<p>seconding corranged.</p>
<p>It's not as if you can't find an enriching, involved, and non-competitive academic environment at other schools, but I felt it wasn't as prevalent at other schools as it was here. If I were at another school, I would be making it into the University of Chicago by taking difficult classes focused on great books and as many small classes as I could, but if you're at the University of Chicago, it's an automatic for everyone.</p>
<p>can someone break down the core? I don't want to take any math courses, but im still confused as to whether or not I have to...</p>
<p>collegecatalog.uchicago.edu</p>
<p>Short answer:</p>
<p>Did you get a 5 on the AP BC Calc exam?
Can you show your stuff on the placement exam?</p>
<p>No more math.</p>
<p>Longer short answer:</p>
<p>Math is a core requirement, but the math you take doesn't have to be calculus. Those who are allergic to quantitative data can take computer science, statistics, or "Studies in Math" to fulfill the math requirement. These classes are not especially difficult, and some of my non-math friends like them a lot.</p>
<p>Long answer:</p>
<p>The core is divided up into the following categories
--Humanities
--Social Science
-- Civilization
--Art/Music/Drama
--Math
--Physics/Chemistry
--Bio
-- Foreign Language</p>
<p>That sounds like a lot, but the core takes up at most a third of the classes you take here, and a lot of students come in with a head start in some categories. For example, a 3 on an AP foreign language or doing equivalently on a placement test will satisfy the foreign language requirement, and AP credit or placement test credit can be applied towards the math/bio/physics-chemistry requirements. These parts of the core are similar to distribution requirements at other schools, so they're really nothing much to worry about.</p>
<p>The "absolutes" are the humanities, social sciences, and civ requirements. During your first year here, you will most likely enroll in a hum and a sosc sequence. Unlike Columbia's core which pre-enrolls you, you have a few options for fulfilling your hum and your sosc cores-- for hum you can take anything from "Media Aesthetics" to "Greek Thought and Lit." For sosc, anything from "Mind" to "Classics of Social and Political Thought."</p>
<p>While these classes cover different topics, they have a few things in common. They're discussion-based classes that cover "great books" and compel you to read, write, and ask questions. Insofar as they help you polish your skills and introduce you to some of the greatest books ever written, they're all the same.</p>
<p>The civ core also has quite a few options to it, and students usually take it second year (though I know a handful of first-years doing civ). Civ has more of a lecture component and is more similar to a high school history class. And the art/music/drama component is pretty self-explanatory.</p>
<p>More core/another explanation:</p>