<p>aww jpps1, there will plenty of kids there who don't shun normal teenage life. although intellectual elitists are well represented at uchicago, they aren't the only kids there. if i end up there then i'll be at least one other like-minded person waiting for you on campus.</p>
<p>Haha, I don't mind being an intellectual elitist though--but I don't carry that attitude with me outside the school week.</p>
<p>"And I hate your elitist attitude towards me, like I don't belong at Chicago because I like to party and follow sports."</p>
<p>OK, sorry. I had the impression that you thought the ONLY fun was sports and parties. If you agree there are other diversions, I'll agree that a lot of folks find both of the above fun. And, UC can use kids like you to balance the others, and hopefully to expose them to things they might not discover on their own.</p>
<p>I have total respect for sports nuts. I even join them sometimes. I just don't have the same passion for sports.</p>
<p>On the sports issue, I like to follow sports. I think its a fun activity. That being said, one of the main reasons I want to attend Chicago is the lack of the sporting culture. Sports should be something you do on your own, not part of the school.</p>
<p>As for what constitutes fun is ultimately individual, of course. I happen to have a lot of fun by going to museums, personally, and often going with my friends, drawing their, chatting, whatever. I socialize in other ways than going to parties, they just aren't my scene. I'm more of a one on one person, or a smaller group person. I guess I really like to not have intellectuality take time off when one steps out of the classroom. At the same time, I agree that arrogance and pseudo-intellectuality or pseudo-seriousness are detestable and things to be avoided. I just don't think fun means any one thing, and in my experience, maybe this isn't true for your expereince, jpps1, I'm tired of having to defend my other ways of having fun, which is why I come down hard on sports.</p>
<p>We should go to the museum together if we both get in. I only went once and I loved it.</p>
<p>There's A Museum Near? What Kind?</p>
<p>whoa. i cant do all caps, huh?</p>
<p>Jpp1,</p>
<p>Don't go to Chicago, you will hate it. I am going to get killed on this board, but the social life sucks, the school isn't about a "college experience." The funny thing is they all get into the same grad schools in the end. There are schools ranked higher that are alot more fun, where people are "normal", and you can still do amazing research and do very well.</p>
<p>Undergrad is about reading Dante, but its also about living in an amazing community that knows how to laugh at itself too. I think even a LAC like Amherst might be up your alley, its a balance of a Chicago and a Penn in terms of an acadmic and social life.</p>
<p>I wrote this on another board to an applicant I wasnt sure was a good fit. I think Chicago is a great school, just not for the typical college student...</p>
<p>Make sure you like Chicago! Last weekend a friend who went there from high school visited me (I now go to Columbia MBA in new york). This weekend I spent all weekend skiing at Dartmouth with a friend from B-School who went to Chicago. His and my experiences (at Dartmouth) were so different. 80% of alums come back to the Dartmouth reunions, he said barely anyone comes back to Chicago's. I literally would be on the ski lift with random alums from the 70's who knew people in my class! We all just love the school that we all love to come back. As for my Chicago friends, they said it really was about studying 24-7, vs the bonding that goes on other places. Also they said the "most famous" professors barely spent anytime with undergrads. </p>
<p>Many undergrad intellectual converations occur in community environments. Other places offer great academic environments but have cohesive, community oriented campuses to boot. Plus at Chicago, there are only two bars on campus and the place is deserted on weekends. You are a top candidate at most Ivies. Seriously consider them if you are a social person. </p>
<p>Sorry Chicago fans, I hate to come on your board and tell an individual to look at other schools also. A girl from my high school went there and loved it, its just that I have noticed the more outgoing students find it not nearly as nurturing a community as some other places.</p>
<p>Here we go again. "Don't go to Chicago you will hate it". Would you also advise students not to go to MIT or Cal Tech because they will need to study more than another school. Maybe don't go to Cornell Engineering because it's too difficult, or don't go to Princeton because they are doing away with grade inflation. Don't go to Stanford because it is not Ivy League. Or maybe don't try pre-med because you will have to study more than a history major or pre-law for the same reason.
"You wll study24/7". Tell that to my son who spent last weekend playing frisbee in the main quad enjoying 61 degree temps or spent last Saturday night at Chicago Symphony Orchestra with discounted tickets for Univ. of Chicago students.
