<p>Title says it all. :)
I think it'd be nice to have a realistic view of the schools that I'm applying to, so, I'd love to hear about the "bad" things about UChicago.</p>
<p>In the college, there’s plenty of things to complain about.</p>
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<li><p>First off, it’s unnecessarily difficult. Not even in the academic sense (although it’s hard in that aspect as well). Even though most schools give off a lengthy amount of time for reading period, we get 2 days, and professors usually just ignore it or find ways to work around it.</p></li>
<li><p>UChicago websites look pretty on the outside, but inside the login wall, everything looks like it’s from the 90s.</p></li>
<li><p>Sucky name recognition. Only really educated people know the name, which is awfully annoying at times. I guess uneducated people don’t really matter that much, but you better get used to everyone in the family thinking that you go to a city college (other than the family lawyer, in my case).</p></li>
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<p>LOL, that’s actually quite funny. ;)</p>
<p>if you’re the type of person who always wonders “when am i going to use this in the real world?,” Chicago is not the place for you.</p>
<p>However, if you’re looking for one of the best undergrad educations available in the world and are not choosing a college based on how good it will sound to tell other people, Chicago is an excellent option.</p>
<p>I agree with everything phuriku mentioned. I’d also like to add that it’s sometimes hard to make time for fun things. After the second week of each quarter, it’s really hard to set aside an entire day that’s free of academic work because the endless march of papers and midterms begins. I’ve found that I can usually set aside Friday after 3 pm and Saturday after 4 pm for fun things, but that’s only if I get some work done earlier in the day. It would be nice to get away with not touching work until Sunday.</p>
<p>And while I like the theoretical slant to everything, sometimes I wonder if I’ll leave college with actual skills. Jobs usually require something more than writing papers and doing labs and problem sets.</p>
<p>“And while I like the theoretical slant to everything, sometimes I wonder if I’ll leave college with actual skills. Jobs usually require something more than writing papers and doing labs and problem sets.”
Lol this is true. XD</p>
<p>The quarter system. Never became entirely comfortable with it (who knows, this may be one of its purposes). I loved everything else about UChicago.</p>
<p>Haven’t started at the U of C yet, but I’ve already been getting ticked off by the lack of name recognition. I’m not a prestige-whore, but it’s still pretty insulting when people are like “I thought you were smart?”.</p>
<p>what i don’t like about uchicago is the presence of some GPA obsessed prestige-whore HYPS rejects seeking name recognition. ha ha</p>
<p>Truth be told all colleges are pretty theoretical even when they think they are practical. I got an accounting degree from a state school, you would think this could be a degree that would avoid theory and delve right into practice, especially in the last 2 years, but by the time I graduated many laws had changed and each company had its own way of doing things. So in reality you learn your company’s computer system and methods, something you never learn in college. At best in undergrad college you learn how to learn.</p>
<p>@overachiever1992: We had some friends come over from Chicago and they totally thought I was going to UIC. I was told to expect this, but it was funny that it occurred in real life. xD</p>
<p>^It’s occurred for me too. I thought it was ridiculous at first, but I’ve had quite a few people say, “Oh yeah, we drive past your school when we go up to Wisconsin.” That’s UIC. And while I don’t live in the Chicago area, I still think it’s funny.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think it’s more of a function of how proud I am to have gotten in and just how darn good the school is. I feel it deserves more credit in the eyes of the layman. Not a big deal at all though; I still ended up coming here, right?</p>
<p>Name recognition isn’t all that great now, but it’s definitely on its way up, and fast. Exhibit A: apps jumped 42% this year. The administration recognizes how sucky name recognition is and has been putting its best efforts into improving that.</p>
<p>Unless you’re doing something Chem-related, I really haven’t found it to be THAT much harder than similarly ranked schools (so long as we discount places that super-inflate their grades like Brown or what have you).</p>
<p>The only real disadvantage to UChicago that I see is if you want to jump into work right after undergrad and hope to learn a pile of useful practical skills during your four years here. Not gonna happen. However, most do go onto grad schools, so that’s really not an issue.</p>
<p>Sure, people say we aren’t nearly as pre-professionally/career oriented as, say, most Ivies. And that’s definitely true, but the resources are right there if you’re willing to do the legwork. Furthermore, each successive class has become less and less weirdo-life-of-the-mind-is-all-that-matters, and more and more get me a six figure salary on Wall St as soon as I graduate.</p>
<p>I was rejected from all 5 Ivies I applied to when I applied to colleges, and was devastated that I “had” to go to UChicago (again, sucky name recognition made me feel like I was attending a safety school). Now I can honestly say that unless Yale accepted me with a ****ton of money to boot, I’d have picked UChicago. College is what you make of it.</p>
<p>*On second thought, there are three things I do dislike about UChicago:
- Too many hipsters everywhere. I seriously wouldn’t be surprised if American Apparel decided to open up a new store in Hyde Park sometime soon.
