Some thoughts from a recent alum (class 2013)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

I went back to visit Hyde Park recently and was hit with an enormous wave of nostalgia for my college days. I attended UChicago from 2009-2013. In my year the EA admit rate was 33%. I know this is a cliche at this point but I’m quite sure I wouldn’t be admitted now.

I know a lot of incoming college freshmen read this forum - I know I did! - and just wanted to write a few words from the perspective of someone a few years out. When I was at UChicago, I absolutely didn’t know how to appreciate it. The workload was rough, the winters were cold, I was an emotionally immature teenager surrounded by emotionally immature teenagers, and I was also subjecting myself to the unholy misery known as pre-med.

Week 1 of intro biology (I took the upper level one, I forget the name), our first assignment: critique a Nature paper, point out the methodological flaws. I was totally mystified! And our exams - oh my god, they were hard. We were asked to design experiments, interpret graphs, answer questions designed to get at the heart of whether you really understood the material or not. Even if you memorized every word on the professor’s slides you couldn’t have passed on that alone. Ochem (regular level) - just a starting reagent and a product at the top of a blank page, asking you to design the fifteen step intervening sequence. Also, I had so many classmates who could just debate circles around me in humanities/social science topics. In retrospect, I feel so appreciative of these classes in which I struggled so much. I was just a middle of the pack student at UC, but having left, discovered that overall, I had become well read, unafraid to tackle difficult concepts, and unwilling to blindly accept conclusions handed to me. UC left me with many things - my diploma, my best friends, my SO, and my career path - but importantly, I also received an education.

I’m in medical school now and I absolutely love it, but it’s certainly nothing like undergrad. Among my premed friends from UChicago, now scattered across the country, we all agree that medical school has actually been a step down academically (n=5). I complained nonstop about UC from the moment I set foot on campus until well after I left but I really do miss it. College really was like this magical wonderland where you were allowed to openly enjoy learning, draw others into debate, reference literature and history without receiving a bunch of blank stares, be a total weirdo with bizarre hobbies, and value intelligence over wealth and social status. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Class of 2022, best of luck and hope you enjoy an amazing four years :slight_smile:

2

Define Y = (Current Year - Year of Graduation)

      f(x) = Base Value of an U of C Education 

        Z = Pain you have to go through to get your degree

Current Worth of an U of C Education = Y * f(x) - Z/Y

So the older you are, the more you value your U of C education and the less you remember the pain. It certainly applies to me ;).

3

Thank you for giving us a peek in to your academic experience at UChicago. It will certainly allay fears of the incoming class.

4

I have a feeling that it will allay more fears of parents than of entering students. If I were an entering student, I would be petrified to read that!

Nonetheless, it sounds very much like something I have heard from other recent Chicago graduates.

And, I might add, a very effective writer. Thanks, @pterodactylus.

5

From another (unintentional) premed from many years before you, yes, I felt this pain. I mostly kept my mouth shut around my then BFFs when the discussion took this bent. Seeing as how they now are a president of a well known university, one of the top lawyers at Google, and a big shot at the Fed Reserve, perhaps not surprising. In fact, I’m not sure what I brought to the table other than a ready willingness to join them at Jimmy’s at whatever time (we were just ahead of the rising drinking age). The Core took me to the point where I could keep up with the conversation but not to the point of being a significant contributor.

Interestingly, DD reports that she feels all her friends are smarter than her. I guess we both friend up :D.