<p>I'm a senior in high school and have chosen to matriculate at the University of Chicago. I'm extremely glad to have gotten in but I keep having second thoughts about whether this is a good school for me or not. </p>
<p>So here's some background:
My entire family and I have been focusing on getting into Princeton since I was in middle school. It's always been the goal that we've set for me. My sister attended there so it seemed plausible that I could also be admitted. I applied there early and waited to see the results before even starting to work on essays for other schools. I end of being deferred and have to go back to the admission drawing board. I choose 8 schools to apply to based on a horrible system. I essentially chose schools that had shorter essays or had essays that overlapped. For this reason Chicago initially didn't make the cut. It has a very odd essay topic that I thought I just wouldn't want to write an essay for. On top of this, the UChicago school culture seemed odd and overly intellectual in a way that just didn't appeal to me. The only reason I applied to this school is because my sister essentially forced me to. For the essay I just took my UPenn essay and changed the ending a bit. I didn't even edit the final UChicago copy. </p>
<p>So fast forward a few months later, I get my first letter of acceptance to UChicago. My initial reaction is cool. It wasn't really on my radar as a school I wanted to actually go to and I didn't even expect to ever select it. A few more weeks roll past and I found out that I was rejected from Harvard, Princeton, and U Penn (who I my u chicago essay for). At this point I'm just numb. My plan for the past 6 plus years is entirely changed and I have no clue what to do. I sort of narrow down my schools and end up deciding between U Chicago, Duke, Dartmouth, and Rice. I live in houston so I had visited rice before and didn't care much for the campus; so, I scratch that off my list. U chicago pays for me to go out to visit. I go and like the people and the campus. But, it just feels off. That weekend U Chicago bumps my merit scholarship by 10,000. So at this point U chicago costs 25k; Duke costs 36k; Dartmouth costs 40k. I can't justify to my parents paying a minimum of 11k a year extra for school because UChicago felt "off." So I select the U Chiago button and decide to go there.</p>
<p>Since then, I've realized people just don't know UChicago. I've been told so many times "I've never heard of that school." And yes I realize that you don't pick a school so you can wave it in the faces of other people, but its pretty disparaging when you have ignorant people telling you that a state school is much better than UChicago. On top of this, I've been looking more into the UChicago culture and it seems so... theoretical. I see U Chicago kids as the people behind the scenes writing public policy rather than being front a center shaping it. I'm more concerned with the latter and am worried that the University won't train me well for a position such as that. </p>
<p>Anyway, Does anyone have any advice to get over this or have a similar feeling before attending school? (Also I know U Chicago is a great, elite school. And, I really hope I didn't come off as elitist in this.)</p>
<p>First off, second thoughts are normal. However, you can’t worry about what others think. Go to Chicago, do a great job, and be successful. </p>
<p>Anyone who hasn’t heard of the University of Chicago is simply too ignorant to have meaningful input in a discussion about colleges. It is one of the most respected, prestigious, universities in the country, and has been for many, many years.</p>
<p>^Absolutely agree. U of C is a world beater. If you need a snappy come back, find out a few stunning facts about U of C you can pull out and recite to the folks who never heard of it until you feel more secure in your choice. </p>
<p>The questions of its culture is tougher. It isn’t for everyone. I have two kids who are very similar in stats and strengths and only one of them would fit in there and be happy. However, it is big enough and diverse enough that I feel like you can find your group if you go there and give it a try. The new admissions policies seem to have made it more like other highly selective colleges as well; it used to be more distinctive than it is now. </p>
<p>I live in California, and U of Chicago is well known. The son of friends goes there and absolutely LOVES it. Go, and enjoy it!</p>
<p>Friend’s daughter goes there. She was a House Page in WDC and very active and on the front lines of shaping the world. Loves it. The kids are diverse and very active in all kinds of causes. You’ll find other kids who share your passion, even if it takes time. Those admission weekends, while valuable, also seem a little “off” to me too–they are such a sales pitch and somewhat fake that way. And it’s Chicago! Tons of great things to do and many super internship opportunities to go out and do what you love. All kids get nervous after making such a big choice. Go embrace it. And if it’s wrong it’s not a life or death choice. You can change it later. </p>
<p>A. If you really hate it, transferring out won’t be difficult - after all you will be at UChicago, which has a great reputation.
B. There’s always grad school and UChicago is great prep for that - if you want to get to a place (e.g. Harvard) that puts more people up front.
C. Most of the world is in positions behind the scenes. Just be glad it’s an opening to get that far - once behind the scenes, it’s a chance to get noticed and move up.
