Perspective of a Current First Year

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
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<p>I have to chime in here, and please don’t interpret my post as ■■■■■■■■ or thread-hijacking. I’m just looking to give an objective account of my own experience at UChicago and how it differed from the sentiments echoed in this thread.</p>

<p>First of all, OP, I’m glad you’re having a great time at the UofC so far and I sincerely hope that you’re able to maintain this positive attitude throughout your time here. Let me say, however, that the OP echoes what I’ve heard many many “typical” UChicago students say, and that based on what he/she has said, the OP meshes pretty well (even very well) with the climate here at the UofC. Prospective students: if you’ve done a bit of research and have reservations about whether or not you are true UofC-material (not based on intellect, but on your hobbies and social desires), please take the OP’s remarks with many grains of salt.</p>

<p>I’m a current fourth-year at the University of Chicago and I have had a drastically different experience than most people on this forum. Granted, people who post on CC self-select and will generally have a favorable opinion of whatever the subject may be (why else would they write up long threads, hoping to convince prospective students to consider their respective universities?), I do feel that this board in particular is severely lacking in opinions from people who think of themselves as very normal but happened to come across a few extra IQ points in the beginning.</p>

<p>My time at the UofC has been pretty miserable. I filled out transfer applications – twice, but for some reason I never had it in me to leave. No, this isn’t because I’ve struggled academically (I have a 3.95 overall, 4.0 in my major, and will probably graduate as a Marshal in the Spring), but I have struggled socially. I came to the UofC out of insecurity and lack of knowledge - neither of my parents went to college, so I didn’t know much about the process and basically just applied to top 10 with a few safety schools. This was clearly my mistake as I did not do any research on the UofC before coming here…I never visited, I never went on this site, I hardly even went to uchicago.edu to see what this place was all about. Whenever I received one of those pamphlets during the summer that wanted to inculcate me with how “quirky” the student body is here, I paid little attention. Turns out they weren’t lying, and this became very clear to me as soon as I set foot on this campus.</p>

<p>People who love BJ and Breck (and I speak from experience here, having lived in one of these dorms my first-year) are representative of typical UChicago students. If you aren’t completely sure that you’re going to fit in at UChicago, you will probably not have a good time here. That, in my opinion, is the bottom line. If you read the OP’s post (again, no offense to the OP, just wanting to add my $0.02) and think “Man, this sounds really awesome”, but you’re not the type to play Risk on Friday nights and talk about Marx at the dinner table, you’re walking into something that will probably make you unhappy for four years. Please do as much research as possible before coming to the University of Chicago.</p>

<p>The people are nice, but they are only nice if you reciprocate UChicago to them. If you play a sport or join a fraternity, you WILL be resented by the overwhelming majority of the student body. If you talk about girls (or guys, if you’re a female) at the dinner table instead of literature, people WILL judge you and they won’t want to talk to you anymore. People here NEVER smile – everyone walks staring at the ground all the time. When you run into people on campus that are in your classes, they’ll turn their heads in order to avoid talking to you because they are so socially awkward. The OP is having a great time because he or she fits in – people are receptive toward the OP and the OP feels “at home” with the folks at this school. Obviously, he or she is going to think everyone here is nice and that this is paradise. If you have any reservations about whether or not you’ll really “fit in”, I would strongly urge you to do more research and/or look elsewhere to spend four INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT years of your life when it comes to developing as an adult. I really wish I could look back at my college experience five years down the road and think that it was the greatest time in my life, but I’m 100% certain that this will not happen because I never was able to find my niche on this campus.</p>

<p>OP and other people on CC, props to you for finding your niche and I’m glad you all are happy with your college decisions.</p>

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<p>I too am a first year, so I don’t suppose I know terribly much, but my experience has been pretty different from MacsCostTooMuch’s (and I’m speaking as someone who would like the whole BJ/Breck thing but hasn’t seen much of it). I live in Max P, and I have had a total of perhaps one geeky conversation. My suite slants very hard in the boys-and-parties direction, and if there’s any resentment towards the piles of athletes in my house, I have yet to see it. People here freak out about studying, but hardly live and breathe it, and people definitely do smile at each other when they meet on campus. I have heard that our year is representative of a bit of a shift in tenor, which may or may not a) be true, or b) explain the difference in perception.</p>

