<p>With the knowledge i have accrued from previous posts i have come to the seemingly misguided conclusion that some of the smartest college applicants are scared away from applying to the U of Chicago strictly because of its lack of social and athletic programs as well as cut throat immersion into the academics seen no were else, not even at the Ivy level? Please clarify for me because if this is true I just might not apply. It was one persons belief that the reason for such a high acceptence rate was strictly because of the oddness of the uncommon app and how as I previously stated scares people away. What kind of person should i be if i seriously am condsidering this school? I have heard that my stats may be good enough to get in, I absolutley love writing, but is attending Chicago a mixed blessing that even the most elite cannot handle??? Boy am i confused.</p>
<p>If you want to go, and if you get in, you'll be able to handle the work. It's not that bad. I do think (by seeing friends and family members) that students at Chicago need to work harder than students at other top schools to get the same grades.</p>
<p>The 1) core curriculum at Chicago as well as 2) it's nerdy stereotype, 3) it's lack of a large sports scene, 4 it's non- New England location, 5) the common application, and 6) the fact that it's not as well known as other good schools all likely affect the number of students who apply, and thus the acceptance rate.</p>
<p>and because they require a rec from a math/science teacher. i'm serisously considering not applying to chicago (which i was previously planning on applying ea) because i don't want to ask one of my math or science teachers to write a rec for me. so frustrating!</p>
<p>Don't believe all the hype. The students at Chicago are not all that significantly different from the students at "Ivy level" universities. Sure, some people feel inexorably drawn to one place or another, but really the similarities far outweigh the differences. The vast majority of students at Chicago would do fine at Harvard and vice versa. If you shuffled the student bodies of Dartmouth and Chicago, you would probably have a lot of unhappy people, but only a small portion of them would be miserable enough to flunk out.</p>
<p>I don't know that any good student is really "scared off" by Chicago, so much as put off (relatively) by some of the subtle value differences. </p>
<p>As far as I can tell, Chicago isn't "cut throat" at all. But then neither are most of the Ivies. What it is, is more "academic", and that's not to everyone's taste, even if they are really smart.</p>
<p>If I can overgeneralize a bit, the Ivy League mindset is a lot about what goes on outside the classroom -- socializing, networking, sports, clubs, secret societies, service projects. It's a lot like high school (and life) that way. Chicago has those things, too (I'm not sure about secret societies), but they are less important there. What goes on in the classroom is really the center of people's lives to a much greater extent. Some people thrive on that; others think it sounds awful.</p>
<p>Lots of perfectly smart people view what they learn in college classrooms as secondary to the college experience. They are trying to qualify for some set of jobs or graduate schools, but they want to do that in the most painless way possible, and to do as many other things as they can. It's pretty easy to approach an Ivy League education that way, and it works perfectly well as a life strategy. Most of the schools explicitly present themselves as training the leaders of the future, and you don't do leadership training in a classroom. Chicago presents itself as being about the life of the mind, and doesn't say a whole lot about leadership. That doesn't mean that it doesn't have lots of leaders running around, but it does mean that they get fewer strokes for that than they would at Yale. That also doesn't mean that there aren't lots of life-of-the-mind folks at Yale, too. There are. </p>
<p>Also, there is the matter of the Core. You can build your own Core anywhere, if you want (and if you don't care about having everyone else doing it); you can also get a Core at Columbia (and NYC, too!). Fans of the Core can go anywhere, even to Brown. But if you don't like the idea of the Core -- and lots of people don't, including lots of people who apply to Columbia anyway and then ***** about it a lot -- there is no way you are going to like Chicago.</p>
<p>It's wrong to think of Chicago as a mixed blessing. It offers a really specific package of qualities, and not everyone is excited by it. Most of the other top schools are a lot more broad-spectrum, and so appeal to more people, including the majority of people who like Chicago, too.</p>
<p>If you live and love to learn above all else- then you should consider applying to Chicago. This is not a college where you can slack off, or take it easy once you have gotten there. You have to be willing and enthusiastic about having to work hard- harder than at most of the Ivy's. Chicago makes students learn how to think. It doesn't just prepare students for a career, though you will be better prepared in the long run than at most colleges.</p>
<p>I think JHS has summed up the differences between Chicago and many Ivy's extremely well.</p>
<p>Caltech is the most academically demanding school, imo.</p>
<p>^^^I've heard that too- classes at Caltech are "like drinking H2O from a fire hydrant"</p>
<p>Great post, JHS. I think you're right on target (as usual).</p>
<p>In my experience most kids most kids who end up at top schools are shocked by how hard they have to work for their grades. I think Chicago kids are truly motivated by love of ideas, judging by the admissions blog which I spent all Spring reading after my son was admitted EA, and he was very attracted by the school although he ultimately chose to go somewhere else (perhaps just because it's closer to home.) He loved its quirky humor. </p>
<p>He did not choose his school because he thought it would be easier. Somehow, he was just more drawn to it. I do think it will be as difficult, even without Chicago's reputation.</p>
<p>As an aside, he did have excellent test scores, but his regional rep.chose to send him a card telling him that he loved his essay.</p>
<p>Chicago is incredibly demanding, but so are a few other peer institutions. One that quickly comes to mind is Reed College.</p>
<p>If you want it to kick your ass, it will...if you try to avoid being overcome by the work, you can. It's all on you.</p>
<p>"Really is it academically the most demanding school on the planet??"</p>
<p>I think that might be IIT...</p>
<p>I think mythmom is also on the money, at least knowing that her son is going to Williams and not Chicago.</p>
<p>As I've mentioned before, I want to laugh when my Yale friends cringe when I mention Chicago. They imagine that we assign course readings by the kilogram (if they use the uncommon application, they might as well use the metric system) and that people pitch tents in the Regenstein because it's too much of an effort to go back to the dorms.</p>
<p>Chicago is a school for people who want to work hard and have similar Ivy smarts, but with a much more academic bent (I'm reinforcing JHS's post here). I have a hard time believing that course work here is harder than it is anywhere else, but I can see how maybe the STUDENTS, rather than the COURSEWORK, can be offputting. Even though I came from an elite high school and I was used to being around smart, high-power kids (they're all at Yalevardtonfordmouthia), I was not used to being around a bunch of relatively low-key people who knew everything about everything and brought tens of books along with them. Chicagoans really love school and love learning. When people are doing things that they love to do, they do it well and they're not cutthroat about doing it.</p>
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I was not used to being around a bunch of relatively low-key people who knew everything about everything and brought tens of books along with them.
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<p>Whenever I go to work at FedEx and I'm going through security, the security guards always look at me oddly when I run my copy of Rudin's Principles of Mathematical Analysis through the scanner. :(</p>
<p>Let's be friends.</p>
<p>Um, I'd look at you strangely, too. Just so you know.</p>
<p>:)</p>
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Um, I'd look at you strangely, too. Just so you know.
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<p>Even Chicago students find my academic habits strange. :(</p>
<p>Phuriku,
DS hauled Sipser along on vacation. I told him Spivak wouldn't fit in the back seat.</p>
<p>I know someone who wanted to take a bookcase to college (not Chicago) with him but was advised against it <em>by the college</em> not to, because books are a hot commodity for thieves. This has made me incredibly sad. I would find that reason enough to turn the place down.</p>
<p>I think I most defintely agree with ohio_mom about toughest academically. In addition to IITs I am 100% sure there are uni's in china/singapore/japan that are extremly intense.</p>