<p>I was recently accepted to the uchicago class of 2018. While I am heavily attracted to the school for its exceptional academic quality, I do have certain hesitations. </p>
<p>1) I am fully aware of the rigorous academic standard that Uchicago holds itself to, but how would you compare its workload to that of another highly selective school? Any specific schools come to mind? (I know this is a hard question to answer considering workload is directly related to what classes you take/ what major you choose, but I would appreciate some generalizations!)</p>
<p>2a) Uchicago is often ridiculed for its unusual student body. I would love an elaboration of the truthfulness to this rumor. ALL top universities have brilliant, and sometimes misunderstood students. Does Uchicago really have SUCH an alarming amount of these students? (I am aware this reads terribly-If you are going to comment on my insensitivity, I would greatly appreciate you leaving your comments to yourself.) </p>
<p>2b) Night life/Social scene? As bad as they say? ..greek life..? </p>
<p>3) I am very familiar with UPENN. In terms of safety, I would love a comparison of the two. </p>
<p>I need to clarify that I do not know anyone who attends/ has attended Uchicago- hence my questions. I have researched uchicago thoroughly, but am in dire need of an alumni's or student's perspective! While I plan on visiting in the near future, I would love as much input as I can get! </p>
<p>@HELP12389; Congratulations on your acceptance. In regards to your questions please search the forum for answers. Similar, if not the same, questions have been addressed in these threads many times. As my D has experienced, attending an accepted student overnight gave a good representation of student life and culture on campus. I strongly suggest you attend one of these events. It helped her to decide that UChicago was the place for her. She came to this conclusion after visiting several other schools (and, yes, all highly selective). That way you will be able to speak to current students and determine for yourself. Also, ask any upperclassman on the accepted student Facebook page or visit other Facebook pages affiliated with the university that are run by students for advice.</p>
<p>@help12389 I was also admitted and I have some of the same concerns and questions. I want somewhere with a social scene, and I’m scared of getting a roommate who’s overly/obsessively “quirky” (I know it’s horrible). If you want to talk or something you can message me and I can give you my facebook or something.</p>
<p>@mermaidgirl There’s a facebook group for finding roommates along with the c/o 2018 fb group. You can find a roommate there that’s as quirky/normal as you want them to be. Search “UChicago Class of 2018 Roommate Finder”. Max and South are the most traditionally “social” dorms on campus, look into those. Also come to one of the April overnights to see if the social scene is to your liking, don’t base it on word of mouth alone.</p>
<p>my two cents… D was admitted in the EA round and was very excited, but also had some of the sames concerns. She was afraid the student body was going to be nothing but “freaks and geeks” and was worried about the reputation of Chicago’s rough South Side. We spent two days on campus in late Jan and she did a dorm overnight. The visit allayed all of her concerns. She was impressed with how SMART everyone was, but the student body looked normal to her, not much different than the college students she had seen at other campuses. (Well, maybe not quite as good-looking on the whole as UCLA.) D’s dorm visit was on a Friday night, in a snowstorm, and there was plenty to do. Her hosts took her to an on-campus dance performance, a party, and then stayed up talking into the wee hours of the morning. People were talkative, friendly, and did I mention SMART. She also visited Penn last year and ended up not even applying because she did not like feel of the campus or the area. As a parent, I was of course concerned about safety, but based on my walking tour of the neighborhood, I have no reservations whatsoever about sending her to UChicago.</p>
<p>If you are really familiar with the “safety” situation at Penn, then you can pretty much gauge what your reaction to Chicago will be, because the two schools’ situations are very, very similar. There are a few differences, basically due to the fact that Penn is much closer to the central business district in Philadelphia than is the case in Chicago, and Penn sits astride more major transportation routes. Hyde Park is a little more affluent than University City. But really the things people mean when they use the word “safety” are pretty much the same.</p>
<p>It’s not really anything to do with safety. Students at both universities are about as safe as students anywhere, and to the extent they face safety threats, it’s mostly from other students. It’s really about the feeling of comfort living in an urban environment where you see people of different ethnicities and different economic circumstances on a regular basis. But that feeling of comfort can be an important part of one’s overall wellbeing. Bottom line: if seeing poor people who are African-American walking the same streets you do freaks you out, you may have trouble feeling comfortable at Penn or Chicago.</p>
<p>Anyway, social life at Chicago is fine; people have plenty of fun. There is a greek system, and it is generally pretty weak, but not so weak that the people in it, and some first years, don’t enjoy it. Most students pretty much ignore it after their first year unless they are members. Social life revolves around clubs and other activities, doing stuff around Chicago, and parties in the off-campus apartments where most upperclassmen live.</p>
<p>You are probably less likely to get a freakazoid for a roommate at Chicago than at Harvard or Yale, not because there are fewer freakazoids there (my guess is there are a few more, but a meaningless number in absolute terms), but because many more first-years live in singles. (In four years at Yale, my roommates included a serious marijuana addict, a serious alcoholic, a full-bore paranoid schizophrenic, someone who took a leave because of clinical depression, and two science nerds with creepy sexual proclivities . . . .)</p>
<p>Chicago is very cold, also not to long ago it was known as the murder capitol of the world, there is a huge amount of work, but some kids like the challenge so I guess that’s okay. As long as you don’t leave campus too much, and lock up your stuff, and don’t go out at night you should be safe.</p>
<p>I regret that anyone chose Chicago (or any school) and didn’t like it. But, in the Internet age, there should be plenty of information available to permit an informed choice. Some might say that poor choices are one potential downside of the U.S. News fetish. Chicago is probably about the same great school that it was before the amphetamine-addled, private counselor, Range Rover, orthodontic crowd “discovered” it. My wife went to the College, and she is no more quirky than any other well-educated person–and she attended before the school became attractive to regular people. We have never once played Dungeons and Dragons in our home. We think it’s plenty safe, too, which is one reason why our D will start there this year. As for Penn v. Chicago, I agree that the vibe is fairly similar–they are both compact universities, which are adjacent to urban areas where real life exists. One should act sensibly. In my view, Chicago seems more organically part of its neighborhood, while Penn seems more like an isolated academic island. But that’s merely a personal preference. If one wishes to wander around off-campus drunk and alone at 2 a.m. without regard for personal safety, then please go to Northwestern–it’s almost certain that such a person would not be a good fit in Hyde Park anyway.</p>
<p>@lenser if you don’t mind, could you elaborate on 1) why you chose uchicago and 2) why you decided to transfer?
And @Clark10 I am taking that as an exaggeration…
Thank you to all other users for your input! Very helpful! </p>
<p>Add some observations to its varsity sports which are rarely mentioned here.</p>
<p>It is a D3 sport college and the sport culture cannot be confused with that from D1 schools. A small percentage of student body participates in varsity sport teams (19). The student-athletes and coaches train hard and have the motivations to beat WashU and Emory (its conference rivals). I would say there is school spirit in the competitions - mainly among the team members but not a rallying point for the school.</p>
<p>Many students may not be aware of it. Chicago’s teams are doing well overall compared to years ago or compared to other schools.</p>
<p>From my checking of my D’s team records her team’s overall quality is significantly better than 10 or 5 years ago. A very small number of her teammates can make the roster of Ivy league. I have heard the college cares about its varsity sports and takes consideration in the admission. Coaches are allowed to have a few spots for his/her student-athlete applicants. I do not know if it was the case 5 years ago.</p>
<p>The student body is definitely changing - slow in some areas and more obvious in others. Academics are still very rigorous but “Fun …” is much exaggerated - may be just for fun to mention it.</p>