. It’s a challenging course that’s really, really interesting... I didn’t know anything about proofs before it. On core classes: choose a good professor, but don’t be afraid of new ones. Participate in the discussion! Otherwise the class will get boring very, very quickly. Anyway. Yes, you’ll probably have to work a lot. But you can make time for RSOs, exploring Chicago, having a social life, etc. </p>

<p>Speaking of social life... the people! They’re not all socially awkward geeks... actually, there’s really not that many. Or they just all hide. Everyone is intellectual in their own way, but not necessarily a nerd... or at least they’re closeted nerds. I was slightly disappointed by the scarcity of stereotypical UChicago students... well, perhaps not scarcity, but the fact that they’re not the overwhelming majority, although perhaps a slight majority. They’re my best friends so far. In general, everyone is really friendly and supportive. The house system is really great. There are, contrary to popular belief, a lot of parties, especially during o-week. However, I cannot judge them; I am not the partying sort.</p>

<p>Dorms! Disclaimer: I live in BJ so I am very, very biased in its favor. That being said, BJ is amazinggg... walking across the Midway isn’t that bad and it’s so, so beautiful. The rooms are super big too--both the singles and the doubles (which are mostly suite style, hence two connected rooms for two people). Other dorms I’ve been in: Max P is big and is the party dorm. Not a fan. Pierce is ugly and has small rooms... however, I hear the community is great. And its lounges are big. Breckenridge: it’s really not far away and its residents are awesomely crazy and very UChicago. Broadview: rooms are okay-sized, but is a little ehh... the downstairs ballroom and kitchen are both great, though. </p>

<p>Food: South, in my humble opinion, is the best dining hall... actually, I think most people agree with me. They have delicious breakfasts with pancakes, Belgian waffles, made-to-order omelets, and fried French toast sticks. Lunch and dinner are good as well, with decent variety. I haven’t really gotten sick and tired of my options... yet. Oh, the salad bar is great. Bartlett seems a bit crowded but is pretty tasty. Pierce has sushi somedays, though I’ve yet to eat it... One dollar shake days are amazing.</p>

<p>Chicagooo: It’s epic. Go to places. Don’t just go downtown; it gets boring quick. You’ll get a CTA card, but I’d suggest a plus card, which automatically refills once it’s below a set level. Don’t take the Green Line; do take the Red Line. </p>

<p>Safety: You aren’t going to die. Granted, the latest I’ve walked around was about midnight, but I’ve never felt uncomfortable. Since I live in BJ, I have to walk across the Midway at night a lot. It’s super well lit. There’s university police swarming about. There’s Safe Ride if you’re out somewhere on campus late, but they’re sort of slow... I was put on hold for five+ minutes until I finally just hung up and walked back to my dorm from someone else’s. Just be smart... don’t wander around at 3 in the morning by yourself.</p>

<p>Random advice: Do try to visit a few times beforehand... and by visit, I mean wander around by yourself. I lived 2 hours from Chicago, so I was able to come up to visit about every month after I got in... and it was sooo nice to be really oriented. Explore Chicago a bit too, so you’re already familiar with the public transit and the basic downtown area. Also, if possible, do CAAP, the summer program. I heard it was a lot of fun and you get free money. Do stuff with your house during o-week... I feel like I didn’t bond as much as others did, which I sorta regret. However! Also meet people before you come to UChi! I made a lot of friends with whom I internet chatted the months before move-in. It was cool to have some close friends already made.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the great post. I really really hope to go to UChicago. Do you think I could message you a few questions?</p>

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<p>Yeah, of course!</p>

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<p>Coming out of my retirement as a UChicago alumnus and former CC junkie (seriously, I do not miss this site, okay, only sometimes!) just to say that I’m glad you’ve found yourself a home at UChicago. Many people have perceptions that UChicago is very one thing, or very another, but the only thing it really is is a bunch of intelligent people within a relatively small acreage who do intelligent and sometimes not-so-intelligent things together. Your courseload is quite ambitious, but you’re aware of that.</p>

