Post-Overnight Program (Reflections)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>So...I just got back from my overnight program and, seeing that I consider myself part of the CC family, I would like to share a bit of my experience.
The program was AWESOME! It was very organized & went by smoothly.
The campus was amazingly beautiful, and the people there are very nice.
U of Chicago was TRULY an amazing campus. Everybody (and i do mean EVERYbody) are so smart & knowledgeable. Coming from the west coast, people at chicago are definitely INTERESTING (in a good way) </p>

<p>Nonetheless, however much I loved & adored U of Chicago, I couldn't see myself going there. When people say "it takes a special person to go to U of C" they are not joking. U of Chicago is definitely an elitist school (....one level below harvard). Though people there are NOT at all arrogant (like those at the ivies are), they definitely have their head propped high...they are proud with the fact that 1) they are intelligent and 2) that they are u of chicago kids....(and please note that i'm not saying that this is necessarily a negative thing). Being a california, "western" kid, i have to admit that i was tremendously intimidated. </p>

<p>U of Chicago is (without a doubt) a serious & intense academic institution. Yes, INTENSE. People are there for one and only one reason: to study. They are very passionate and very serious about their studies. If you mess around over there....or if you're not "one of their kind" you will be eaten alive (not literally of course....but more psychologically)</p>

<p>Their math program is quite odd. Everything is mostly proof-based (which is quite odd...considering that that is a graduate material)</p>

<p>The student life there (no offense) is quite dull. The campus is not dynamic as the University of califonia campuses are(i.e. UC Berkeley, UCLA). There just aren't a lot of things going on. It seems to me that there is no separation between school and life. </p>

<p>This is only MY reflection & experiences. I still love, adore, and highly respect university of chicago for being an academic institution of its kind; i just didn't belong there & didn't see myself there. So my advice to prospective students..please visit all of your colleges' and do their overnight program!Then you'll know what you're jumping too.</p>

<p>Peace,</p>

<p>Ray</p>

<p>Anyone else?</p>

2

<p>I had quite the opposite experience. When I first met my hosts, they were all openly critical of the university. They talked about how much it sucked to be living in an anti-social dorm in an anti-social school. They also complained about the intellectualism of the school. In fact, they didn't seem to have any pride in the university at all, which leaves them no reason to prop their heads high. However, when I asked the hosts if they would choose any one of their admitted colleges over U of C if given the chance, they unanimously said no. It seems that Chicago's students (at least the ones I have met) are openly rebellious and critical, secretly content and proud, but definitely not arrogant in the slightest sense. This realization made me want to attend the school even more. The hosts all pretended they were not the "U of C type" by saying how lazy they are academically or how involved they are socially, but they could not stop themselves from engaging in intellectual conversations later that night. It seems to me that the notion that you have to be the Chicago type in order to fit in is a misconception. You can have your own personality - whether you're spontaneous or serious, personable or withdrawn, laid back or academically driven - and still be an intellectual at the same time. The Chicago type is not a mold of personality you must have to fit in, but is rather the analytical readiness to challenge ideas, even if some of the criticisms are directed at your own school. The students I met were humble and capable of self criticism; they were innerly proud but not arrogant; most importantly of all, they were kind and welcoming to students of all personalities.</p>

3

<p>I hated the overnight. Passionately. :)</p>

<p>Ray,</p>

<p>I'd say you're correct that people don't distinguish between school and life. You are at College for school. That is your purpose for being there. The two are very definitely interwoven. That's why questions such as "how many hours do you study?" don't make sense: you live at school, so study time and play time tend to get mixed together. </p>

<p>I believe math at all top programs is proof-based. Am I wrong? Chicago prides itself on being, so they say, the only school where every calculus student must learn proofs--and that's only for the intro stuff.</p>