<p>I guess the point I’m trying to make is to get as much information as you can. Make sure it’s up to date, visit, ask anyone you know that goes here. Even visits aren’t necessarily representative - when I prospied, most of our prospies went out to a frat party. On the other hand, I know of another house where all the prospies sat together and did their homework. There are a lot of people here, and they aren’t all clones of each other.</p>

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<p>The impression I got from couple of campus visits and talking to a number of students is very different from the picture painted by MacsCostTooMuch. It was very positive.</p>

<p>P.S: The new Macbook Air is awesome.</p>

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<p>Just a smidge of my experience.</p>

<p>I’ve lived in BJ and Max.
The Beej is very representative of your stereotypical UChicago student body. I absolutely loved the place.
Max, while still retaining some of that UChicago charm, is most definitely a VERY different place. I’d even say the kids there seem like your typical smart-kids-at-a-good-school-normal. Absolutely more so than The Beej - but that isn’t to say Max doesn’t have its share of the quirk. We’ll leave it at that.</p>

<p>In sum, you can find your people at UChicago. Unfortunately, I just don’t think toomuch tried hard enough.</p>

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<p>I appreciate your use of “the Beej”. Haha.</p>

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<p>Wait wait what?</p>

<p>I live in BJ, for reference. People who play sports are well-liked and very much part of the House; I have yet to see any fraternity-based resentment; we talk about guys and girls at the dinner table and in the lounge along with Rousseau and Plato. And people definitely smile.</p>

<p>I will say this, though: you don’t have to be excessively geeky or quirky to enjoy your time here, but I think you do have to be excited about ideas. This doesn’t have to be Marx: I’ve had conversations on everything from pop culture to politics to sex to biology to, yes, The Value of A Liberal Arts Education. Everybody, even the people who seem profoundly unintellectual at first, has thought deeply about something, is passionate about something, has interesting things to say about something–you just have to get them on the right topic. I think that’s the real commonality between the students at UChicago.</p>

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<p>Perspectives from a parent of two who were both accepted at UChicago:<br>

  1. One is a third year very much in the Breck/BJ mode. Definitely found his people here. Is still a fan of Ted.<br>
  2. Other S thought Breck/BJ would not be his thing – too intense, as he put it – but did not care for the partying at MaxP or South, either. Also stayed at Pierce, which he thought would be a good compromise. In the end, he wanted the late night Risk and the political/philosophical discussions, but he also wanted folks who liked watching football on Sundays, and did not want to join a frat to do that. After four years of an insanely intense IB program, I think he wanted more balance in his life. Is currently at Tufts, though I will also say he didn’t make his decision between the two until 8 pm on May 1st. It was extremely tough for him to choose.</p>
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<p>MacsCostTooMuch:</p>

<p>Firstly, I want to commend you on your intelligence and work ethic; clearly your GPA is indicative of the fact that you were a “right fit” academically for the University of Chicago. I’m sure-- if your extracurricular involvement is anything like your impressive grades-- you will have no difficulty finding a fantastic job or matriculating to a great graduate program upon your graduation this spring. I very much think that the University of Chicago name on your diploma will also be an asset to your applications, though you likely would have succeeded academically wherever you attended. </p>

<p>With respect to your opinion, MacsCostTooMuch, I would like to counter. I am sorry you have had such a negative social experience at UChicago. I am likewise a 4th year and have a drastically different outlook. </p>

<p>I am an athlete.
I lived in Max.
I have never been to BJ or Breck.
I am an English major (and thus very capable of discussing literature over the dinner table).
I’ve never talked about Marx over dinner. Or Freud. Or Durkheim.
I do, in fact, like to talk about boys.
I have never played Risk.
People look me in the eye all the time. And smile. And address me by name. And ask me how I’m doing; how’s my paper coming along; how my team did in last night’s game; where I bought my shoes.
I wouldn’t say I’m overly quirky and I don’t think you’d peg me as the stereotypical UChicago student.
And I am incredibly happy at the University of Chicago.</p>

<p>I do have to agree with you on one thing, however: I’m not altogether too fond of Macs. I’m much more of a PC kind of person.</p>

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<p>As a UChicago parent squared and long-time participant and observer on these boards, I am glad Macs made his post. There ARE people who feel that way at Chicago, and prospective students ought to know it. He is 100% right that you ought to research the school before going there.</p>

