UChi vs. Middlebury College...HELP!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>I'm currently unsure of what I want to do.. I'm thinking English, Psychology, Pre-Med. I'm mostly likely going to pursue a science for a career.. so I'm trying to figure out where I would get a better PreMed experience.
I know Midd is a great school, but I always hear about their languages and economics.. not really their sciences.
I have to make this decision pretty soon, and both schools are similar in price.</p>

<p>Both schools are extremely different, but I can see myself fitting in at both.</p>

<p>UChicago:
Pro's: Intellectual, nerdy, quirky atmosphere.
They would have everything I'd want to study.
Research opportunities
Well-known
Better for Pre-Med?</p>

<p>Con's: Less flexibility with the Core
Quarter system
Super competitive student body
I'm worried I wouldn't get to know any of my teachers/they don't care
Fun goes to die?</p>

<p>Middlebury:
LAC- small classes, caring professors
Great English/Humanities programs
J-term</p>

<p>Con's: Maybe it's too small and isolated?
Too Jock-y/athletic
Huge party scene
less opportunities?</p>

<p>I've visited both schools, made pros/cons lists, flipped a coin, and have still gotten nowhere. I don't have a gut feeling, and I have no idea on what I should base my decision.</p>

<p>Any input would be great!</p>

2

<p>You haven’t applied yet, have you? It doesn’t make sense to kill yourself over a decision you might not have to make. UChicago and Middlebury both have very low acceptance rates. </p>

<p>It also doesn’t make very much sense to decide this now. You have an entire year ahead of you to change–let it happen. It’s very likely that by next Spring you will have very different preferences and expectations for your college experience.</p>

3

<p>I actually have applied, and have been accepted at both places. I am making my decision between these two schools, and they have given me similar financial aid packages, so money is not a factor I am considering.</p>

4

<p>Look, they are both fine schools, and both can get you where you want to go. To some extent their differences can be overstated, since they share a bunch of fundamental values, and the curriculum is actually going to be pretty similar both places (except for the core). </p>

<p>That said, you would have a hard time finding two more different elite American colleges. Super-rural preppy New England LAC vs. big-city hardcore intellectual Midwestern research university. If your gut can’t tell which feels more right, you have a serious stomach problem, or you are not paying enough attention to what your gut is feeling. And, really, the pro/con list is b.s., this is a decision for your gut to make. </p>

<p>What kind of college do you want to go to? Which one will inspire you most? When you take a break, do you want to go cross-country skiing, or up to Pilsen for tacos al pastor? Does it matter to you whether there’s a major medical school and teaching hospital a few hundred yards from where you are, and a leading-edge biophysics program in the area? Do you want to know everyone? Do you want to not feel intimidated a lot of the time by how smart people are? Do you want teachers selected for their teaching ability, or their scholarship? Are you going to resent dealing with grad students, or feel grateful that there are these smart people only a little older than you who can bridge the gap between you and the Nobel laureates?</p>

<p>Anyway, Chicago also has great humanities – really great humanities – and its student body is not supercompetitive. People have lots of fun there, although a somewhat smaller percentage of it involves getting drunk and passing out. (At Chicago, you can see a Steppenwolf production, or go to the Lyric Opera, or walk around the Art Institute, or listen to some free concert at the Geary-designed Pritzker Pavillion. At Middlebury most nights you can decide whether to stick with beer, or to drink some vodka as well. But you can make that your decision at Chicago, too, maybe after you come back from the play; plenty of people do.) Middlebury has stunning natural beauty and fewer things to pull you away from your campus and your classmates.</p>

<p>Some of your classmates at Chicago would be people who NEED to be there, who would blow through what Middlebury had to offer in their field in a semester or two. That’s not you – if it were, you wouldn’t be thinking about Midd – but it matters what you feel about being around people like that.</p>

<p>Anyway, there’s really no shortcut. You should go to the place where you will feel most comfortable and most inspired, and where you will learn most. In the long run, that’s what will be best, for you, for medical school, for everything. It’s not worth trading that for all the fancy culture and Nobelists in Chicago if you would find it at Midd, and if Chicago is where that would happen then all the advantages of Midd are illusory. But only you and your gut can make that decision; no one can make it for you.</p>