<p>You can most certainly have fun and party, and many people do. It is true though that you must get your work done in order to get good or reasonable grades. Because of the quarter system, you need to stay on top of your work. A smaller school like the University of Chicago is obviously going to have fewer campus happenings than any of the UCs, which are huge schools.</p>

<p>Stanford_J,
[quote]
You can have your own personality - whether you're spontaneous or serious, personable or withdrawn, laid back or academically driven - and still be an intellectual at the same time. The Chicago type is not a mold of personality you must have to fit in, but is rather the analytical readiness to challenge ideas

[/quote]
This sounds exactly right to me. My friends have vastly different personalities, interests, and motivations, but they are all intellectuals and they are all here for the academics. </p>

<p>Remember, your hosts and the dorm you stay in will affect your experience significantly. The dorms all have their own stereotypical students who tend to be quite different from one another.</p>

4

<p>
[quote]
That's why questions such as "how many hours do you study?" don't make sense: you live at school, so study time and play time tend to get mixed together.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>At most colleges, I contend that this question does, in fact, make sense. Students at most colleges, even fairly elite ones, seem to separate their academic and social lives. Friday and Saturday nights are for drinking and mindless revelry. Sunday nights, on the other hand, are not as exciting because one has to force oneself to put in some hours doing homework.</p>

<p>At Chicago, however, I notice that students take their "homework" everywhere. Homework, perhaps, is a poor description because it implies a burden. A better description is intellectual passions. In my experience, it is hard to go anywhere on campus without running into an intellectual conversation. The quality of conversations at UChicago is amazing. Though they're probably odd to the average person.</p>

<p>While the campus is supposedly dull, I found the dorm life to be amazingly social.. in part, of course, because I have only been to Pierce Hall, which is supposedly more social.</p>

5

<p>Standford_Janitor, you say that the students you met were........ "all openly CRITICAL of the university. They talked about how much it SUCKED to be living in an ANTI-SOCIAL dorm in an ANTI-SOCIAL school. They also COMPLAINED about the INTELLECTUALISM of the school. In fact, they DIDN'T SEEM TO HAVE ANY PRIDE in the university at all...." yet..."giving the chance they would not have gone to any of their admitted colleges over U of C" ??????.....and you find this normal?</p>

<p>I have never heard of a visiting student having the experience of being told by the hosts that they should have gone some place else. I believe that the purpose of the visit is actually to entice the visiting students to attend the university. I find that the college visits are inherently very biased.</p>

<p>But now, to turn around all those comments and imply that they still would not have gone any place else?? Come on man. Be real, you are not that naive...are you?? For anyone with some degree of common sense, those comments just show more of that impossible defensive nature of the people of U of C. I do not know what the big deal is with a healthy dose of constructive criticism...</p>

6

<p>From the U of C "Overheard on Campus" Facebook group:</p>

<p>
[quote]
In line to the Food Festival at Ida.</p>

<p>Me: Wait, is Feta it pronounced fet-uh or fate-uh?
Friend: I dunno.
Me: I bet within two people of us in this line, someone will know the answer.
Guy right in front of me, after shuffling his Greek flashcards: Fate-uh. Like Theta.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Does this count as taking one's homework with them?</p>

7

<p>Whoa-- after reading this I just had to post because it gave me a full-scale flashback.</p>

<p>27 years ago (ahhhhhh!) I could have posted vircabutar's note. Word-for-word. I was a Californian deciding between Stanford (hmmm, first typed "Satanford"), Cal and U of C . To top it off there was a huge snowstorm the day before I arrived. In my case, several of the upperclassmen seemed to think that I was nuts for even thinking of going to U of C instead of the other two. But I loved the unique feeling and I felt an immediate kinship with my fellow prospective students. Bear in mind that housing then was not remotely as good as it is now.</p>

<p>In my case, the financial aid was not sufficient (Stanford's was lousy as well) and I took my free ride at Cal with a heavy heart (at the time).</p>

