<p>Fortune4260: "But we could be. We just have to get there."</p>
<p>We can't. We will never get, "there." I, for one, will not accept communism under any circumstances.</p>
<p>TheCity: "but lets not forget that its the rich who've run teh republican party since the 50s, but only now have they realized that they can pass their anti-union, pro fatcat legislation if they pitch a tent which includes gullible religious poor people."</p>
<p>I would disagree. The Religious Right has now commandeered the Republican Party. Statistics show that the poor have a significant tendency to vote Republican, while the rich have a significant tendency to vote Democrat. Although the Republican Party is seen as the party of the rich "fatcat," the rich "fatcats" are in fact voting Democrat. </p>
<p>TheCity: "socialism not "natural" ???
well actually, in north america, and on almost every other continent besides europe, it was natural enough that cultures stuck with it for millenia."</p>
<p>Yes, communism does sometimes work (it is inherently less efficent than capitalism, yet it can sustain itself) in very small groups of people, where the equal power of everybody is feasible. True communism--on a scale larger than a few thousand people in a commune--has not been seen in the modern world. Note that Marx advocated communism not socialism. chicagonobel argued against Marx and Engles. He/She said that communism is not natural; he/she didn't say that, "socialism [is] not 'natural.'" They are two distinctly different theories.</p>
<p>"Statistics show that the poor have a significant tendency to vote Republican, while the rich have a significant tendency to vote Democrat. Although the Republican Party is seen as the party of the rich "fatcat," the rich "fatcats" are in fact voting Democrat. "</p>
<p>I suggest you check the exit polls from the last two elections. They tell a different story. So I'd like to know where these "statistics" are.</p>
<p>Do you really enjoy using your AP european history knowledge? I don't understand how you reply has to do with my reason for going to U CHicage?????????</p>
<p>CesareBorgia, I'm sorry, but are you planning on attending the U of C as a freshman next year??? Because I remember your post about making the final decision among HYPS(i think), cambridge, and the U of C, I was just curious...</p>
<p>Ah...the communist statue. I believe that at some point, the U of C hired a sculpture to build them a statue for the campus grounds. The sculpture was a communist, so I prepared a very special design, without telling anyone. On some day during the year...May Day or Labor Day, I think...at the proper hour, the statue will cast a shadow that looks remarkably like the Hammer & Sickle of the Soviet Union.</p>
<p>(Two witnesses may have also claimed to have seen the ghosts of Marx and Veblen emerge from the base of the statue, arm and arm, and proceed to march through the campus singing revolutionary songs.)</p>
<p>I want to go to Chicago because:
-Academics are extremely challenging. I like the quarter system.
-Location
-Quality of faculty
-Programs (NELC and biology)
-Small class sizes
-Intellectual feel
-Attractive campus
-Good research opportunities
-Other stuff I can't think of right now</p>
<p>I want to go to UoC because I will be forced to work constantly (okay probably not constantly but it will help me focus). I enjoy learning about a variety of topics. I love for everything to connect and have all of my subjects intertwine. Also, I like to draw out maps and show how things can change and how ideas can split and so forth. </p>
<p>I like class discussions. </p>
<p>I also hold my own lecture series during lunch and after school and enjoy reviewing and discussing and figuring out what my peers think and integrating it with my views and then constantly questioning and so on. (Mostly, we review for upcoming exams, or rather, I serve as surrogate teacher for those time periods.) </p>
<p>I like the gargoyles. </p>
<p>I'll meet thousands of people much smarter than me. </p>
<p>It's far away from home and there are none of my relatives around. </p>
<p>Also, I'll feel that my education at UoC will fill in many gaps. </p>
<p>I really love the intellectual vibe the campus gives off. Students there seem really really motivated by learning and knowledge rather than mere grades and scores. That really attracts me as a student because I want to be surrounded by peers who are truly interested in learning.</p>
<p>There is no one thing. It is what I am looking for in terms of a general mood/place/experience, but I guess I will try to enumerate what I am saying:</p>
<p>I love to argue with people who know more than me about something that I am interested in. 4000-odd nerds and far too many professors should make that pretty easy.</p>
<p>Despite its size, it is a liberal arts college - I don't want to pick my major right away, and distribution is good if well done. Small classes are nice too.</p>
<p>I went to a hard high school and discovered that hard just ment <i>more</i> easy math problems and more classes, not better or more intense. I want to go to a college that actually makes me write/prove things that I can't.</p>
<p>Edible food - no terrible dorms.</p>
<p>Merit money with some luck.</p>
<p>Ah, Chicago's Southside, I love you so. I am a photographer in the mostly nice San Francisco, and the very old buildings, the abandoned tracks, the urban decay I see as beutiful. I hear that it is exaggerated for that specific area, but I wouldn't mind walking off campus with a bulletproof vest and some paranoia.</p>
<p>They have every program I can think of being interested in.</p>
<p>The people I have met who have gone there are great people.</p>
<p>Paradoxey - I like that. Such as having the same initials as the Univesit(ies) of California which I am also reluctantly applying to.</p>
<p>Let there be collective socialist luck-wishing for the ED'ers!</p>
<p>I took a class there over the summer, and I completely fell in love. It's like a whole different atmosphere of learning -- academic ambiance to the extreme. I learned so much more than what my professors taught me, and I made some really, really good friends. It's definitely all about the life of the mind. </p>
<p>My favourite story about UChicago is the one about the statue in front of the Social Studies department. It was originally commissioned for the Economics department, but the sculptor was a raging communist. They, um, missed that little detail. As it turns out, when the sun is shining on May Day, the statue makes a hammer and sickle shadow on the ground. The Economics department demanded that it be removed after they found out, so it's now in front of the Social Studies department. That definitely made me...laugh out loud.</p>