5

<p>1) The assumption that UC has professors who don’t care or whatever is false. They have one of the lowest student-faculty ratios among universities at 7:1, which is lower than Middlebury’s. They also have 78% of classes with 20 or fewer students, as opposed to 67% at M.
2) I’ve met some pretty damn chill people already, and that was just at an overnight and through the FB group a bit. If you’re looking for people who know how to have fun, you’ll find them.
3) I asked some students and some majors are more competitive than others, but it’s far from a cutthroat atmosphere.</p>

6

<p>Thanks JHS! I appreciate the feedback! I understand about the gut. Everyone I know says, “You’ll just know-you’ll get that feeling.” However, I literally change my mind every week, if not every day, about which school my gut prefers. Last week it’s UChicago, and this week it’s Middlebury.
I wanted to go to a Liberal Arts College, or so I thought, for the longest time. My top choices were LAC’s. Unfortunately, admissions didn’t work out to my advantage. UChicago has a pretty good liberal arts curriculum compared to other universities though, which is something I like. The reason I like LAC is because I feel like they have a huge emphasis on knowledge and education vs. preprofesionalism. I don’t want to go to a school where I feel like I’m on an assembly track for a career the whole time. UChicago, again, is much better than most universities in respect to this, but they are becoming more preprofessional than they were in the past.
Inspiration-wise, I’m sure that would be UChicago.
I would like to know everyone. I like the community feel of Middlebury and how collaborative (vs. competitive) the environment is. I also prefer teachers being selected on their teaching ability.
At UChicago, I like the student body alot better. I prefer the intellectual nature of the people and UChicago idea of “fun.” However, I like Midd’s academic structure better with the J-term and close student-professor relationships.
I went to a small school, and the most valuable part of my experience was my relationships with my teachers. That was my top reason for wanting to go to a LAC.</p>

<p>It sounds like you know a lot about UChicago. Would you say teachers actually care about their students? Is it possible to get help from them if I needed it? Do students actually get to know their professors? How difficult is it to get research opportunities as an undergrad?
My college counselor said he believes LAC’s are better for people who wnt to get into science. You can do research immediately because the undergrads are the only people whom professors can turn to.</p>

7

<p>On the east coast middlebury is more prestigious than Chicago. It is on par with elite schools like Cornell. Also, look into Chicago’s yield protection strategies, you will be amazed.</p>

8

<p>“The reason I like LAC is because I feel like they have a huge emphasis on knowledge and education vs. preprofesionalism. I don’t want to go to a school where I feel like I’m on an assembly track for a career the whole time.” I don’t mean to toot UC’s horn now that I’m in, because I would’ve said this anyways: as far as top universities go, UC is literally one of the only ones still championing this philosophy. Students are even starting to worry that with the common app, the student body may be starting to become a little more pre-professional: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/1333898-new-uchicago.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/1333898-new-uchicago.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I also wouldn’t be sure as to assume that because Middlebury isn’t pre-professional just because it’s a LAC. It’s quite preppy in fact as you may know, and other small colleges like Dartmouth can be very pre-professional. </p>

<p>About research: it’s been said time and again that at UChicago, there are more research positions than there are people to fill them. They also run two national laboratories (Fermilab, Argonne). </p>

<p>Ignore Collegechica7, she’s a blatant ■■■■■ with a severe inferiority complex about Cornell.</p>

9

<p>Honestly, to me, it sounds like you’ve got this heart vs brain problem… </p>

<p>From what you’ve written, and I may be totally off, I’ve gotten the impression your heart is telling you UChicago, but your brain is saying Middlebury because of this old fixation on going to a LAC…</p>

<p>Like i said, i could be totally off, but go where your heart desires…</p>

10

<p>Comparing Cornell and UChicago is non-sensical in this thread. Even on the east coast amongst uninformed high schoolers, UChicago is top tier.</p>

<p>OP, it comes down to LAC vs liberal arts at a research university. My DS accepted his place at UChicago but then turned them down for a WL spot at a Little 3 LAC. He wanted the LAC experience. I agree with some of the other posters, no one here can provide you insight into what you value for your college experience. Both of your choices are awesome.</p>

