<p>My daughter told us she is very very happy with everything in the first year. She made many new friends, who are as intellectual as she is, they share the same topics, and much better conversations than with kids at her high school. </p>
<p>She organized a few parties and attended much more, she loves her dorm, Max P. She told us—UChicago is her home, and our home is her vacation home. </p>
<p>I think UChicago’s academics is a challenge, but not for all subjects. Their Calculus (Math 152 and 153) is not as challenging as I think, this opinion came after I had a chance to read her mid term test and final review sheet and had a conversation with her. Her Math 152 instructor is very nice one, class went very smoothly. But she could not find a high-rated instructor for her Math 153. When she started to choose an instructor for Math 153, all teachers available are rated very low, 1 out of 5. Then she selected a new instructor without any rating history. It turned out the new instructor is not a good one (in her word) either. In one mid term test, the average class score is something between 25% ~30%, I omitted the actual number here. I could score around 50~60% if I have one day time to prepare. She gave the instructor a low rating after the final exam.</p>
<p>The reason why you weren’t impressed by 150s Calculus and its instructors is that 160s Honors Calculus is really the department’s signature course. It is more challenging, requires more work, and it supposedly gets the better teachers. And people completing it are really ready for upper level courses, which is not the case with 150s. I think 150s is seen as a course for pre-meds and less serious econ majors, people who have no intellectual interest in math and do not intend to take further math courses. In other words, people who don’t really deserve a great course or great teachers. As far as I know, pretty much everyone in 150s was offered the chance to take 160s and turned it down.</p>
<p>I think it’s a little harsh to say people in 150s don’t deserve a great course. While it makes sense to say that those with little intellectual interest in math don’t deserve an intellectually interesting course, I know plenty of non-econ/premed people who took 150s in order to satisfy the core. They didn’t feel they fit 160s because they wouldn’t necessarily be taking calc all year and they wouldn’t be moving on to higher math as upperclassmen. Yet they felt that 130s wouldn’t be rigorous enough. In the spirit of the Core, I think these types of students should get access to a decent calc sequence–the mathematical equivalent of HBC.</p>
<p>The reason why 150’s sucks is that they get a bunch of lousy grad students to teach smaller sections, instead of getting one competent grad student to teach a bigger lecture hall.</p>
<p>Under a $62K price tag and such an elite brand name, all students deserve good instructors, no matter what level of the Math course is, not these lousy graduate student TAs with a rating at 1 out of 5.</p>
<p>My daughter took 130s Calculus, which gets even less respect than 150s, and she had a wonderful grad student instructor who really went above and beyond (a) to interest a class of kids who had no interest in math whatsoever, and (b) to help her get over her difficulties with the course and pass it. The only thing that got her through the course, which she hated and resented having to take, was respect for the teacher and all the effort he was putting in.</p>
<p>For the $62K price tag, and with the elite brand name, your child gets to be part of a world-class university community, where (as in all such communities), with a few exceptions, world-class scholars do not personally teach small-scale introductory courses to students who are not interested in pursuing that field further. The University of Chicago does a pretty good job of staffing the Core with decent teachers. But calculus everywhere (besides LACs) is taught by graduate students. Chicago is actually exceptional in having a bunch of faculty and some of the top grad students teaching calculus, but in 160s, not 150s or 130s.</p>
<p>(By the way, I want to make clear that the view that 150s students don’t deserve a good course is not my view. It’s my exaggerated caricature of what I think the Math Department’s attitude is.)</p>
<p>University of Oxford charges 50-70% less tuition & fees than most US top colleges, how could Oxford survive and has a top position among the world universities?</p>
<p>If you think an Oxford education has anything in common with a US university education, much less a U. Chicago education, then you have no knowledge of one of them - I suspect Oxford. You are probably unfamiliar too with the financial problems that all UK universities are having these days. </p>
<p>I have a daughter who has been at Oxford for the past four years. She’s seen their approach up close and personal. She led (taught?) some of their famed tutorials as a 2nd year grad student. </p>
<p>You think SATs are high stakes testing? Go read about exam school at Oxford, and how the rest of your life (for many grads) depends solely on your performance in exams your at the end of your final year.</p>
<p>Did your student receive any medical/immunization forms from UChicago?
My son, an international student from Canada, did not receive any yet. He’s having his annual checkup tomorrow and I was hoping he could get the required forms filled in…</p>
<p>Medical/immunization forms should be included in the Orientation package, also you could find a copy in the flash drive (part of Orientation package) Chicago sent to your address.</p>
<p>Have admitted students already received the flash drive mailing? No sign of it here for DS; we have terrible USPS service. Could someone let me know if it’s been sent? TIA.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if first years need to have a physical exam? It looks to me like only proof of immunizations is needed. Can someone verify this? We (parents) haven’t received any information from the University.</p>
<p>Seems like UChicago only wants a record of immunizations form completed by a medical officer. No mention of a physical exam but the doctors want to do a physical exam when completing the form. If your kid arrives on campus and still needs one or more of the required vaccines (MMR or Tetanus), there will be on-campus walk-in immunizations on October 6, 2012- Saturday, 10:00am-1:30pm and November 3, 2012 - Saturday, 10:00am-1:30pm. Here is the link [Vaccinations</a> Required for Enrollment | Student Health Service | The University of Chicago](<a href=“Required Immunizations | UChicago Student Wellness | The University of Chicago”>Required Immunizations | UChicago Student Wellness | The University of Chicago)</p>
<p>I just received an email from college aid office, and was told my D’s financial decision letter was sent out yesterday. Daughter is a rising sophomore.</p>