SR parent, there’s also the CTA bus. The 171/172 actually go around Hyde Park and several are expresses to the downtown. Before Covid, when visiting Hyde Park I’d just hop on the #55 from Midway and ride that. My travel expenses would amount to less than $10 for the entire weekend.
Grade deflation might still exist at the grad level (it certainly did in my day!) but on the undergraduate side it might be a thing of the past. On another social site - let’s call it Shred-It - they crowd-sourced the GPA cut-off for Deans List last summer (top 20% by GPA). Turned out to be 3.9! Now, that might be a bit high due to easy grading during the Covid Spring, but others have posted data on this and other forums showing top 25% being something like 3.8 and the median being a 3.6. Here is one (see link). The college doesn’t post this information so it can’t be confirmed, but there’s enough evidence to suggest to me that students at UChicago are much closer in GPA to other top-tier schools than a generation ago.
You are obviously correct that shootings tend to be concentrated in specific neighborhoods. However, Hyde Park isn’t crime-free and the subject of crime, the university’s Clery report, and related matters tend to come up on the forum every year. Usually posters try to put it into perspective for the benefit of newer parents.
Unfortunately for the College Admissions office, “where fun comes to die” is alive and well this time of year due to finals and papers. They have tried to shake that slogan but it’s probably a keeper, much to Dean Nondorf’s chagrin. “Dollar milk shakes on the quad” just doesn’t encapsulate the same underlying truths that “Fun comes to die” manages to do. That’s why it’s stuck.
Personally, I love the intense liberal arts experience that the College provides and I completely agree with the principles and philosophy that drive the university, particularly the focus on academic inquiry. My kids really love the place. However, that won’t be true for every top kid. We’ve known several who chose to apply elsewhere for a variety of reasons, all of them good.