<p>Yay! I'm glad you liked me, ticktock. What color was my hair at that point? :)</p>
<p>There are really no unpopular majors on campus- psychology is not as popular as Economics or Biological Sciences, but is definitely popular enough.
I've taken some courses in psych and work in the psych department as a research assistant, although I am a bio major, but find the psych department to be really good. You'll occasionally get a bad postdoc teaching an intro class, but the graduate students that work as TAs for intro classes are all stellar. Some of the professors in the psych department are some of the frontrunners in their fields- Susan Goldin-Meadow for gesture and language, and Dario Maestripieri for primate behavior, to name some stand outs- and are usually really stellar teachers. The psych major is relatively easy to complete in terms of course requirements (I believe there are only 11), but many classes are offered in psych, and you get a good opportunity to explore a lot of topics, especially interdisciplinary topics. There are many, many research opportunities in psych as well. One warning, though: psych here is very much more theoretical than practical, so you'll be doing a lot more learning about theories of mind, concepts in psychology, experimentation, etc. than you will about counseling psychology.</p>
<p>PSAC Website: gone. We got rid of it because it was a) ugly, b) confusing, and c) basically a full-time job to keep current. Most of the information you would have gotten from the PSAC website is on the admissions website, on Facebook, or can be asked here anyway.
As for a virtual dorm tour, I am very much in favor of us having one, and plan to sort-of craft one for the blog during Winter Quarter. Keep your eyes open for a photo series called "Dorm of the Day".</p>
<p>Hey guys....I just had a few general questions about housing.</p>
<p>1) How does the housing selection work? Do you request a dorm, and then within the dorm you get, you're thrown into a house? Or do you request a house and then get put in one of that house's dorms?? Or is it something completely out of left field?
2) If you're in a double as a first-year, do they give you another first-year for a roommate, or do they mix years when assigning rooms?
3) Do you find out your roommate, room assignment, etc. before you start the year, or do you have to wait until orientation to find out for sure?
4) Not really related to housing, but...What do you do during orientation week? Obviously you're moving in, doing some class-building and/or house-building activities, taking placement exams, etc., but is there anything particularly interesting and/or amusing that you do?? Just curious as to what that looks like! :D</p>
<p>Sorry for so many random questions, and if you already answered something like them in this thread or on CC in general, please smack me over the head and reprimand/redirect me. :>)</p>
<p>@ gracello,
I believe it was brown. :) You were wearing a skirt even though it was about 30 degrees outside in November!</p>
<p>Haha, yeah... who says UChicago kids aren't fashionable (even when it's cold)? About two weeks ago my hair was white with red stripes, this is how most people have been remembering me recently :)</p>
<p>@Miles:
Okay, first things first. Houses are done within dorms- so, you'll pick the dormitory building you like (say, Max Palevsky) and then the housing office will randomly assign you to a house within that dorm (Rickert, Wallace, May...). You will not be able to request a specific house.
Most of the time, you will be assigned a first-year roommate. You may be placed with an upperclassman, but this is rare- usually only in situations where that person's original roommate is taking a leave of absence, graduated over the summer, etc.
You will find out your roommate and your housing placement during the summer, usually in the beginning of July.
You're pretty clear on orientation week already! There are some seminars you go to led by upperclassmen, time to bond with the house, placement tests, that sort of thing. The University also organizes some campus-wide activities, like trips around Chicago, a night where they rent out the Museum of Science and Industry, and a community service day.</p>
<p>Hey Grace,</p>
<p>I was accepted EA and I am pretty positive that I want to go to Chicago, but my parents want me to wait until I hear back from a couple of other schools in the spring (especially in terms of financial aid or if I somehow change my mind). </p>
<p>Will it hurt me if I don't make my deposit now and start the housing application process etc? Would it be better if I made my deposit and then asked for it back if I were to change my mind (if that is even possible)? I just don't want to lose my spot or something.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Pygatea-
Although in the past you were able to get your deposit refunded, beginning this year that is no longer an option. So, once you send in your deposit, that becomes your commitment to attending the University.
There are plenty of good options in housing, and I would encourage you to wait until you have heard from other schools before sending in your deposit. Most if not all dormitories will still have space if you wait until the priority deadline for EA acceptees for housing forms (April 15th, I believe), which is after you will have heard back from other schools.</p>
<p>Okay. And what dorm did you stay in freshman year and did you enjoy it?</p>
<p>I live in Snell House in Snell-Hitchcock and LOVE IT. I still live there, and plan to continue unless I get a position as an RA.</p>
<p>Ah! Thank you so much, Grace...I have had so many random little questions that are sort of hard to know where to find on the Chi website, etc., but reading through threads like this one is a very helpful activity. You guys are way awesome. :)</p>
<p>pygatea- I live in Max Palevsky and I absolutely love it! I'm in the Woodward house, and we're the biggest on campus, so there is always someone to hang around with. Its nice because although we may not look like Hogwarts, our rooms are big and new, the location is almost unbeatable, and the people are some of the most outgoing you'll find. Of course I'm biased, but still. </p>
<p>One downside to max is that a lot of the upperclassmen move of campus- half of our house is first years. However, this can be good because it surrounds you with kids who are going through the same process as you, and there are always some upperclassmen around to help you out. Plus, even after kids move out, some stick around as associate members, they play IMs, stop by house meetings, etcetera. Its a great environment.</p>
<p>Thanks re: psych, gracello, that was helpful :) In terms of research for psych, how difficult is it to get a job as a research assistant? Also, how's the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience/can people get involved with that?
And is there a neuroscience major?</p>
<p>So there is no way of trying to get a certain house in max? My best friend from high school (he was in 08, I am in 09) is in Max and I forgot what house but I think its wood, is there anyway I an request the same house as him? I don't want to room with him because I wouldn't get any work done but I would like to be in the same house as him.</p>
<p>Getting a job as a research assistant is way easy. I literally got my job after going up to a professor after a lecture I liked, telling her that I liked it, and having her ask me, "Would you be interested in a job as a research assistant with one of my graduate students?"
This happens more often than you'd think. There are also research assistantship job fairs, advertised on campus, and several websites through the University that post research positions- frogs.uchicago.edu is one of them. There are several labs that will hire first year students, but many (especially in the sciences or in economics) will want some basic coursework in the field before beginning, so you may need to wait until second year to become involved in a lab.
@Machiavelli- there's no formal way of requesting a certain house. You might try writing "I would like to live in Woodward House" (Woodward is the house you may be thinking of in Max P) on the "comments" section of your housing form, but that's no guarantee you'll be placed there. If you're not placed there, you probably won't have any problem hanging out with him, though, so don't worry!</p>
<p>shut up, kenzo</p>
<p>Hi, I was wondering, how many students that live on campus have a car?</p>
<p>Not many. (10 char).</p>
<p>What are the Odyssey scholarships? I've read about them a little on the website, and they sound great, but surely not everyone whose family income is below $60,000 gets all of their loans replaced with Odyssey scholarships. Who recieves these scholarships?</p>
<p>Actually, yes, the University commits to ensuring that families under the income limit for Odyssey Scholarships get loans replaced with grants. The University received a $100 million grant several years ago that endows this venture, and it has been really helpful to a lot of families. Sure, there are some anomaly situations (say, for some reason your family makes $60,000/year but you have $40,000,000 specifically saved for college, etc) where you won't qualify, but for the most part, the guidelines on the Odyssey Scholarship are pretty accurate. Honestly, since I don't get any Odyssey help, I'm not familiar with specifics beyond what is on the website, but the University is really really really committed to providing Odyssey aid to families that qualify (as well as good aid packages to people that don't).</p>