<p>I believe that CAAP is an invitation-only program for students-- students looking for free money should check out the best-kept secret, the Decision Research Lab: [Participate</a> in Research - Center for Decision Research](<a href=“http://research.chicagobooth.edu/cdr/participate.aspx]Participate”>http://research.chicagobooth.edu/cdr/participate.aspx) and if they’re looking for academic support, there are evening tutors available in Harper Library.</p>

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<p>Hi everyone,
Guess I’ll add a little bit to sylviecerise’s all-encompassing post. I too see that you can find your own niche of people, which I like a lot. I’m in Breck and I definitely enjoy the crazy antics the house gets up to :stuck_out_tongue:
Classwise, I’m not making a judgment until after my chem exam, oh excuse me, “midterm” this week, but so far it’s been manageable, however like sylvie said, I know people in two honors classes who are always doing p-sets. (I’m taking Math 152, Gen Chem, French and GTL). A lot of my stalking on evaluations.uchicago.edu helped out in terms of my professors and I really like them (although luck had to do with it in terms of registration appt time and chem and French which only have one teacher). My hum is also that-kid free so hooray! xD This is random, but to potential bio majors, they’re changing the requirements A LOT, so ignore everything on the college catalog site. I’ll keep you guys posted. Another piece of advice, do not perfectly plan out your first year the summer before you come because people will change things on you - or you can’t get into a certain class, etc. It’s okay. (Yes, I’m speaking from experience here… >.<) </p>

<p>I’ve signed up for a couple RSOs and a music group so I’m pretty sure they’ll be keeping me busy but I was able to go and see the Chicago Symphony with a group of friends the other day so like sylvie said, you just make time. Aaand, that’s all for now - as I have to stop procrastinating my chem lab -__- </p>

<p>P.s. sylvie, sorry for hijacking your thread - it kind of turned into a ramble!</p>

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<p>UNALOVE - hey, welcome back. How are you doing and what are you doing?</p>

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<p>You got it, babe! Folks used to think Breck was in the outer reaches, but now that South is there, it doesn’t feel as distant. Besides, if you want to do Kuvia, Breck and Stoney are the closest to the lake!</p>

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<p>Except that Kuvia requires walking to Henry Crown every morning <em>except</em> Friday, which is diametrically opposite campus from Breck. I actually find the biting cold wakes me up that early, thoguh.</p>

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<p>@drdom:</p>

<p>Doing well! Very happy, gainfully employed, and miss being a student.</p>

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<p>I bow to Arkleseizure’s superior wisdom on Kuvia.</p>

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<p>BRECK!!! Yes! I am loving the Breck-love in this thread. It’s not too far… but sometimes the culture can be a bit stifling. Overall, a good choice. But no work ever gets done in the lounge…</p>

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<p>^ I’m pretty sure no work gets done in any House lounge. If it does, you’re doing it wrong.</p>

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<p>zakuropanda, did you get any credit for your IB classes? From what I have read so far, I get the impression UChicago does not recognize IB work at all.</p>

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<p>Yes and no. From the website:</p>

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<p>Essentially you can get elective credit and fill the language comp. requirement through IB scores. But only AP 5 scorers get, say, to take AP5 bio (unless they changed that this year–the bio program is hella confusing now), or pass out of gen chem or 120s physics. There are accreditation and placement exams, of course, but the bottom line is that Chicago seems to consider an IB 6/7 inferior to an AP 5, for reasons which are totally beyond my comprehension.</p>

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<p>@unalove - glad to hear it. Hey, there’s always graduate school.</p>

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<p>Ahem … I’m surprised a swarm of Breckinridge residents hasn’t corrected your spelling error. But seriously, I’m in Breck and loving it—I spend 90% of my time studying/thinking about studying/procrastinating/complaining about studying, but I enjoy it.</p>