11

<p>Chicago is in the 2nd tier of elite schools. Behind the ivies and Stanford, Duke, MIT. I’m a ■■■■■ because I point out the truth? Chicago is a decent school. Its peers are vandy, tufts, and Rice. Ask anyone in the NE and they will tell you the same thing.</p>

12

<p>I forgot to add JHU and NU to the list of schools one tier above Chicago</p>

13

<p>Look, all you’re doing is trying to feel better about Cornell’s “Ivy League’s ■■■■■■■■ brother” reputation around CC by trashing on other schools. We can all see your posts on different threads, and it’s pretty damn clear what you’re trying to do. Claiming something’s the truth doesn’t make it the truth either, LOL. </p>

<p>Bottom line: I don’t want to argue with you, and I’d suggest you steer clear of this thread, because someone is actually trying to make an informed decision here and doesn’t need your demented propoganda. Take your insecurity elsewhere.</p>

14

<p>To the OP, UChicago still has a pretty small undergrad population that is twice the size of Middlebury though. You will get to know a lot of people, and the house system is incredibly good at fostering the small, community feel of an LAC. I personally struggled with the same thing, LAC (Vassar) vs. UChicago. I was so tempted to go to Vassar cause I love the small school feel and having every part of campus be close and homey was what I always imagined. Ultimately UChicago’s dorms gave me the small community feel but I still felt “empowered” or in awe of the campus as I took a walk at night. I knew that UChicago would provide me with greater on-campus activities, a wider range of people, and top notch academics and would still not feel to big. It felt like the perfect balance of small and big! I have visited giant schools (UW, UC Davis) and small schools (Swarthmore, Wesleyan). </p>

<p>To CollegeChica, the NE does not determine the ranking of schools! How self-centered that is to say. Also, you’re hilarious in 1. putting all of the ivies together and 2. all ahead of UChicago, 3. Putting NU and JHU above Chicago. That is awful to use the Ivy name to boost all the schools as above all others when they are all different and some rank below schools like MIT, Caltech, UChicago etc. I’d say UChicago holds its ground against all the ivies except HYP and maybe Columbia. And putting Duke up with Stanford and MIT is also strange if you don’t also include UChicago. Seems like someone is trolling, or just very misguided when attempting to dissect the “tiers” of the top schools, which I generally don’t endorse since all of these schools should be considered peers.</p>

15

<p>I feel like UChi is better for grad school though… not necessarily the undergrad experience.
Opinions?</p>

16

<p>What do you mean by undergrad experience? Chicago will push you hard, teach you in a broad spectrum of courses, allow you in-depth knowledge of your major and foster close relationships with faculty, allow research, and help you create powerful relationships within your dorm and in classes. That sounds like the perfect undergrad experience to me.</p>

17

<p>If you look at collegechica’s past posts, they’re mostly bashing UChicago. Just pointing that out.</p>

<p>The tiers that collegechica mentioned are quite off. I’m not going to delve into specifics cuz it’ll start another war which happens on collegeconfidential quite often. I’m just going to say that UChicago is viewed in a much much better light that she is making it out to be.</p>

18

<p>I believe that UChicago has a fantastic, well-crafted undergraduate experience. The curriculum is designed so that you are exposed to different areas (not every area, but a spectrum) to widen your horizons and really think. The Core allows students to develop with each other intellectually and fosters an intellectual environment that teaches students to think, ask questions, and probe deeper. The Core has a lot of requirements, but it ends up being 1/3 Core, 1/3major, 1/3 whatever classes you want. So there still a large degree of flexibility.</p>

<p>If you’re worried about the faculty communication, professors at Chicago love when students visit them and there is a very low faculty to student ratio.</p>

<p>If you want to talk more about Chicago, message me!</p>

<p>The close knit house system only adds to the udnergraduate experience of going to college as an undergrad.</p>

19

<p>Ok, so this is the REAL ranking for undergrad colleges:</p>

<p>1)Harvard Stanford Princeton Yale (MIT, Caltech)
2)Cornell, Columbia
3)Penn, Dartmouth, Duke, Brown
4) NU, Rice, JHU,
5) Vandy, Tufts, Chicago, Emory, UMich</p>

20

<p>Chicago is a good school :slight_smile: Just not an elite school. Come on, you all know that right? Don’t accuse me of trolling.</p>