<p>Hi everyone! This is my first post here, but I wanted to know if anyone could recommend a college that's similar to the University of Chicago for undergrad. U of C is my number one school right now, but I need to find other schools to apply to as well. I have some in mind, but none really stick out as much. Please help!</p>
<p>Yale University</p>
<p>Unalove (a Chicago student) started a fairly good list in the Chicago forum a while back.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/403814-schools-like-chicago-but-less-selective.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/403814-schools-like-chicago-but-less-selective.html</a></p>
<p>Hey I’m applying to Chicago as my number one choice too! Are you doing Early Action? If so I’ll list the schools I’m planning on applying EA. And yeah Unalove’s list is pretty helpful though I’d add BC to it.</p>
<p>Well, whenever anyone asks this, I always have one answer:</p>
<p>Kalamazoo College.</p>
<p>i think there is a thread almost the exact same as this… i would try to find it</p>
<p>columbia</p>
<p>Similar in what respect? </p>
<p>To me, the most interesting alternatives are not necessarily the ones closest in size, physical setting, or curriculum model. They are schools that, like Chicago, have a clear sense of their own academic identity and mission, schools that work hard to engage students in everything that means. Sometimes they do that by bending conventions (as Chicago has done over the years) in areas such as scheduling, grading, testing, or curriculum structure. </p>
<p>St. John’s College, Reed College, Colorado College, and Brown University are 4 very different schools (different from each other and different from Chicago), but each of them in its own way encourages students to put career preparation on the back burner and take a little risk for the sake of learning. Check them out to see if one or more sparks the same spirit that attracted you to the University of Chicago (if not the “Core” Chicago then the Chicago of oddball admissions essays.) </p>
<p>Learning is a contact sport; encouraging “contact” is more important than following a formula for how college is supposed to work. Signs of quality include lots of field work, small seminar classes, intense discussions in and out of class, primary sources instead of text books, recent investment in labs and studios, intimate residential settings, intramural sports (not D1 gladiatorial combat in 60K-seat coliseums), a strong advisory system, respect for the needs of individual learners. These 5 schools vary in selectivity, size and setting but commit to many of these features, even though they express that commitment in different ways.</p>
<p>Columbia University (of New York City), definitely. Check it out.</p>
<p>Schools with a core curriculum
Columbia
Reed</p>
<p>Schools (or Programs) with a strong focus on the Great Books
St. Johns
Thomas Aquinas (CA)
Shimer
UTexas (Plan B Honors Program)
Notre Dame (Program of Liberal Studies)
Yale (Directed Studies Program)</p>
<p>Other schools with rigorous academic/intellectual cultures
Swarthmore
Marlboro
Bard
Bryn Mawr
Grinnell
Carleton
New College (FL)</p>
<p>The only thing Columbia and Chicago have in common is that they are both top universities located in metropolitan areas.</p>
<p>Look at Swarthmore and Princeton.</p>
<p>^How about the core, kwu? Yes, Chicago’s is smaller, but still…</p>
<p>Columbia and Chicago both run on a core curriculum model. They are about the same size (Columbia’s a bit bigger and has pre-professional programs that Chicago does not, such as engineering). Both are prestigious universities in major cities. Both schools were involved in developing the Great Books model in the 20s, 30s and 40s. Some influential faculty (such as John Erskine, Richard McKeon and Mortimer Adler) moved between Columbia and Chicago during this formative period in Chicago’s undergraduate history. Both have had strong History of Western Civilization programs that were required undergraduate fare for decades. When I was in college years ago, I thought of Columbia as having a rather intense intellectual atmosphere similar to Chicago’s. </p>
<p>For all these reasons, Columbia is the first urban university that comes to mind when we talk about schools similar to Chicago. Maybe some significant differences have developed in recent years, though.</p>
<p>When I looked at Columbia and Chicago, they felt completely different. Mainly because Columbia was right in the middle of NYC, while Chicago isn’t in the downtown. Also, I’ve heard from friends at Columbia that the kids there aren’t not as passionate as academics as one would expect them to be–which is understandable… I mean you are a 20 something year old with NYC in front of you. And NYC also is very very different from Chicago from my experience.</p>
<p>I would actually say that Brown is more similar to U of C (yes, despite its curriculum.) Students at both places have similar attitudes–I find–towards academics, although Brown kids seem more laid back. (I have heard that they actually aren’t, but I dont’ really know much about that school, so I can’t comment).</p>
<p>^ Interesting. This is why it’s important for the OP to consider a variety of options and go visit some of these schools (preferably on overnight stays while school is in session.)</p>
<p>It’s true that the University of Chicago’s location is comparatively isolated from “downtown” (especially when you factor in weather and the fact that the commuter train is a mile away from campus.) Many Chicago students probably don’t venture much beyond Hyde Park. The whole city is there if you want it, but it is not the same step-out-the-door downtown urban experience you’d get at, say, NYU.</p>
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<p>Woah, back up. That’s totally untrue.</p>
<p>First of all, there’s something called the 6, a bus which takes you straight from Hyde Park to Michigan Avenue. One of the dorms is located a block from it, and most dorms are located very closely to it. Students ride it all the time. Then there’s the 55 -> Red Line, which also takes students to downtown. 55 stops are very close to campus. There’s also the 173/174, one or either of which (I don’t remember) takes students directly from campus to Michigan Avenue, and serves the University of Chicago explicitly (per the name of the bus). These are very quick commutes (about 30 min), and many, many students take advantage of them on the weekends.</p>
<p>It’s true that NYU’s and Chicago’s campuses are extremely different, and NYU’s is certainly located right downtown. Chicago’s campus is rather nice because although it’s not downtown (although it is in a very urban area, right next to the Museum of Science and Industry), it is very easy and quick to get there.</p>
<p>Phuriku adds some good information. I should get back more often before commenting in detail about stuff like the transportation lines.</p>
<p>Still, IMHO, having the Museum of Science and Industry at the far end of the Midway (which is about a mile long) is not the same as being smack in the middle of Greenwich Village, Cambridge, or Georgetown. Although you might really like Hyde Park. You might even like a little separation from downtown. So as I said, go visit and see for yourself.</p>
<p>My own take is that the urban setting may be desirable to many students, but it is not as much a defining feature of the University of Chicago as it is of some other schools. So to me it can make sense to compare it to some small colleges like Reed. I don’t think I could make that kind of comparison in the case of NYU or George Washington.</p>
<p>Heck, if you go to school there, you’ll be livin’ in Obama’s 'hood, so why complain? Hyde Park really is a wonderful area to go to college.</p>