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<p>another first year…
I am in Broadview, and believe me, the 20 minute walk gets super annoying when your bag is full of books and you’re tired and you just want to plop on the bed and zzzz off. Which you can’t. 'cause you have homework. lots of it.</p>

<p>The bus is there but there are times when it gets extremely frustrating to just stand in a corner and wait for that goddamn bus. Especially if you’re like me, and you don’t like standing in corners (waiting for buses).</p>

<p>There are lovely shuttles starting from around 6 PM to take you back to your dorm or from your dorm to campus after the bus has stopped running. It’s very convenient, it comes often, and the drivers have good taste in music.</p>

<p>Otherwise, the Broadview is awesome. Great chance of getting your own bathroom, even greater chance of getting your own room AND bathroom, great chance you’re gonna find leftover goodies in the kitchen, insanely good chance someone is playing the piano beautifully in the ballroom, wonderful chance there is free food in the house lounge, etc. etc. The house system is great. Take advantage of it; it’s way easier to make house friends during O-week than class friends during the rest of the year.</p>

<p>The dining options are pretty good; I eat at Pierce, the meat is questionable, but we do have the Mongolian grill, tacos, and strange varieties of pizza. You can pop in any time you want to get free snacks and drinks.</p>

<p>Pierce is not ugly. It looks like a bee hive. Okay, it is pretty ugly.</p>

<p>Schoolwork? It’s okay if you have a good hold of yourself and are in possession of some kind of willpower. I do not, therefore I suffer.</p>

<p>Discussion-based classes are pretty interesting. What you do is you read some (usually) well-known and highly intellectual piece writing of prior to class and then sit talking about it in class. Make sure to participate, even if you have nothing to say. There is some amount of bs going on, but that’s likely to happen when you’re being graded on participation. Watch and listen for the discussions OUTSIDE of class. You will learn things, and even better, you shall be entertained.</p>

<p>The only difficult part of these classes is possibly the reading and the papers you have to write. If you have a decent attention span, you can cope with the reading. If you’re not allergic to work, you can do the papers. Otherwise HUM and SOSC will own you, so either suck it up or take Media Aesthetics. </p>

<p>Four classes maximum seems like a little, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not.</p>

<p>Be prepared to not sleep. Caffeine is your friend.</p>

<p>This is not where fun comes to die. This is where fun comes to aggressively go down on your GPA like a cute squirrel in hell.</p>

<p>There are, at times, excessive amounts of fun. Well, that is if your idea of fun includes wandering around museums for free, chasing squirrels, talking crap about Marx, and commiserating about your collective misery with your house buddies. Parties do occur here, and there is plenty of booze (though I have not tried either). </p>

<p>The school will also present you with your very own rape whistle, embossed with the university crest. </p>

<p>I like to keep it on a UChicago chain/thread-thing with my house keys and wallet, which I then stuff into a pocket with the rape whistle poking threateningly out under the side of my shirt.</p>

<p>I have never gotten mugged here, nor felt that I was about to be mugged, but take it with you anyway. If you’re not going to use it for real, at least blow it really loudly in some echo-ey place then run away giggling as concerned citizens run to your rescue.</p>

<p>The students here are, on the whole, pleasant and sociable. If they’re not, well, you don’t see much of them in the first place, 'cause they’re busy huddling in a subterranean cave/Regenstein somewhere.</p>

<p>There is an obnoxious glass dome right next to the outcropping of said subterranean cave, which will supposedly, once finished, allow you to study under the stars. You won’t see any stars. It’s Chicago.</p>

<p>I guess people here are intelligent, though having been here for a couple weeks, I don’t really remember what dumb people look or sound like.</p>

<p>I haven’t taken much advantage of the close proximity to the city, but if you’re a city person, I would assume you’d be satisfied. </p>

<p>Well, that didn’t help, did it. </p>

<p>Peace.</p>

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<p>^I assume this wasn’t your first choice school?</p>

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<p>^Wha?</p>

<p>Kid sounds just like a true Maroon.</p>

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<p>^Ok, yes you are right LOL.</p>