<p>Anybody interested in going to University of Chicago?</p>
<p>I have a strong feeling for applying to UChicago and would like to share some information about this school. Since I live far from Illinois(I live in Virginia), it would be really nice to hear people living in Illinois to tell me what they heard or think about the school. </p>
<p>What are some strong distinguished facts of UChicago? Do they have a reputational business program?</p>
<p>In scale of 1 to 10, what score whould you give to UChicago? why? (As 1=poor and 10= excellent)</p>
<p>Chicago does not have an undergraduate business program, but most interested in this area major in Economics, where Chicago may be the best. Chicago has one of the most rigorous academic core programs in the world. It has small classes primarily taught by professors, and there is a great deal of cross listed undergrad and grad courses. Contrary to some descriptions, Chicago students have as much fun as anyone else, however, there is a certain chicago style of argument that tends to intimidate some outsiders. On a scale of 1 to 10, Chicago is a 10 (as are some others). </p>
<p>The University of Chicago is a great university, but as idad points out, they do not offer Business studies to undergraduate students. </p>
<p>Academically, Chicago has no superiors, particularly in the fields of Economics, History, Mathematics, Physics and Political Science. </p>
<p>The campus, although moribund, is beautiful and the students, although highly intellectual and academically driven, are down to earth and friendly. </p>
<p>There is very little school spirit and activity on campus is not that pronounced. However, the campus is located a mere 15 minutes rom downtown Chicago, and that's never a bad thing. Chicago is a great city.</p>
<p>I personally love Chicago and respect it a great deal, but it is not for all tastes. I would give it a rating of 9 (10 for academics, 10 for graduate school and professional placement and 7 for social life).</p>
<p>They're amazing at placing you into top graduate schools & have many extremely strong programs as previous posters pointed out. They're also located near one of the best cities in the country. </p>
<p>However, it is arguably the most difficult school in the country as they are on a quarter system while nearly everyone else is on a semester system. (Or is it the other way around?)</p>
<p>I live about 20 minutes away from the U of C, and I know a lot of people who go there. They all say that you're going to be miserable all 4 years as you will have no free time whatsoever, but in the end it will be worth it as the U of C is great at landing you top job offers/grad placement.</p>
<p>In short, you'll get an extreme workload & will probably not have much of a social life, but in the end it will help you land top job offers/grad placement.</p>
<p>You will have a social life! Seriously, for all those who haven't been a student at Chicago, please stop saying that it is all work. Yes, the academics are excellent, but almost everyone I knew there had a great social life despite the reputation. There are always people going out and the city of Chicago offers unlimited opportunity. I would recommend visiting and seeing it for yourself. I loved my time there, both socially and academically.</p>
<p>Basically, if you want to have a social life you must actively seek it. It's not like most universities where you don't really have to try, at Uchi, you do. :p</p>
<p>As a grad student a Chicago I knew many undergrads. All I knew had very active social lives. Perhaps they were all seekers... I have been involved with many schools, I saw Chicago as no different socially than most, except that very bright folks tend to do some different things (read: less binge drinking, though there is some of that as well) for fun.</p>
<p>there really isnt much academic difference betw quarters and semesters. On a quarter system, the typical workload is 3 classes, whereas on a semester it's 5. The real difference is one more final each year per class (which could be postive or negative, depending on your perspective), and the fact that 10 week quarters don't allow much time to get sick since mid-terms always seem to be 'next week'. LOL</p>
<p>One noticeable difference about Chicago is that the school requires more classes to graduate, 42, I believe, whereas other quarter schools only require ~36. But, Chicago does allow AP/IB credits.</p>
<p>Many schools are on quarters, and it works quite well. Most of the UC's and Dartmouth, for example.</p>
<p>it has great academics but the social experience might be worse than other similar schools - just from what I hear and from people who are sort of familar with the place</p>
<p>I honestly do know more than a few Chicago alums who have complained about the social life. Its there, but not even close to other schools. It depends on how much that matters to you.</p>
<p>I think swarth has a much stronger biology program. Natural Sciences is just an area where UChi falls short. I think swarth has a much stronger program, and particularly for pre-med, has a larger student population there.:)</p>
<p>Chicago is a 10 for academics. Chicago alumni have a very good track record of getting accepted to the very best graduate schools, and this holds true across every field I've ever looked at (except the arts). </p>
<p>However, not everyone there is happy with the social life. At one point, its campus social scene was ranked 299th in the country, just above #300 U.S. Naval Academy. Visit over a weekend and compare it with visits to other top universities, and it's up to you, but I have to say that chances are you'll notice a stark contrast (a difference - I'm not saying better or worse). It's worth shelling out some money for a trip for somewhere you're going to spend four years. </p>
<p>I think this difference in social/campus life is why Chicago's selectivity falls far behind some of its peers (see the revealed preference ranking) despite the fact that its academics are top notch in most fields. I would also contend that the lack of excellent departments in certain fields, like art, drama and engineering - and athletics - is also a factor, because it limits the campus diversity by a smidge. I'm not saying you can't go there and become a great artist, athlete or engineer, but this does affect the type and breadth of students that the school attracts.</p>
<p>Chicago has a strong DIII presence in several sports. It isn't Florida State, but they do recruit athletes and the athletes are treated well on campus.</p>
<p>Chicago is not for everyone. The applicant pool clearly self-selects to a large extent. The application is hard. The kids are very smart and maybe there aren't as many parties going on. The students there have plenty of social opportunities, though, and most are very happy. There are students at every college who are not happy. I know a young woman who bailed out of Cornell before she even finished freshman year because there was too MUCH partying.</p>
<p>Yes, there is clearly self-selection, meaning that nearly every student who gets accepted to Chicago chooses to go elsewhere for college. Luckily, most students who choose Chicago in the end like it, as the graduation rate is pretty high.</p>
<p>However, I would argue that self-selection is an important factor for applicant pools/students at every college, because of the fact that students have to select in the first place whether or not to even apply. Just because Chicago has a very low yield rate doesn't mean it's the only college where self-selection plays an important role in who comes.</p>