<p>I would hardly call Chicago a conservative school. I mean, it is the home of a very conservative economic think tank, but the majority of students are very liberal. When I visited there were three different rallies going on in one courtyard!</p>
<p>and what about the physics undergraduate program??</p>
<p>Cons-
Neo .</p>
<p>"Intesnsity" really is a relative term. What we did not fully appreciate until this fall is just how much S's high school prepared him for the intellectual intensity of Chicago. While I was sweating every HW assignment S forgot to turn in and angsting about how he'd ever manage without a personal assistant, he was taught to think. That environment, and what he took from it, has served him superbly at Chicago. The learning -- and the process -- at Chicago are worthwhile and that has motivated S to dive in head first and revel in it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
For the grade deflation factor, don't companies and grad school recognize that Uchicago deflates grades? (Thus a Chicago B is worth an A at let's say, Northwestern) or is that something I just made up?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>NU's WCAS average was around 3.26 or something like that in 2001. Chicago's average is around 3.25. There's virtually no difference. I am not sure where you got that idea from. By the way, I can guarantee you it's harder to get an A in orgo at Northwestern than Chicago (and anywhere else). I also bet that Northwesten's engineers have more workload than Chicago students on average.</p>
<p>beefs, your post is somewhat disturbing to me, because neo-cons tend to scare me, lol. (Personally, I consider myself an old-school conservative/libertarian.) Chicago isn't overrun with neo-cons, is it?</p>
<p>I was jk, haha.</p>
<p>I never heard S describe himself as a "libertarian" before this quarter. He hasn't complained about "neo-cons," though.</p>
<p>LoL ok thanks. Yeah, neo-conservatism seems inconsistent with everything else I've heard/read about Chicago, but just making sure...lol.</p>
<p>Chicago almost willfully resists simple political categorization, which is kind of neat. I never imagined myself agreeing with "conservatives" before coming to college.</p>
<p>Neoconservatism is in fact very much part of and consistent with the ethos at the University of Chicago. First of all, the "neoconservative" moniker, when it first appeared, was to some extent a euphemistic way to describe intellectual conservatives -- something that used to be an oxymoron, except in a very few cases -- whose political development had often started in standard (or even extreme) liberalism, but who had concluded that conservative methods would be the most effective way to achieve the idealistic goals of liberalism. Also, lots of them were Jews; "neoconservative" as often as not could be translated as "Jewish intellectual conservative".</p>
<p>Well, there are a lot of such people associated with the University of Chicago. A generation ago, it was perhaps the only top academic institution where they could be found in significant numbers, not to mention outsized reputations -- think Milton Friendman, Leo Strauss, Allan Bloom, Saul Bellow. Paul Wolfowitz, an iconic neocon, got his PhD at Chicago and is one of many first- or second-generation Straussians who have influenced right-wing foreign policy thinking in the past 20 years.</p>
<p>If you want a taste of the special character of conservatism at the University of Chicago, check out the Becker-Posner Blog, a joint blog maintained by Gary Becker and Richard Posner. Becker is capo di tutti capi of Chicago's Economics Nobelists, and Posner is probably the most influential conservative legal scholar of the past 50 years.</p>
<p>The great, positive thing about the University of Chicago is not that it is dominated by conservatives, but that it has a critical mass of scholars on both sides of the political divide, and manages to sustain a constant discourse among left- and right-wing scholars and students that rarely if ever falls short of high standards of civility and mutual respect. Also, in all of the discussions there is a culture of respecting logic and evidence, not ideological purity. That's a good deal for students of any inclination.</p>
<p>Sam Lee,</p>
<p>Don't know where you got your GPA data about UofC, unless it is the poorly done grade inflation report circulating on the internet. If you dig back into internet archives regarding their source (yes, the pdf can be found), you will find it is not even something from UofC.</p>
<p>So truth is we don't know what the average GPA is for UofC. What we do know is this:</p>
<ul>
<li> A surprisingly high number of undergrads graduated in June 2008 with honors of various kinds. I posted the actual numbers here on these boards some time ago, so you might want to look it up. As I recall, these numbers point to a GPA even higher than what you state. How much higher? Depends on assumptions. Suffice to say graduation evidence points to grade deflation being ancient history at UofC.</li>
</ul>
<p>Edit: Here's what I posted before: ""Awarded General Honors with the Bachelor's Degree" By my count, about 2/3 of the undergrads were listed there."</p>
<p>So, fully 2/3 of the students received General Honors. Any math geniuses (phukiru?) want to make a guess as to the average (or median or modal?) GPA, based on this information?</p>
<p>Post #42 asks about undergrad physics, but nobody has commented. My son has been accepted EA and like physics. Program seems good to me: any comments from those on the inside?</p>
<p>Not on the inside, but my impression is the same as yours. A cousin of mine graduated as a physics major 10 years ago, loved it, and went on to a PhD in math (and then to options trading). A couple of my children's friends are physics majors and seem to like it now. Obviously, the University's association with Argonne and Fermi National Laboratories means that there are significant opportunities for students to be involved in significant research, and also that the general community is inordinately rich in practicing physicists to an extent not likely true anywhere outside Los Alamos.</p>
<p>Aardvark-</p>
<p>My husband is a physics prof. at another elite university, and he holds the Physics Dept. at Chicago in the highest esteem. I can't speak for the undergrad. experience as a physics major, but the faculty are extremely well-regarded.</p>
<p>JHS,</p>
<p>I was on the inside for a year. Neither Argonne nor Fermilab offer much for undergrads, mostly because of distance - there are good projects and accessible profs on campus. Keep in mind that the national lab folks may hold an academic appointment at UofC, but spend most of their time at the labs.</p>
<p>OTOH, there are no doubt physicists who have a project at one of the labs or collaborates with someone who does, but in my time at UofC, I did not see much cross fertilization, not that the admin was not trying.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"Awarded General Honors with the Bachelor's Degree" By my count, about 2/3 of the undergrads were listed there.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>newmassdad,
What's the GPA cutoff for "General Honors"?</p>
<p>3.25 is general honors. I'd be surprised if 2/3 of students had that; the median GPA is supposedly around 3.1-3.2 at any given time.</p>
<p>ReninDetroit,</p>
<p>Data source for your "upposedly around 3.1-3.2"? </p>
<p>I did an actual count of names in the program. That is data. </p>
<p>The problem with this topic is that GPA at UofC has taken on urban legend qualities. The U does not give out figures itself, so folks seem to pull the numbers out of the air. </p>
<p>I used the commencement program. If you don't like the numbers, blame the college for awarding too many general honors designations. </p>
<p>FWIW, I was surprised at the high percentage too. But it is a fact.</p>
<p>Getting a B at Chicago is not equivalent to an A at Northwestern. There's just no measure for this and honestly, it's kind of silly to believe. Granted, we are known by people for our rigor so maybe a 3.2 at Chicago looks better than a 3.2 at some other place but once again, that's not a fact. </p>
<p>And Sam Lee, there's no need to compare classes and workloads and other stupid stuff. We know Northwestern is a good school. We get it. Chill.</p>