<p>On the other hand, his experience is completely inconsistent with my kids’ experience. Neither of them was remotely socially challenged; their problems (if any) kind of tended in the opposite direction, and both had to learn how to balance their social lives with academic demands. One was an athlete (serious club variety, not a recruit), one not; neither joined a fraternity or sorority, but both had friends who did (and both frequented bar night as first years, at least). Both had pretty extensive circles of friends, some from courses, some from ECs, and some random people from their first-year houses (one of which was Maclean, and the other the Shoreland, so . . . pretty much opposite ends of the housing atmosphere spectrum). </p>

<p>One was a devoted scavvie and team official, the other wished Scav Hunt would vanish from the Earth and stop interrupting the arts festival with which it always overlaps. The scavvie was also a Kuvia/Kangeiko fan, and a fan of various other quirky traditions, while the other wouldn’t be caught dead at that sort of thing, but knew where all the cool off-campus parties were. Each of them was really engaged in his academic work, but also in a variety of other activities and paid work.</p>

<p>The thing that most differentiated their experience from Mac’s, I suspect, is that they enjoyed the Marx-at-dinner conversations a lot, and didn’t feel remotely oppressed by them. (They also each only spent a year in university housing, after which they discussed whatever they damn pleased with their friends at each other’s dinner tables.) I know from personal observation that a lot of their conversations were of the Marx-and-Buffy-the-Vampire-Slayer variety, or Belle-and-Sebastian-and-Benjamin. But one of them came back from a trip to visit friends at other colleges and said, “I don’t know how they can stand it. No one is allowed to talk about anything intellectual, or anything they’re doing in their courses. It’s all TV. I couldn’t take that.” </p>

<p>People who feel a need to prove that they are “normal”, who are looking over their shoulders at some imaginary high-school alpha-clique that is judging them and finding them uncool – those people ARE going to feel oppressed by what they will regard as the constant and inexplicably unpunished intellectual pretentiousness of many Chicago students.</p>

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<p>You’ve outdone yourself, JHS. And the bar was already pretty high.</p>

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<p>glad to hear that there is diversity at uChicago. Too much of any one thing or style would be oppressive.</p>

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<p>Good post, and I agree about CAAP, it was such a blast!</p>

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<p>I feel bad for MacsCostTooMuch-sorry that your experience has not lived up to your expectations. Congratulations on your superb academic performances, you will likely go far in life. I certainly wish I could say the same about my GPA as you can haha.</p>

<p>However, this:
“The people are nice, but they are only nice if you reciprocate UChicago to them. If you play a sport or join a fraternity, you WILL be resented by the overwhelming majority of the student body. If you talk about girls (or guys, if you’re a female) at the dinner table instead of literature, people WILL judge you and they won’t want to talk to you anymore. People here NEVER smile – everyone walks staring at the ground all the time. When you run into people on campus that are in your classes, they’ll turn their heads in order to avoid talking to you because they are so socially awkward. The OP is having a great time because he or she fits in – people are receptive toward the OP and the OP feels “at home” with the folks at this school. Obviously, he or she is going to think everyone here is nice and that this is paradise.”</p>

<p>Is just plain WRONG.
If you join a frat or play a sport, you’ll be resented by the rest of the school?
Complete b/s. Most people probably won’t care, and no one is going to judge negatively for doing either.
Pretty much all my guy friends and I talk about are girls. Well okay, that’s a gross exaggeration, but I’ve rarely come across pure discussions about literature, etc.
NEVER smile?
That’s a pretty extreme absolute, I see people in my class whose names I don’t even know and they smile at me, and vice-versa.
The OP is having a good time, as am I, because we fit in. But I can swear we’re probably completely different people, I go to frat/apartment parties multiple times a week, strongly dislike the core, etc. Yet, we’ve both found our niches.</p>

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<p>thank you so much!</p>

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<p>Hmmm…maybe I should add my contributions to this thread.</p>

<p>Life outside of the classroom:
Over the past quarter, I have been invited to: bake cookies/other random things to de-stress about an exam or celebrate them being done; decorate the halls with paintings/hang Christmas lights; go downtown to various restaurants, shopping areas, the art institute, plays, opera, the movies, and the zoo; spend a weekend at a friend’s house; parties at frats, apartments, and clubs, involving alcohol, pot, and/or crack (or none of the above); dinner parties; play Smash, a game of cards, risk, and Scrabble; go to a monastery; pull an all-nighter in the Reg (and various other places one can study with and without alcohol); trips to Starbucks anytime between 6 am and 4am; go to a meeting for an RSO; teach high school/elementary school students in after school programs; direct a program; go on a road trip to Michigan; stage a protest; be given a hug; just talk; have dinner at a local restaurant; volunteer around Chicago; go to a bible Study, church or other religious things; Blues ‘n’ Ribs; Fall Formal; do preparatory things for Scav; be on various committees that both shape small groups of people, my class, the school as a whole, and Hyde Park as a whole; watch football both at a college level (both at UChicago and elsewhere) as well as at a professional level on a TV, computer or live in person; and the list goes on…</p>