Professors don't care about undergrad. Tell that to my freshman son who is taking a Math class from a nationally know professor who wrote my son a recommendation that helped him receive a National Science Foundation scholarship to study and research math for 8 weeks this summer. My son firmly believes he received the scholarship due to his professor and the material they have covered in his classes. Hundreds applied and eight were accepted. One of the board members of this selection committee was impressed he was taking this class from such a famous professor. Same individual also gives Monday night study sessions for his undergrad students. On the other hand I recently read a Dean at Harvard was leaving due to the lack of commitment to undergrad at Harvard.</p>
<p>Yea, Chicago really sux. I suggest all of you who don't want to go call up the admission office and tell them so. Call them right now actually.</p>
<p>U of Chicago is really a great school. As Edward B. Fiske states in "The Fiske Guide to Colleges," The University of Chicago may be less selective than the top Ivies, but it's "just as good." To compete with all of the Ivies, the University of Chicago should do massive recruitment of applicants or something in order to get more people to apply to the school. Remember: The thing that differentiates U of C from the ivies is its acceptance rate. If U of C has a lower acceptance rate, it may move up even higher on the US News And World Report Ranking, which would make it competitive to the Ivies. In addition, a higher selectivity rank will make kids in the country want to apply there even more because competitive applicants have this "thing" for applying to schools with very low acceptance rates just to see if they get in.</p>
<p>Why should they try to compete with the Ivies?
If you only going because its a hard school, your missing the point.
The challenge is only just a fraction of it.</p>
<p>No, as in anything else in life, Chicago must compete for the best (students).</p>
<p>As a rather unexceptional nerd myself, I am attracted to UChicago. It is one of only 3 schools that I'm definitely applying to (the others are Caltech and the local university). If UChicago decides to change its atmosphere to more of an Ivy like MIT did, I'm then going to have to compete between Caltech and UW. Fact is - it's one of the only great research universities where nerdy students like me can really fit in.</p>
<p>Also the lack of sports is very appealing. It may even encourage me to join a sport in which people only casually play for fun.</p>
<p>If UChicago wants to attract more top-calibre students without changing the atmosphere that makes it so unique, it should broaden merit-based scholarships. Yes it's expensive and alumni aren't terribly enthusiastic but it's the only course if it wishes to remain distinctive. Otherwise students like me (I'm the Caltech borderline/UChicago likely) will simply go to the local university if rejected by Caltech, even if accepted to UChicago simply because my parents won't spend enough and I won't get enough merit aid.</p>
<p>Oh god, Jpps won't like this. As a son of first generation immigrants, I have a good reason for not being a big party animal or loving sport (culture differences) but it is scary to think that a university full of red blooded Americans not attracted to sports and partying. It is even scarier that they volunteered to call themselves nerds and claim that Chicago will be perfect for them BECAUSE they are a nerd. Without outgoing people, how will Chicago ever produce a president? No offense to anybody here.</p>
<p>But then again, I will only willing to sacrifice so much effort and money for the education and nothing else is a factor in my decision. Therefore, Chicago is an unbeatable choice for me.</p>
<p>I once read that Uchicago is the only college proud to say it ISN´T like Harvard, haha.</p>
<p>All of these posts make it seem like there are not sports at chicago. As a former varsity athlete, I can say that our program was run very much like a Division I program. We got to campus at least a month early, had practice everyday and travelled and played the likes of NYU, Emory, Carnegie Melon, WashU, Brandeis, Rochester, Case Western, etc...It is possible to balance both sports and academics. In fact, it is much more fulfilling that way. Chicago used to be in the Big Ten and has a history of a solid athletic program (had the frist Heismann tophy winner). Of course, the days of a huge athletic program are behind it, but please do not give prospective students the impression that all there is to do is study. Everyone who I knew there had a very active social life, athletic life, whatever life they chose for them self. Chicago is about challenging you in more ways than just one.</p>
<p>I don't see the reason for staying away from a school that has fans of its sports team. First of all, any relatively large school with a "rah-rah" crowd also has a large contingent of anti-rah-rah types because it's a big school. Only at an LAC does it make sense to stay away for that reason. Also, I don't see how a being a big sports fan makes you a worse student. It's no worse than being a fan of watching movies.</p>