You should DEFINITELY consider attending this school.

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>I'm a first year at UofC, and so far it's been the best decision I've made in a long time. This is an incredible school.</p>

<p>A little background about me...</p>

<p>Where did I want to attend college? Yale, Brown, University of Chicago, Columbia
Rejected? Yale
Wait Listed? Brown
Accepted? University of Chicago, Columbia, Georgetown SFS, Northwestern, UC Berkeley, Wash U, Wellesley and Amherst
Considered? University of Chicago, Columbia, Georgetown SFS</p>

<p>Major Considerations: Public Policy, International Studies, Sociology/Anthropology, French</p>

<p>Ask questions! I'll answer over the next week or so. Based on the type of college experience you're looking for, I am more than willing to help assist you.</p>

<p>Ask about anything--social life, food, dorm/housing, bathrooms, partying, classes, professors (hott professors), the campus, and the city...of course.</p>

2

<p>Are the classes ridiculously hard? That’s what I’ve heard…</p>

3

<p>Why’d you pick Chicago over your other schools? I stayed at chicago overnight and i liked it a lot :)</p>

4

<p>What is your free time like? Do you have an average schedule (compared to other UChicago students?) Aka: Is UChicago a place where I will be expected to devote my life to homework and grades/difficult classes, or just to learning itself (a situation in which I would have much free time to pursue interests in a non-overly-stressful and more spontaneous environment)?</p>

5

<p>Let’s go with…Yes, classes are difficult. However, nothing out of the ordinary. The workload I receive here is on par with Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. </p>

<p>I think what’s more important to consider is how incredibly rewarding classes are here. I mean it with all my heart. I adore my classes! My professors are young, enthusiastic, attractive (two of the four), and passionate educators. </p>

<p>It depends on what you’re looking for out of your classes. I think I’m working really hard, but I do find value in what I’m learning. There’s not a lot of busy work. There’s alot of collaborative thinking and idea exchange.</p>

<p>No matter what classes you take and what your major is, you will most definitely think more critically, read more critically, and write more critically by the time you leave here. </p>

<p>And you do have the option to take three or four classes each quarter here. If you take three classes in a quarter (which plenty of freshman do) you won’t feel the workload at all really. My roommate took three this year, and she had so much free time! This is college. You make it what you want. You can take three classes every quarter here, if you have enough AP credits, and honestly–there’s no stigma. People won’t judge you if you take three classes instead of four. Three is totally manageable, in fact substantially less work than I was receiving my junior and senior year in high school.</p>

6

<p>Why’d I pick Chicago?</p>

<p>Well, there are plenty of reasons. I eliminated Columbia pretty fast. Maybe too fast, but I don’t regret it. I wanted an intellectual school. I wanted a place where people loved to learn and talk about crazy ideas, fantasies, dreams, passions, etc. I didn’t want to be locked in a pre-professional world. People who come here are seriously interested in attaining an education that will guide them throughout life and not purely a career. </p>

<p>I also loved the idea of being so close to a city, but not so close that my school had no campus. Chicago had one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL campuses I visited. This feels like Oxford, more than any other place. I go into the city often, but it depends on the individual. I’ve gone to two concerts, plenty of dinner outings, vintage shopping, Cirque De Soleil, ethnic neighborhoods, and two museums in just one quarter. </p>

<p>Honestly, Chicago is perfect for me. I feel like my quality of life is really high here. Not to mention the beautiful new dorms, which I’ll post you guys a link to. I honestly feel like I might be living in the nicest dorm of all universities in the nation. It’s a beautiful dorm. </p>

<p>I’m going to answer about my daily schedule and stuff in another post…</p>

7

<p>[Hyde</a> Park](<a href=“Neighborhood Attractions | Visit UChicago”>http://hydepark.uchicago.edu/)</p>

<p>This link shows you a bit about the neighborhood of Hyde Park. We are situated in the Hyde Park Neighborhood, which is one of the many neighborhoods that comprises the city of Chicago. We’re in the southern part of Chicago, right on Lake Michigan. It takes about 15-20 minutes using public transportation to get into the heart of downtown.</p>

8

<p>[New</a> dorm deepens community feel on South Campus | The University of Chicago](<a href=“http://www.uchicago.edu/features/20090928_south_dorm.shtml]New”>http://www.uchicago.edu/features/20090928_south_dorm.shtml)</p>

<p>This link talks about the newest dorm on campus, which hosts about 400-500 first years. The rest of the students are 2nd-4th years. Watch the video in the link to get a tour of the dorm.</p>

9

<p>How’d you pay for it? Provided this awful early action notification business blows over and I get that’s my main concern.</p>

10

<p>Mon:
9:30-10:20 AM-Calculus
11:30 AM-12:20 PM-French
1:30-2:50 PM-Humanities </p>

<p>Tuesday:
12-1:50 PM-Social Science</p>

<p>Wed:
9:30-10:20 AM-Calculus
11:30 AM-12:20 PM-French
1:30-2:50 PM-Humanities</p>

<p>Tuesday:
12-1:50 PM-Social Science</p>

<p>Fri:
9:30-10:20 AM-Calculus
11:30 AM-12:20 PM-French</p>

<p>I can’t lie and say I don’t get stressed out. But honestly, when it really comes down to it, I don’t think I have significantly more work than my friends at other colleges. I have friends at ivy leagues and state schools, and in a lot of ways there are comparable things about all these schools. </p>