<p>Now have I done all these things? No – to be honest, I don’t think anyone here would be capable of doing all these things in 11 weeks given that school has to take some precedence. But the point is that the variety of things one can get involved with here at UChicago is enormous.</p>

<p>Yes, the workload here is pretty intense (though there are different degrees depending on the courses you choose and the professors you pick) and it will take up a lot of your time. But when it comes to your social life, you pretty much have the capability of doing whatever you want with (or without) a group of people. You may end up needing some time to adjust, but if you just take some time to seek out people – you will find people you have things in common with. :)</p>

<p>PS: I’m a second year.</p>

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<p>I felt like adding since I have successfully survived my first quarter as a first year. And let me tell you, survival was questionable. Like Mudskipper said, four classes maximum seems like a joke (I took 8 classes a year every year in high school, 9 if you include PE) but it is exhausting. There was always a chem problem set or lab report to attempt, reading for Greek Thought and Lit to not sleep through, a math problem set to stumble through, or Spanish exercises to complete. But I loved it all. </p>

<p>Classes: I know a ton of people out there are potential biological sciences/chemistry/biochem/pre-med majors, so I know firsthand the pain you will go through. And it is Gen Chem 111. The class was not my favorite but I was lucky that 20 kids in my house (19 first years and 1 second year) in the same class so every Tuesday night, we would have chem problem set fiestas (PS’s were due Wednesday) that would start in the lounge and somehow travel to just about every floor in the house/the 5th floor study room in South Campus, with people searching for someone who was able to figure out #13. It was highly entertaining to go through this every week, especially since all the upper-classmen/non-Chem kids would get very annoyed by us literally taking over the whole house with Chemistry. </p>

<p>Dorms: I love my dorm (South!) Some people complain about South, saying it’s ugly, hotel-esque, impersonal, and that it doesn’t belong on the Neo-Gothic campus, but I disagree. I find it beautiful and welcoming! Yeah, the white walls can be a little daunting, but my amazing roommate and I decorated our room with a rug (on top of the carpet) and posters upon posters upon posters. It’s a favorite hang out place for all of our friends because it is so homey. And my favorite things about South (besides my house) are that a) it’s really clean (we have cleaners who vacuum and mop and dust all common areas every morning) b) I don’t have to clean my bathroom (it’s cleaned for us! and it’s pretty convenient) and c) the dining hall is literally steps away from the front door. </p>

<p>Houses: My absolute favorite thing about UChicago is the houses. Here, your house becomes your family. We eat meals together at our house table, we go on house trips (we’re seeing Wicked during second week of winter quarter!), we go out to parties (yes, there are parties), we explore Chicago, and we chill together in the house. I feel comfortable with my house and I know that I can always find someone to talk to or be with no matter the time of the day. There’s always someone around in the lounge: either attempting homework, or playing Smash Brothers until 2am. And we all leave our doors bolted or propped open so that people can come in and out! I love my friends and I love the life I have. The house is so supportive of you, which makes everything glorious. Like before Harry Potter 7 (which I got to see at 7pm the night before thanks to a House trip), South Campus-West Hall Council put together a Harry Potter Party where we had trivia games, a costume contest, Harry Potter themed food, and a viewing of Harry Potter 6. Three of my friends and I got together to form a trivia team and we WON! The best part wasn’t the prize reward; it was that most of my house had been watching the trivia tournament and cheered for us when we won! Even though it was a simple trivia contest, the fact that my team won meant that my house won, which meant that my house = awesome! I love the camaraderie with the House System and I wouldn’t change it for anything!</p>