<p>I am amazed (and pleased) that things really haven't changed. </p>

<p>And I think Stanford_Janitor hit it dead on.</p>

<p>JT</p>

8

<p>I don't think my experience was heavily influenced by my host. I saw them for all of 3 minutes.</p>

<p>It reaffirmed the fact that I am going to die for the next 4 years over and over in each class (phoenix like?). </p>

<p>Social life is relative. Some think social life is talking to people and friends. Others- parties/drunk/dancing/sex. Sure- I saw their "party" at phi delta. If you can dance, you are in the minority. No open sex, no puke across the floor- and the people who were making out were heckled at. To be honest, it was nice.</p>

9

<p>IDad is on facebook?!</p>

10

<p>Well, people seem to be saying the same thing. To be honest, my enthusiasm for attending (I am) went from very high to moderate, as I heard some things to make me very unhappy ("Medicine...wrong school"). Let me add I was there another night, so this is based off two nights there.</p>

<p>I'll be brutally honest, and hide behind my anonymity online. People were always working, whether it was at 2 in the morning while smoking hookah in Shoreland, or at more sensible times like while waiting in line for Yo-Yo Ma (sp?) tickets at Max. I did not like that students didn't seem to ever put aside work to just have fun. </p>

<p>Also, and more on this on the "girls" thread, there is a HUGE amount of ugly people at U of C of both sexes. This isn't like "oo this shows how bad U of C is" this is more for me of something I am just not used to, as in, walking around campus it was new for me to walk around for 10-15 minutes and not see 1 person I could find attractive. I don't care what people say, mingling with the opposite sex is a very important part of being young and being in college. </p>

<p>This also surprised me greatly. Yes, prospie night is exactly the time for all the current first years to drop everything and make sure the prospies have the nights of their lives. I did go to a frat party, and walk around, and stay up late and have a good time. However, I heard other people who just spoke about how they hung out in the lounge and watched TV THE ENTIRE NIGHT, or worse, hung out in the lounge and watched people play video games. This is not something I would expect at any U. In fact, one of the girls who was taking us to the frat party wanted to make sure we got out because on her prospie night all she did was stay in.</p>

<p>Before we left for the frat, there was very little talking going on. Instead we sat in the lounge watching some odd, horrible, and obscure movie from the 60s and listen to one kid there complain about how he couldn't blaze because his RA told him he really couldn't that night.</p>

<p>On the other hand, I did go to many speeches and tour a LOT of the campus. This part of course was amazing. I was super impressed with the facilities and how the undergrad program is run compared to other Us. It definitely seems if you are driven and smart, there are things you can do and have access to at U of C that you can't anywhere else in the world. I liked the atmosphere at U of C of always trying to "meet the challenge" you are presented with. It was certainly a very healthy and comfortable academic atmosphere.</p>

<p>I agree with what Stanford_Janitor was saying in that the students were critical but in love with their school. However, some of these criticisms did the opposite of enticing me to come (some of the things said offended me, but might be really attractive to other people, so I'll leave out examples).</p>

<p>Walking around campus, I was also surprised that it was very quiet and not crowded either (though I admit this could easily have been unlucky, a function of the weather etc.). There was no hustle bustle to be found.</p>

<p>So, I go to U of C next year with a healthy dose of skepticism now. A huge amount of the people there love it to death, so I hope I am converted next year to this viewpoint. If not, I can always transfer (ha! to NU as people at UChicago like to say, but I didn't like NU at all when I visited).</p>

<p>Another thing I would like to add to my long rant, is a lot of the kids there really wanted to go, or had tough decisions between other Us, but financial aid was really holding them back. It seems everyone there had offers that were double U of Cs. I personally think that is pretty pathetic that U of C which has a large enough endowment to give enough aid, just sucks in this department.</p>

11

<p>The University of Chicago is a place that the students love to hate and hate to love--no doubt about it. Students are forever self-depricating on all aspects of campus life. </p>

