<p>I bet this questions been asked a ton.</p>
<p>"don't go to UChicago, too competitive, too serious."</p>
<p>I want to ask all Chicago students or alumni about their opinions. </p>
<p>What do you think? Is it really harder? Is it really too serious? Too Competitive?</p>
<p>Rising senior here.</p>
<p>Is it hard? It’s not easy. But it’s also not like kids are failing out left and right. I think students will agree that the workload is appropriate for their academic level. Also, difficulty ranges from class to class and major to major. I could tell you about very easy and very hard classes I’ve taken.</p>
<p>Serious? Probably in relation to most schools, but it’s a self-selected seriousness. It’s not like the fun police are going to come by and tell you you’re not being serious enough. And yes, people let loose and do crazy college things too.</p>
<p>Competitive? It probably depends what you’re looking to do. I haven’t heard anybody talking about grades or doing anything that would be interpreted as remotely competitive, and my friends who are pre-meds (more “competitive”) work on problem sets together. People do work hard for the grades they are given, if that’s what you’re asking, but those results are private and it’s up to you what you do with them.</p>
<p>Chicago’s either a terrific choice for a high school student or a terrible choice for a high school student. I don’t think the outsider opinion is always valid, because those people specifically chose not to attend Chicago, while the people who did choose Chicago chose it for other reasons. If you’re have more questions, feel free to PM me!</p>
<p>With regard to difficulty and competitiveness, Chicago probably does not fit the common wisdom that has developed around it. Not that it isn’t difficult, but it’s really not too different from most other top schools in most departments. Seriousness, on the other hand…Chicago has a tendency to be very self-consciously serious. It’s part of its (considerable) charm, although it can get old after a while.</p>
<p>Visit if possible. I agree that it is really not different from other schools in the top ten to fifteen nationwide. From that pool of potential students, it tends to attract more of those who really love to learn and want to learn for its own sake, and fewer of those seeking a preprofessional atmosphere or the Ivy label. That’s all.</p>
<p>Assuming you’re going to be a first-year, what you face will be entirely manageable. Your core classes, like Hum and Sosc, won’t exactly be cakewalks, but they won’t be hard either. You might have trouble understanding Hegel (who doesn’t?), but the grades you receive on papers most likely will entirely reflect how much work you put in them. And particularly for Core classes, if you work hard, you’re going to get a good grade. Perhaps when you get to higher level courses in different disciplines, it’s not quite that easy, but with your core classes, if you do your work, you’ll do well.</p>
<p>A lot of people are going to treat UChicago like it’s impossible or like it’s just sooo hard. And of course it can be really hard. But it’s important not to go into it expecting it to be impossible and thus using that to justify not doing well. It’s perfectly possible to do well in your classes; there’s no excuse for talking about the school’s difficulty unless you’ve done your best. People who complain about how much work there is or how hard it is are oftentimes saying more about their time management skills and procrastination rather than the difficulty of the school. Don’t get me wrong, it’s obviously not easy. But no school in that academic caliber is easy. Columbia, Duke, UPenn, whatever-- none of these places are easy, and I strongly doubt they are any easier than Chicago. But nothing that’s going to get asked of you is impossible. And if, after the Core, you pick a concentration in something you love, and you work hard at it, you’re going to receive good grades. I can promise you that.</p>
<p>Core classes…I hear they have too many unnecessary core classes, but if its just not any math based course, I am fine haha</p>
<p>The U of C is not competitive in the way you may be thinking. But people take themselves seriously and want to do well. Many elites are like that. Although I do call Chicago “The Marine Corps of higher education”!
I would trust unalove on this and take up the offer to PM. You will get honest answers, IMO.</p>