<p>Today an article came out in the International Herald Tribune (published by the New York Times) which describes Harvard's fundamental flaws in teaching. The article recognizes that due to Harvard's status in the public mind, many other universities may suffer similar problems but not experience the same publicity of Harvard. Would you say the statement that you, "don't go to Harvard for the teaching. You go to be around the greatest minds in the world," applies to Chicago? Here's the link to the article: <a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/10/news/harvard.php">http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/10/news/harvard.php</a></p>
<p>Let's just come out and say it: Harvard's a crap school that has been coasting off its reputation since the 50's, and I've always been under the impression that people go there not because of teaching or minds, but because years of conditioning convince them that prestige = a good education. The university itself produces brilliant contributions to all fields in terms of research and academic work, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that their undergrad education is severely lacking.</p>
<p>They make an excellent point in the article though - you can't expect to get the same <em>type</em> of teaching at universities as you can at LAC's, where the whole focus is on the undergraduate. When you pay the UChicago tuition, you're paying as much for the incredible opportunities and resources this school affords its students as much as the teaching itself. The only difference is that they're not going to come to you.</p>
<p>Obviously I can't speak for everybody here, but the quality of teaching I've received at UChicago this year has been extraordinary. Honestly, if you go to UChicago as an undergrad you're probably not going to have a lot of contacct with those "brilliant minds" before you start moving up the ranks in your degree program, because you'll be taking mostly core and intro classes, so the education kind of has to step up - and I feel that it definitely does.</p>
<p>I think the interesting thing about Chicago is that you get some intersections of great minds and intro classes. To be clear, you will probably have some core classes with post-doc fellows or even advanced Ph.D students. But most people also have a few quarters with brilliant professors in the HUM/SOC/CIV sequences. (For example, there were 23 sections of Self, Culture, and Society last fall. 7 taught by professors, 7 taught by Assistant Collegiate Professors a.k.a. "Harper Fellows," 5 taught by Ph.D. students, and 4 I can't really figure out).</p>
<p>Let's not forget that those Ph.D. students may also be brilliant teachers, and very motivated. After all, they are at the University of Chicago.</p>