<p>Smirkus, I'm assuming you were here for Wednesday and Thursday nights. Students have classes the next day. It is naive to believe that they will neglect their problem sets and reading in order to entertain you. There are prospies all year long, particularly for athletes and their roommates. On accepted student days, there are tons of prospies all over campus, and many people end up hosting even though they don't want to or don't have time in their schedules. Participation is a huge part of core classes, and on the quarter system getting behind in reading is a big deal. Students will bring their reading to wait in line for an hour (I've done it) because otherwise they need to read when they would be sleeping, at bar night, hanging out, or getting other work done. People watch TV, play video games, or hang out in their rooms on Thursday nights because they have class the next day. Even if they don't have Friday classes, Chicago weekdays are tough, and the first night without lots of work is often spent relaxing, rebooting, and finishing up loose ends. When you're at college, you'll choose your own friends instead of being stuck with whatever random student on campus ends up as your host. If you want to spend your weeknights neglecting your work and partying, you'll be able to find some company. There are all types at Chicago, and once at college you can find the students who don't take their reading with them to be your friends.</p>

12

<p>I don't know that I can speak for my son about this very well, but I'll try to explain his experience. Chicago and Reed have been his top choices for most of this year. He visited Reed in October and had an incredible time. He was very happy to be accepted at both schools. He visited Chicago for the first time at the beginning of April. He spent 4 days there, part of at I-House, part with an overnight. He went to 4-5 different classes. </p>

<p>What he said to me was that he really enjoyed the time in class, and found those amazing, great, wonderful, everything he expected. However, when he wasn't in class, he just didn't find the social comraderie he had hoped for. There just didn't seem to be the warmth and closeness that Reed had. It's not that my son is party animal, or that he doesn't want to talk about class outside of class -- far from it -- but just that Chicago students seemed to be, for the most part, less social creatures. He said that he thought that "his people" probably existed at Chicago, but that there weren't as many as at Reed. </p>

<p>The final decider though, was that at some point after a class he ended up talking to a bunch of graduate students who had all gone to Reed, and they all told him the same thing: "Pick Reed." They didn't dislike Chicago, but were glad they were undergrads at Reed. (They also said that Reed was harder than Chicago!) Between that, and Chicago's abyssmal financial aid situation, Reed was the easy choice.</p>

13

<p>TrinSF
"Between that, and Chicago's abyssmal financial aid situation, Reed was the easy choice." </p>

<p>Not our experience at all with the financial aid situation. </p>

<p>From what I have seen, moderate income / high assets families have some difficulty with the office. We are moderate/middle income / moderate assets and we have paying pretty much what the CSS Profile predicted. With our situation, we do a bit better with the institution methodology: folks with inheritances businesses, and houses on the coasts may not.</p>

14

<p>Smirkus,
"Also, and more on this on the "girls" thread, there is a HUGE amount of ugly people at U of C of both sexes. "</p>

<p>I hope that you learn to look beyond the surface in your years at Chicago - or perhaps to expand your definition of beauty a bit.</p>

15

<p>haha I'll say this again--there is a lot more to people than how they look physically. My standards for people are not super high, but I'm attracted to what I'm attracted to. However, I see nothing wrong in pointing out that there a lot of physically ugly people at U of C. This isn't just true at U of C, but at a lot of schools. Harvard and MIT don't especially have a good reputation for having attractive students...</p>

<p>If you want my definition of beauty, I'll have to give it in two parts: 1) Whatever you are attracted to is beautiful (eye of the beholder) 2) Things that are NOT beautiful, at least when talking about people, are people are are especially over or underweight, that have horribly mishapen teeth, whose bodies are not pleasingly proportioned (thin waist, gigantic thick legs etc.), people who are dressed in a way that is neither trendy, normal, nor rebellious but just plain odd, blotchy very zitty and rough skin, and perhaps most importantly people whose faces are not cute (very hard to explain that criteria). </p>

