“He married one of his classmates and never really left the university. (I wish he would now, for personal growth reasons.)”
Does this syndrome exist at any of the other top elites? We’ve known many like this at UChicago and our own kid is now starting to show the signs, even lamenting in June that she didn’t sign up for summer courses. Can’t figure out if it’s Life of the Mind or something in the water. Do kids show up at Harvard or Yale and then just stay for years and years? Somehow I don’t see that happening at P or S - maybe MIT?
“Those kids aren’t necessarily toxic at all, although they certainly could be if they had nothing more to offer than the attitude on display in this thread. That’s not to say that they are “better” than Chicago ED acceptees, but there may be some subtle differences. I was trying to be honest/straight/supportive when I suggested that @coldbrew22 's kid might prefer a community involving lots of those people (including her) vs. one with few or none of them.”
Brew’s sense of turmoil seems over-the-top; however, some shared remorse among the RD’s is probably to be expected. Those we met last year did have choices at some pretty impressive schools, and anecdotally at least a few of those RD kids ended up in I-House (likely many more, although - again anecdotally - this is the first year we’ve heard of NON-RD kids getting that housing assignment). On the face of it, it simply doesn’t seem to convey a very welcoming message so underlying Brew’s complaints is a genuine - and quite natural - feeling.
But UChicago is simply not going to view the assignment in the same light, even if it wasn’t on your list for a good reason (it’s awful, everyone says it’s awful, etc.). They might read Reddit but they won’t attach much weight to the comments, given the high level of emotion running through. Life of the Mind is simply not emotion-driven, might be their thinking. The students will be out of their comfort zones soon enough, complaints about the long walk to the dining hall will be replaced with more genuine concerns relevant to academic survival, etc. And they would know, having seen countless classes of students by this point! The intensity of the place is jarring that first quarter, even for the well-prepared. No one at this point before 1st week can really know whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing to be “so far away” from the quads! (hubby and I actually think it’s a good thing and were relieved when D was assigned BJ. She now completely agrees with us!). There may not be a student “social” center around the Reg. but there sure as heck is a student “study” center - and LOTS of grad students and faculty milling about to remind you - constantly - to get back to work. BJ/South or I-House might be necessary diversions, or even safe-havens in the storm. Finally, while - sure - they used to advertise the features of each dorm, including videos and so forth on the housing page (what happened to those???), your particular dorm won’t get you through that first 10 weeks - your house, on the other hand, will. House culture is what’s really important about dorm living at UChicago.
So shared remorse and even talk of other choices might well happen - during O-Week. And will very likely end there. It won’t be shut down - it’ll merely be replaced by more pressing matters. But in case that sort of talk DOES linger on into at least fourth week or - unlikely but still possible - 7th week, @JHS makes a good point about the subtle differences. When you are swamped with work, hearing someone chatter on at the House Table about how UChicago was their absolute first choice might seem unbearable and could contribute to a real (not imagined due to location) sense of isolation. Much better to be surrounded by like-minded soulmates.
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