<p>For example: My grade for my Humanities class derives from class participation (readings and class discussion), three 4-5 page papers double spaced over the quarter, and a weekly response post which is 1-2 paragraphs. </p>

<p>I have enough free time to that I’m going out into the city, making friends, doing random crap like baking, watching movies, apartment parties, going to frat parties, having late night escapades with friends in the dorm, etc. I definitely have fun, but mainly because I allow myself to. There are people who get boggled down, but that’s because they don’t give themselves a balance. Sure, there are weekends you simply can’t go into the city because you have two papers due the next week, but that just means the weekend after you’ll more than likely have a very free weekend. The university has also hosted things on campus like the Chicago Blues & Ribs festival, Halloween Haunted Houses, a massive GIRL TALK concert, and the Lascivious Ball (lingerie/naked party and fashion show).</p>

<p>Also, I’m going to be involved in MODA, which is the campus-wide fashion/graphic design group this coming quarter in addition to some community service gigs.</p>

11

<p>Could you elaborate on the pulchritude of your professors? Are you a girl or guy? What classes do they teach? Hahaha :p</p>

<p>Do most people get the dorm they want? Can first years get apartment-style dorms?</p>

12

<p>By the way, thanks for spending your time answering our questions :)</p>

13

<p>Good question. Cost should be a legitimate concern. We’re known for having very average financial aid policies. I’ll be honest, my parents tried, but all I could get were loans. So I’m not receiving any direct tuition from the school. With that being said, I have PLENTY of friends who are receiving financial aid and it seems to be going smoothly. Many of them have jobs on campus during the week, which seem pretty reasonable and fun. One of my friends works in a neighborhood schools program about 8 hours a week, and it goes toward her financial aid. If you’re a good applicant, the university will want to work with you.</p>

14

<p>Absolutely, I’ll talk about the pulchritude of my professors.</p>

<p>I’m a female, and I have two female and two male professors. Two of them are professors, one is a grad student, and the last is a post doctoral fellow. We have alot of post doctoral fellows on campus.</p>

<p>For example, my Social Science class which covers topics on Political/Economic Theory and Thought has a 28 year old male professor. He’s a post doctoral fellow, so he’s already received his PhD (degree from Cambridge). He’s British and has a wonderful accent, tall and lean, brilliant, sweet, and rather fashionable. If you get my gist, we have alot attractive young people on campus. It’s the combination of undergrads, grad students, and post doctoral fellows. And this makes going to office hours amazing! From what I’ve heard, this situtation happens both ways. One of my close friends is a guy and he has a gorgeous Humanities professor. Part of the appeal is the physical attractiveness, but the other part is definitely the intellectual capacity these young professors/grad students possess.</p>

<p>When you’re in one of these situations, you’ll realize how crazily it can have a hold over you. As terrible as this sounds, it really makes you want to do well in the class.</p>

15

<p>You’ll get the choice of listing three of our (nine or so?) dorms on the housing application. From what I’ve heard, most people get one of three dorms they request. I ended up getting my first choice, and I didn’t submit my housing application until the end of April.</p>

16

<p>Just feel like throwing this out there:</p>

<p>Food is really good here. No complaints at all. Unlike my friends at other schools, I have not grown sick of dining hall food yet. We have a brand new fresh/organic style dining hall that is paired with the new dorm. There are so many healthy and ethnic options–it’s great.</p>

17

<p>I wholeheartedly agree with ilovepeople712. UChicago is an amazing place. It doesn’t have grade inflation (or very little of it), which is important because it really pushes you to do your best.</p>

<p>Finishing up my first quarter, I told myself that I got a real education. I’ve learned more than I could’ve ever imagined in honor chemistry, community service, etc. It’s an amazing place!</p>

18

<p>There are alot of passionate and interesting people here who put serious effort into the things they pursue. People don’t sell their souls here, except for a few in the Econ department. :-)</p>

<p>No matter how much I wanted to go to Brown at one point, I cannot see myself anywhere else. Everything I wanted at Brown, I’ve found here, but in a more academically rewarding environment. There are some times when I still yearn about Yale, but honestly, UChicago is very comparable to Yale. There is nothing Yale has over Chicago, except one thing: people outside of academia have given it more credit and prestige over the years because of the ivy league label.</p>

19

<p>can you honestly tell me if Chicago has grade deflation please?</p>

<p>it’s great getting accepted into Chicago, but my main goal in life is to get into medical school which is X times more harder hahah… if you know what i mean, so… yea</p>

20

<p>There is definitely no grade deflation. There is sometimes, but rarely grade inflation. We’re pretty in the middle, when it comes to other schools of our caliber. </p>

<p>It’s totally possible to do well in your classes and get A grades. You just have to earn it. That’s the motto here. If you show your professors you care, you’re willing to work hard, and sometimes go the extra mile they will totally give you a grade you deserve. My professor bumped me up from a high A- this quarter to an A in one of my classes.</p>

<p>One of my friends is pre-med, and he worried about this alot. In his core BIO sequence (which alot of pre meds take), he finished the quarter before exams with around a D, after putting a lot of effort, and guess what grade he received in the class? A solid B. After some weighting of grades, exam considerations, etc the teacher felt he deserved a B. He was ecstatic. </p>

<p>I think the grading is pretty fair here. There’s just alot of work, so that makes students feel like there’s grade deflation at times, but there really is not–at all.</p>