<p>I was talking to a friend who lives in Chicago and she was pretty surprised when i told her I was considering U of C. She says the atmosphere there is particular when compared to other colleges....very serious, all about the work and recreational fun nonexistant. I've read the other threads that describe U of C to be a haven for intellectual conversation, etc but I was just wondering if what my friend said was partially true as well.</p>
<p>Nope! The atmosphere is quite intellectual, but in the "good" intellectual way, not the "study all night" way. Some kids do, of course, but mostly you're just going to find that everybody is highly intelligent, open to new ideas, progressive and willing to talk or debate about anything. Most of the kids, though, are just like at any other school - they like to party and have fun, and don't spend a ridiculous amount of time on schoolwork. </p>
<p>It's a common stereotype that the school is "where fun goes to die" but I can assure you that's not true. The spread between work and play is, again, no different from what I would expect to find at any other school of UC's caliber. There are always people in the library, and there are always people getting trashed at frat and apartment parties (and always people going to lectures and plays and orchestra performances and camping trips and Bulls games, etc.) </p>
<p>Are you a prospective student? If so, I'd recommend not taking my word for it and doing an overnight so you can see what student life is really like.</p>
<p>i'm spending a few weeks in evanston this summer and i thought i would look around U of C while i'm in the area...unfortunately, i'm not sure if i can squeeze in an overnight...</p>
<p>by the way, sorry for wasting your time jack. after posting my question, i started reading a few threads and realized that this topic had already been posted 198347395443 times. </p>
<p>the only worry i really have about choosing a college is choosing one that has a major i'll enjoy...i'm looking at UChicago because of its economics program but i've also always had a strong interest in the sciences...i guess i have to answer to my interests before choosing any college, huh?</p>
<p>At this point you don't need to worry about "answering to your interests" I would say; people won't be choosing their major until their sophomore or junior years, and there is a chance that whatever you're fixed on right now will change as you're exposed to more academic disciplines in college. As long as you aren't applying to a business, engineering, architecture or other vocational major then you can choose universities to apply to based on the strength of their overall undergraduate curriculum. Uchicago's undergraduate college is very strong both in social sciences (like economics) and the pure sciences.</p>
<p>more than answering to your interests, make sure you're ready to answer to the core:</p>
<p>your discussion oriented class looks spiffy.</p>
<p>can someone explain to me how the Core is different from the gen ed. requirements of other schools other than the fact that the courses are somewhat cohesive?</p>
<p>Core courses are not distribution requirements. General education requirements tend to be along the lines of a course with writing, a course with math, a course with the arts, etc. A core program is structured entirely differently. The "humanities" requirement is 2-3 courses of a structured sequence. The choices for the sequence are: Philosophical Perspectives on the Humanities, Reading Cultures, Readings in World Literature, Human Being and Citizen, and Media Aesthetics. These are carefully designed courses that aren't meant to teach or involve just one specific thing, such as writing. Instead the courses give a solid grounding of studies in the humanities. Each course goes about the humanities from a different angle, but they are all comparable. At many schools with distributions, someone could take a course on writing in the sciences to complete the writing requirement. Even for non-sequenced requirements, such as the fine arts, particular classes are chosen and designed for the core requirement. You can't take music theory or drawing 101 to complete the requirement, for example. A core program also has a different goal and inspiration than distribution requirements. While distribs are meant to ensure some experience in different areas, the core is meant to build a foundation for further study while teaching students how to think about different disciplines. The core is aiming at a traditional liberal education, in many senses. Another difference is that while distribs are generally simple to test out of, most core courses are so different or beyond AP or community college classes that this credit is rarely offered (there are exceptions, such as the mathematics requirement). </p>
<p>I don't think I explained it very well, Theresaliu, so feel free to ask for a better explanation.</p>