<p>CITY! My friends and I try to make a point to go to the city every weekend. It doesn’t always happen, but whatever. And it’s pretty easy to get down there. You can take the Metra, which departs from the 59th street station, for 2.50 one-way or buy a ten-pass for 20.00 (equals 2 bucks a ride). Or you can take the CTA. During O-Week, they give you a Chicago card, which is not the unlimited deal that UIC and DePaul and some other Chicago schools get. It came loaded with 5 bucks for O-Week activity, but I always load it up with more because it’s really convenient. The first swipe of the blue card is 2.25, the first transfer is .25, and then you get 3 (or 4) free transfers within one hour. And for me, I walk to Ratner (the gym) and take the 55 to the Red line and then either get off at some street in the downdown, or transfer to another line. It takes about an hour, but whatever. Oh, and to get to Chinatown is super easy. Take the 55 to the Redline and get off at Cermak/Chinatown. That easy! Takes 20 minutes. I’ve even done it on a Wednesday night when I had a lab report due in the morning. </p>

<p>Life: I love UChicago. There’s always something to do. There’s usually a play going on and if you help out at a light hang, you get a free pass to the show. There’s also comedy shows and dance shows and much more that I probably don’t know. There’s RSO (registered student organizations) meetings and study breaks (which are open to everyone). There’s lectures and so much more. </p>

<p>My favorite weekend on campus thus far was Halloween weekend for two reasons. First. Friday afternoon, I got to go to a lecture called “Fulfilling the Promise of a Sequenced Human Genome” given by the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Dr. Eric Green who talked about the past and the future of the human genome project, which as a bio major, I found interesting. The best part was that James Watson (of Watson and Crick!) was in attendance! I was a total fangirl and took a photo with him and got his autograph. Gah! To actually stand next to a man who co-discovered the structure of DNA (okay, I know he “stole” information and research from others, but still, he made it in the history books!). Then, the next day, I was a volunteer for the Obama Rally. And once I was done directing people to the Rally, I go to go to it! I was actually standing in the inner circle and got the best pictures ever! But the best part was that I SHOOK THE PRESIDENT’S HAND! No lies. Of course, it was rockstar-reaching-his-hand-into-the-sea-of-people shake hands deal but still! [Hearing</a> Obama’s speech - chicagotribune.com](<a href=“Chicago News - Chicago Tribune - Chicago Tribune”>http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ct-obamarally02520101030195319,0,7485810.photo) If you click that link, you can see the annoying kid who shoved his way to the front with the Obama book. I was two people behind that kid. GRR.</p>

<p>People: Yes, there are super nerds who are in attendance at UChicago, but if you aren’t a super nerd (like me), you can fit in just the same. All the discussions aren’t always about Marx or Chem or other class related subjects. At dinner just this weeks, I was sitting at my house table discussing what it means to be creepy while watching one boy try to pour all the salt from one dispenser into another. And later, we talked about Inception and actually dreaming within dreams. We talk about yummy food, Harry Potter, fun places to visit, drunk people, Smash brothers, and much more. I usually spend my meals laughing!</p>

<p>Food: Food is delicious here! I love South and it is the best by far. And yes, I have eaten in all the dining halls. Pierce as the cool stir-fry station but besides that, they have like no options. Bartlett is decent and has more salad fixings and has an awesome station that makes Burritos, tacos, quesadillas, etc whenever I’m there for lunch. But South is just delicious. I am quite fond of the Kosher Station because a) it always has fresh pita and hummus, and b) it’s not too salty or watery or tough or anything else that the European station is. Also, South serves AMAZINGLY YUMMY mac and cheese. Yes, the amount of butter in it can probably kill you but HEY! There’s also this one worker, Kucko, who makes the best burritos. </p>

<p>Work: I actually have a job and it is possible to manage classwork, social life, and job! I work in the Law Library so it’s super convenient and I get paid really well! There’s lots of jobs on campus, you just have to put yourself out there. Later this school year, I hope to get a volunteer job in a lab for experience. I’d love to find a paying lab job, but I really want to keep my Law Library job. </p>

<p>Libraries: YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THEM ALL! Harper is beautiful and open really late, but it can be loud with prospies (yes, you!) taking photos and a people searching for a seat. Because of it’s architecture, it echoes. So don’t cough! The Reg is nice. I like the cubicles. I have a certain one on the third floor that I literally lived in last Wednesday-Sunday for finals, coming out for sleep, a birthday dinner for a housemate, and other meals. The law library is nice and super close to those in BJ and South and they have these lovely talbes on the 4th through 5th floors on the east side of the building. And it’s quiet because the law students study silently. I haven’t been in Crerar or Eckhart yet, but that will probably change next quarter. </p>

<p>If you have any questions, message me! I’m on break and I have loads of time!</p>

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<p>Oh my gosh you live in oakenwald hahahahah</p>