D. If your friends have never heard of Chicago and think UT is a better school, you need a new set of friends. Just because it never appears on SportsCenter does not mean it sucks.</p>
<p>Never, never, choose a college based on name recognition. Unless you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, chances are you will choose wrongly. This iis because the people you will be hanging out with in four years willl be very different from the ones you started out with in high school. When I was your age, the college everyone in my hometown heard of, and to some degree, respected the most was St. John’s University, the basketball powerhouse in Queens, New York. If I’d gone there instead of a relatively unknown college called Wesleyan, I would not have had the same opportunities. </p>
<p>Be the change you want to see at UChicago. For them to add on the scholarship shows me, with little info about you, that you are special. Do great things there, you won’t regret it.</p>
<p>U of Chicago has changed some in the last few years, I think you will find it to be a bit less intellectual than it used to be and you will be fine there. Gotta tell you, where I live few people have heard of Rice… and people here only know Duke because of basketball. U of C is ranked #5 among national universities by USNWR, what more do you want? Stop worrying about what everyone else might think and go get a world class education there.</p>
<p>You’re not ready for the U of C. I think you should go with your instincts and stay closer to home. Rice is a very good university, as is Dartmouth. U of C is a great university with an international reputation, but it is not for everyone. </p>
<p>Anyone who hasn’t heard of U of C shouldn’t be allowed to have their opinion matter in your decision. It’s one of the best universities in the country, along Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, etc. Or, as wogzmama said eloquently:
You’re having cold feet. It’s pretty natural at this point and many seniors who had lots of great choices are second-guessing themselves. Don’t second-guess yourself for real - it’s normal but it’s “not real”, it’s fear of the unknown and realizing you’ve made the biggest choice in your life so far, a choice that will matter. You’d like to turn back the clock as much as you want to leap ahead and be in September already.
Go to Chicago.
What made you excited? Think about all the good reasons you have to go there.
If some classmates or your Uncle Dylan make noises about it, be ready to cite all the facts that you want (“it’s ranked higher than half the Ivy League” if rankings matter to the person in front of you). Also, not all people rank schools according to their football team 
and the “people that matter” to your future will know about UChicago. And they’ll be impressed.</p>
<p>IF after your first year you realize that UChicago really isn’t for you, it’ll be easier to transfer about anywhere from there as long as you’ve kept your grades up (even if the Ivy League takes very, very, very few transfers* they tend to be lateral transfers, ie., from top-ranked U’s and LACs.)</p>
<p>*Princeton takes none so forget about them. They don’t admit someone they didn’t admit the first time around, either. So, really, forget Princeton. They obviously weren’t the school for you, even if you’d been raised to believe you’d go there. </p>
<p>First, your second-guessing is totally normal. The objections you mention do not seem very significant to me. It would be different if you absolutely had to have a big Greek presence or a school with a competitive football team, or if you hated big schools and wanted a small LAC (though of course in that case you would never have applied to U of C in the first place). </p>
<p>Since you don’t ask for advice on how to change your mind and go to a different school at this point, I assume that’s not your goal and you’re just hoping to get reassurance and to be talked into feeling better about your choice. The only thing I can say is that I don’t think anyone really knows what their college experience will be like until they get there. You say you liked the people and the campus when you visited, but it seemed “off.” To me that sounds more like it didn’t match up to whatever idealized vision of the perfect college campus is in your head, than anything you can actually pin down that’s wrong with U of C.</p>
<p>(Disclaimer: I’m an alum, though it’s been 30 years since my own matriculation so I don’t pretend to be able to tell you anything about what it’s like now.) </p>
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<p>This, however, makes no sense. Any large university will have all kinds of people there, who will go on to do all kinds of things. Also, don’t go around thinking that any university will “train” you for anything in particular – this isn’t a cooking school. No matter where you go, you have to make your own opportunities – your school just gives you a foundation to build on.</p>
<p>Finally, let me tell you that the people behind the scenes writing public policy are often in fact the ones who are “shaping” it. The ones out in front doing the talking often know far less about the issues and about what it took to get certain policies or legislation in a position to even be talked about, than the “behind the scenes” folks.</p>
<p>I agree with @dustypig – It would be refreshing to have someone out in front shaping policy who actually had the intellectual chops to do the behind the scenes work, too… :)</p>
<p>I understand where you’re coming from. I was accepted to and will be attending a US News top 5 LAC but my heart really isn’t in it… I know that it is a good place to go to but idk why i’m not very excited…
Hang in there…</p>