- The quarter system sometimes makes scheduling a little awkward, and I have heard stories where people have been turned down for internships due to the quarter system. However, instances of this are quite rare. It’s mostly that awkward month when you’re home/your friends are at school, then you have to take finals while all your friends are at the beach.
- There is no such thing as an A+. We have A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, etc, but no A+. I’m upset that LSDAS GPA calculator puts you at a bit of a disadvantage, what with A+ not being an option at UChicago.</p>
<p>On the whole I love the school but of course there are a couple of things that irk me.</p>
<p>1) The student body leaves something to be desired, both in personality and physique. The overly-awkward, pale, unkempt style is not my thing and it does turn my stomach a little to see so many guys wearing girls’ jeans. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve found a group of friends that I love and think are totally awesome, it’s just annoying to constantly hit walls of social inability when trying to chat with classmates.</p>
<p>2) I haven’t had satisfactory dealings with the administration here. This sentiment sorta stems from a particular situation I got myself into concerning not responding to the Insurance waiver request and being automatically enrolled in their system for all 3 quarters [so, kids, if you’re covered by your parents’ insurance make sure to get that form in by the due date]. And the Dean didn’t go out of her way to at least get me off the plan for the subsequent quarters or at least look into finding a way to prevent this from happening to others in the future, leaving me out $3000 and stressed out for a year about finances. My fault, I know, but I still feel like there was something that could have been done, and I still think the whole system of non-respondance being automatic enrollment is ********… but whatever. However, I love the flexibility that I’ve been given in the courses I can take which really has allowed me to explore my interests at a level that I doubt would have been approved (given my background) at the state college I had been considering instead of Chicago.</p>
<p>Yea, that’s about it. I really do (heart) UChicago for allowing me to realize and focus my love of learning and I honestly doubt that I would have gotten the same quality scientific education with such a strong focus on open inquiry in my classes and freedom in my academic research at another university.</p>
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<p>Due to massive ■■■■■■■■ for prospective students, a questionable tactic which does not seem to befit such a serious and highly regarded academic institution as Chicago. I used to respect Chicago because I thought it was above that sort of thing. Now it’s just another Tulane (except for the free apps thing).</p>
<p>The marketing money could’ve been used for, I dunno, something (trivial to Chicago) like improving the stingy FA for undergrads, but whatever.</p>
<p>Chicago used to occupy a unique niche in higher education, where the “love of learning” was supposed to make something like name recognition trivial and unnecessary (if not undesired). Now we all realize that all those lofty claims of “intellectual superiority” are nothing but hot air. Sad to see such an esteemed institution of higher learning sell out like that.</p>
<p>^ I’m not sure I agree; I imagine that there are plenty of potential applicants who would have been great fits for the U of C but didn’t apply because they didn’t even know such a school existed.</p>
<p>I think the larger question is whether the school will still to choose the more quirky, intellectual type rather than the Ivy-league type.</p>
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<p>What do you mean by this? Is Tulane a bad/overrated school? Just wondering…</p>
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<p>Chicago’s “one size fits all” marketing campaign will probably result in a noticeably lower percentage of “quirky, intellectual types” of admittees and enrollees. All for the sake of an Ivy-like admit rate. For a school that supposedly prides itself as unique and distinctive from (aka more “intellectually-oriented” than) at least the majority of Ivies, I see a lot of Ivy striving going on. Why not be the best at what you are than be an Ivy wannabe?</p>
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<p>No, not at all. Neither is Chicago. But both have (overly) agressive marketing campaigns which have an eye towards increasing (perceived) selectivity and not much else.</p>
<p>^ Ohh. I see. UChicago is an awesome school with top notch academics…but I wouldn’t want to go there b/c I’ve heard it has major grade deflation and a not so good social life…“where fun goes to die…”.</p>