<li>U of Chicago</li>
<li>Northwestern WCAS</li>
<li>U of Michigan ROSS</li>
<li>Cornell CAS</li>
</ol>
<p>I want to work in Finance/Business
I want to party a lot in college
I want to have close proximity to a vibrant city
I want to study econ/poli sci</p>
<p>Basically, I’m leaning Uchicago because it’s great for all of those except point #2. Is Uchicago’s social scene really that bad?? I fit chicago’s academic mold, but will I be able to find kids who will want to party with me on the weekends or go see shows and shop in the city? How often do Chicago students go into the city? Basically, Uchicago’s notorious social scene is the only thing preventing me from attending. Can you allay my fears?</p>
<p>Well, as a parent who has had two kids attend Chicago I can tell you that the social life is whatever you make of it. See ALL of Unalove's posts. If you want to party, there are parties, if you want to go to the downtown to shop, you will find like-minded companions, if you want to catch an exhibit at the Art Institute or go to a concert, well, those are options too. I had a son who was there from 2003-2007 and I have a daughter who started this past fall. Both were and are very happy with their social lives.</p>
<p>I don't know why anyone should have to convince you to go to the University of Chicago. You have four great choices there, all of which would be fine except for the vibrant city part, and two of which are fine on that, too. </p>
<p>Chicago has less of a party culture than the other three. That doesn't mean it's a party-free culture. It's not. But I am confident that of your four choices, the median Chicago student parties the least, and the big Chicago parties are the smallest and least likely to produce permanent injuries. On the other hand, I am also confident that Chicago has more of an intellectual atmosphere than the other three. Not that you can't find a satisfying intellectual environment at any of them -- you can -- but at Chicago it's unavoidable, and at the others, based on what I've heard, it's eminently avoidable. </p>
<p>That wasn't one of your criteria. If you don't care about that, and if you don't like the core-ish idea that everyone around you is sort of studying some of the same things at about the same time, then there's really no strong reason to choose Chicago over Northwestern, certainly, or really over any of them.</p>
<p>People who like to party loooooove Michigan and Cornell. Sure, their "cities" are not as impressive as Chicago, but they are in two of the best college towns in America, and their size (in Cornell's case, together with Ithaca College) generates a humongous amount of activity that is specifically geared to YOU and is a hell of a lot more affordable and convenient than doing the bright-lights, big-city scene in Chicago.</p>
<p>Just figure out what's really important to you, and go with it. You will probably have a great experience wherever you choose, and you will probably have some miserable moments there, too. It's going to be more about you than the college, given that all four of them are superfine. But you might as well go to the one that you feel best about (and can afford -- don't forget that!).</p>
<p>I doubt the social scene at UChicago is really that bad. If you say you "fit Chicago's academic mold" and you feel most strongly about the school (and your only reservation about going there is the social life), I don't see why you should go anywhere else.</p>
<p>The answer to your question, as I think other people have answered it, is yes, yes, yes, you WILL find people who like to party. You may even be surprised at how many people you find who like to party, and you'll probably always be able to find a party (or multiple) on a Thursday-Saturday.</p>
<p>Our party scene just isn't as... intense? as it is elsewhere. And I recognize I'm saying that never having been a student at another school, and that most people who criticize Chicago's social scene haven't been students here.... as far as I know, the students at other schools work and party just the same way we do.</p>
<p>This boy who graduated from my HS last year and who's now at UChicago is a party boy. I might ask him, but my impression is that he enjoys being at the top of the social hierarchy (or so he claims) and is therefore not complaining. This just goes to show that if you're looking for that scene, it's there.</p>