<p>Well, if you take Counting Down's son and my son as your sample set, the average sleep time is probably about 5.5 hours. But it's not school work that is taking all the time. There's about 10-15 hours/week of a club sport, and anywhere from 5-30 hours/week of a combined paid job / extracurricular activity. And girls. No naps. A fair number of parties, and some blogging about Joss Whedon and strategy games.</p>
<p>JHS,
Aha -- another Joss Whedon fan at Chicago! There is a certain house that has Whedon parties...</p>
<p>FB, S is pretty protective of his sleep. He has never been one to live on the sleep-deprived edge. That said, I know there are times he's up til the wee wee hours, but it's not because he's studying! It's more like hanging out watching movies, IMing with friends, etc.</p>
<p>"Another Joss Whedon fan at Chicago" probably approaches being a redundancy.</p>
<p>8.5 to 9 hours of sleep a night. </p>
<p>And a Joss Whedon fan.</p>
<p>coutingdown- what year and major is your son?</p>
<p>it's very possible to get 8-9 hours of sleep a night as a first year and possibly as a second year. but once you start taking higher level classes, and especially if you are involved in extracurriculars, you will have to cut back. i used to get 8 hrs of sleep a night, now i get around 5 hours. i know people you live on much less. </p>
<p>to be honest, i think it depends on your major. it's probably not fair for me to say that, but i think there are definitely some majors that are easier than others. </p>
<p>anwyay, i don't think the parents on here should be telling prospective students how much time their kids have for fun. it's simply not like that for most students. it's great that your son has time to play video games and hang out with his friends, but the work deos get much, much harder as one progresses and you realize why this place is where fun comes to die. you will work harder than you have ever worked your entire life.</p>
<p>furthermore, prospective students should not worry about grade deflation. i think grad schools would much rather take a 3.5/4.0 GPA from uchicago than a 4.0 from Duke.</p>
<p>coutingdown- what year and major is your son?</p>
<p>it's very possible to get 8-9 hours of sleep a night as a first year and possibly as a second year. but once you start taking higher level classes, and especially if you are involved in extracurriculars, you will have to cut back. i used to get 8 hrs of sleep a night, now i get around 5 hours. i know people you live on much less. </p>
<p>to be honest, i think it depends on your major. it's probably not fair for me to say that, but i think there are definitely some majors that are easier than others. </p>
<p>it's great that your son has time to play video games and hang out with his friends, but it's simply not like that for most students. the work doesget much, much harder as one progresses.</p>
<p>furthermore, prospective students should not worry about grade deflation. i think grad schools would much rather take a 3.5/4.0 GPA from uchicago than a 4.0 from Duke.</p>
<p>coutingdown- what year and major is your son?</p>
<p>it's very possible to get 8-9 hours of sleep a night as a first year and possibly as a second year. but once you start taking higher level classes, and especially if you are involved in extracurriculars, you will have to cut back. i used to get 8 hrs of sleep a night, now i get around 5 hours. i know people you live on much less. </p>
<p>to be honest, i think it depends on your major. it's probably not fair for me to say that, but i think there are definitely some majors that are easier than others. </p>
<p>anwyay, i don't think the parents on here should be telling prospective students how much time their kids have for fun. it's simply not like that for most students. it's great that your son has time to play video games and hang out with his friends, but the work deos get much, much harder as one progresses and you realize why this place is where fun comes to die. you will work harder than you have ever worked your entire life.</p>
<p>furthermore, prospective students should not worry about grade deflation. i think grad schools would much rather take a 3.5/4.0 GPA from uchicago than a 4.0 from Duke.</p>
<p>coutingdown- what year and major is your son?</p>
<p>it's very possible to get 8-9 hours of sleep a night as a first year and possibly as a second year. but once you start taking higher level classes, and especially if you are involved in extracurriculars, you will have to cut back. i used to get 8 hrs of sleep a night, now i get around 5 hours. i know people you live on much less. </p>
<p>to be honest, i think it depends on your major. it's probably not fair for me to say that, but i think there are definitely some majors that are easier than others. </p>
<p>anwyay, i don't think the parents on here should be telling prospective students how much time their kids have for fun. it's simply not like that for most students. it's great that your son has time to play video games and hang out with his friends, but the work deos get much, much harder as one progresses and you realize why this place is where fun comes to die. you will work harder than you have ever worked your entire life.</p>
<p>furthermore, prospective students should not worry about grade deflation. i think grad schools would much rather take a 3.5/4.0 GPA from uchicago than a 4.0 from Duke.</p>
<p>sorry, i don't know why that posted three times. </p>
<p>i realize i might come across as a little negative about this school's work load. don't get me wrong, i love uchicago, i wouldn't want to be anywhere else. but i don't want to misrepresent the school's difficulty to incoming students.</p>
<p>Aspiring -- He's a math major. I'll PM you about his courseload.</p>
