<p>How is the social life at UC? I'm interested in the school for it's great academics, but is there a decent social life too? What do students typically do when they don't have classes and are there a good bit of dry parties/dances?</p>
<p>I’ve heard it’s pretty much nonexistent [where the fun goes to die], but Chicago does have a pretty good nightlife. Of course, there are tons of cool, intellectual people, so if you’re interested in the academics, making friends and throwing parties with them shouldn’t be too hard. I’ve heard the libraries and caf</p>
<p>patriotsfan1, I heard that there was a nice (rock?) concert in the quad on Friday night.</p>
<p>I’ve just started my first year here, and there is much more of a social scene than I actually expected… at least in my house. People hang out in the lounge every night, and people go out almost every night. We’ve had several trips downtown already, and people went to parties almost every night during O-Week. And there almost always seems to be a party going on if you want to go. There was a dry party in one of my housemates’ rooms last night. There’s definitely a social scene here. But the nice thing is, it’s not too distracting if you’re trying to study/rest. :)</p>
<p>As far as I can tell from my kids, the vast bulk of Chicago students have exactly the kind of social life they would have had if they went to any of the other colleges that attract lots of academically ambitious kids. There are plenty of parties, plenty of drinks, plenty of hook-ups. There are “exclusive” sets (small ones) and many more that aren’t. What there is less of is the hard-core get-wasted-every-night-and-trash-things segment. The sports culture and the frat culture are relatively weak, so you don’t have football-weekend parties involving thousands of drunken kids in one place.</p>
<p>^ Come on. Not everyone at the University of Chicago is [Tucker Max](<a href=“http://www.tuckermax.com/”>http://www.tuckermax.com/</a> ).</p>
<p>The social life here is very active, but as JHS said, it is not a constant-drinking-focused culture. Yes there are parties, but we also love marathon video game sessions in the house lounge, watching bad movies, going to concerts downtown, attending random festivals, heading out to restaurants (I tried Ethiopian food for the first time this way!), board games, soccer on the Midway, and so many other things. And there is a large percentage of people that have no interest in drinking, so there are always dry parties and get-togethers, especially in the Houses.</p>
<p>Hmmm. I notice that the abusive post that sparked my oh-so-clever rejoinder has been deleted, leaving my oh-so-clever rejoinder looking oh-so-inapposite. </p>
<p>The post that used to be between my posts basically said that all Chicago students were [jerks-- of course he used a number of far more colorful terms]. I think the poster meant that they were all [jerks] because they didn’t party hard enough, but he didn’t make that so clear, so I chose to read it as referring to well-known Chicago alumnus and diamond-hard partier Tucker Max, whose particular brand of performance art requires that he personify being a [jerk]. In the process, I was hoping to let current prospies know, if they didn’t already, that Chicago DOES offer the option to party-down and be a [jerk] on a world-class scale.</p>
<p>If you want parties, they are here. i asked this same question last year and got these responses… the trick is to get in with a good group (a frat, in my case) and get invited to the private parties and apartment parties. That’s where the real, crazy fun happens. You can have more “traditional” college fun. You just have to work a bit harder to find it than you would at other schools.</p>