<p>That #2 is a menagerie of ugly attributes. A large amount of the student body at Chicago have enough of these attributes to land them in the unattractive category.</p>

<p>However in relationships I fully know from experience and living my years that there is more to a person that you can find attractive than just how they are physically. I was not at the school long enough to talk to enough girls to see how their personalities were, but of course I look beyond the surface.</p>

<p>If you don't want definitions... then if you have seen any of the "Revenge of the Nerds" movies, no, students (at least not many) are as horribly nerdy as those characters, but yes, a lot can be compared physically to those characters.</p>

16

<p>ohio_mom: Oh, it's not that it's bad aid. It's that it's no aid info yet, and it's halfway through April. We're EFC 0, no assets, no nothing, but the office is being difficult to work with about other matters. I've written about it on financial Chicago financial aid thread. Basically, Reed sent an aid award with their acceptance, and Chicago still hasn't. So, by abyssmal, I mean, "difficult to work with, rigid, beaurocratic, unhelpful, rude in email", not "bad aid."</p>

17

<p>TrinSF -
well, no excuses for the rude in e-mail part! I'm very glad that your son has his spot at Reed and you don't have to fret unduly about the Chicago numbers.</p>

18

<p>Smirkus,
"If you want my definition of beauty, I'll have to give it in two parts: 1) Whatever you are attracted to is beautiful (eye of the beholder) 2) Things that are NOT beautiful, at least when talking about people, are people are are especially over or underweight, that have horribly mishapen teeth, whose bodies are not pleasingly proportioned (thin waist, gigantic thick legs etc.), people who are dressed in a way that is neither trendy, normal, nor rebellious but just plain odd, blotchy very zitty and rough skin, and perhaps most importantly people whose faces are not cute (very hard to explain that criteria). "</p>

<p>Well, that would be me, in at least one or two of the particulars. I wonder why I post here sometime.</p>

19

<p>haha I think only on CC does answering a question about the attractiveness of the student body result in personal attacks and more arguing that results in offending people. Well, people there didn't seem self conscious about their looks either. Sorry for offending anybody with my definition, not to say I disagree with it. Keep in mind it is my own personal def., so who cares what I think. Also, it only applies to young people. ohio_mom, you are a mom... when you get older, the rules for beauty change. If I saw a 50 year old that looked 20, I wouldn't think "hot!" I would think "she must be fake, and shouldn't look that way." So my def. only applies to college age kids... eh at least I'm no Imus right now</p>

20

<p>I actually got the opposite feel for social life than most of you did. I dormed with someone at Shoreland, and I found the people to there to be as social as any students you'd find at other colleges. Granted, they didn't go to parties, but it was a Wednesday night and, instead of locking themselves in their rooms studying, they were hanging out together in the common room playing video games, watching movies, and fooling around. They were also really loud and outgoing. I'm a really reserved, quiet person by nature so I didn't really click with these people, but what I'm arriving at is that you can find social people at Chicago, too. </p>

<p>I suppose that if you're looking for people who party vigorously every weekend, you may be (somewhat?) disappointed. But I'm sure you can still have an enjoyable time at UChicago. </p>

<p>I'm more concerned with being able to find friends who accept my introversion, because I didn't meet too many of those sort of people during my overnight stay. I'm sure I'll be able to find them, though.</p>

<p>My reflections? I love the campus, love the classes, love the curriculum. Hate the weather (I'm a California kid), but I'll get used to it. The people were really nice and friendly -- even those who weren't designated tour leaders or dorm hosts. I'm not too worried about social life, because I've never been that much of a partier. Though I do hope I'll find people who like to do the same things that I do. And soccer on the Midway sounds FUN.</p>

<p>I'm still torn, however, because Berkeley is going to cost me almost 60% less than Chicago. And I really, really love Berkeley, though I know I'm not going to have the opportunities to grow and mature the way I will if I go to Chicago. Decisions, decisions.</p>