<p>Everyone comes in with different backgrounds and strengths. I suspect S's toughest courses will be in Core Bio and foreign language. He's not a lab/memorization kind of guy. He stopped Spanish after level III (at the end of freshman year of HS). Good thing, as he needs a different foreign language for grad schools. </p>
<p>He has never been hung up about grades, and his HS transcript showed it. The more challenging the work, the better the grades -- but if it's something where he's not engaged, forget it. Now that he's at Chicago, his GPA is higher than in HS, largely because he is pushed to expand his mind and work hard, and he happens to like it that way.</p>
<p>There are many paths to enlightenment (or a UChicago degree)! Find what works for you and let the chips fall where they may.</p>
<p>When you're choosing courses, will you be able to see the professors' names?</p>
<p>Professors names are listed in the time schedules that are posted online. S knew of a couple of folks he wanted to study from, but also got some excellent suggestions from upperclass students during O-Week.</p>
<p>I don't think I've ever seen "Professor Staff" listed in the course listings!</p>
<p>yes, but it depends what area of study you are looking into. most likely, for most math and economics courses you will have a graduate student. sometimes they will be very close to you in age. sometimes they will go to parties you go to. that's something i was surprised to find when i got here.</p>
<p>Wait. If a student gets let’s say 3.5 GPA at U of C, and another student gets 3.8 GPA at another okayish university, I doubt med schools would pick the U of C student, or would they?</p>
<p>This seems contrary to the common belief that GPA is the life-line of a pre-med student.</p>
<p>When S1 was still doing the premed thing, I ran into the director of admissions at a top 5 med school and asked what they would think of a 3.5 from U of C. He smiled and said, “A 3.5 from Chicago? We would be quite impressed.” He went on to say how happy they were with their Chicago admits. It’s only an n of one, but it was a big one.</p>
<p>I’m going to go ahead and say a few things that might irritate people. I do this for the benefit of prospective students so that they have a honest expectations. </p>
<p>1) Parent’s views and opinions. While some parents on this board might be very involved in their child’s schooling, I think they provide a somewhat of a misinformed and a “proud parent” view on things - one that tends to be overly positive and a bit off from the reality.</p>
<p>2) In regards to the original question - If you really want to be a doctor and aren’t necessarily a brilliant science student (yet you fit the U of C criteria to be accepted), I would tell you to probably not come here. Placement into med schools, particularly highly ranked, desired ones, tends to be far below our peer schools. Quite often you will have Med School applicants that have 35+ MCATs with a 3.2 GPA. I believe honors in Bio is a 3.2, which is a common pre-med major. Med Schools, including Chicago’s very own Pritzker, do not care where you went to undergrad and do not adjust for your GPA. </p>
<p>Pre-meds are probably the least happy people on campus and are constantly stressed out about their grades for this very reason. </p>
<p>3) Law school is a different game. U of C places very well into Law School, because, quite frankly, it’s very viable to get a 3.6+ as an English, Poli Sci, or History major - some of the most common majors for law schools. Also, Law Schools GPA requirements are lower than that of top med schools and on top of that, they do put in considerations for where you went to undergrad. I can say for certain that Yale does, I know UC Berkely -Boalt does as well. Law schools are also very happy when they see applicants that have had writing intensive courseloads, which U of C certainly provides at the undergraduate level.</p>
<p>4) Parents again: How exactly do you know how much your child sleeps? How accurate do you think that is? How exactly do you know so much about what your children do in their free time at college? Pardon my interruption here as I am not questioning the relationship any of you have with their children, but honestly, it’s almost frightening to know that you are aware of the sleep habits and late night activities of your college kids. The point I am making is that these might not necessarily be the most accurate assessments of U of C life, school, and opportunities.</p>
<p>Also, don’t get me wrong. I love this place and what it stands for. I personally have found the academic experience to be wonderful and my career prospects/position could not have been better. With that said, I’m still all for painting an accurate picture.</p>
<p>akx06,
Count me as a lucky parent who hears these things directly from the source. I’m sure I don’t hear everything (nor do I think I’d want to!) but S is pretty open about his life, and sets boundaries when he needs to. Fine by me. </p>
<p>S talks to us about what courses he plans to take and his goals on an adult-to-adult level. We may not always agree, but he has well-considered reasons and as long as he’s doing well, it’s his life, and he’s doing a darned good job of running it. Frankly, it’s going much better than I expected.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Does UChicago publish med school placement stats?</p>
<p>So I went on MDapplicants.com and it seems that UChicago students DO have lower GPA… and their placements are not that great overall. I think I am crossing out UChicago off my list even if accepted. Unless I undergo an epiphany and decide to go into law and business (I love the Social Sciences).</p>