Niece just finished her freshman year at University of Chicago. She hates it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes this happens when you choose a college based solely on it being your highest US News ranked option.

She is really well traveled with best friends and an older brother at Ivies, UVA, Vanderbilt, Boston College, and Duke. Her senior year of high school and over the last year she has spent weekends or longer at like a dozen universities. She has a good handle on what she believes is lacking at Chicago.

She should beware that the grass is always greener. Many of her criticisms apply to other universities just as well. For example, insufferable classmates can be found at BC, albeit insufferable in different way, perhaps. And profs who don't speak English well. Etc etc.

[Anonymous]

There is a reason the school’s unofficial motto is “where fun goes to die”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes this happens when you choose a college based solely on it being your highest US News ranked option.

She is really well traveled with best friends and an older brother at Ivies, UVA, Vanderbilt, Boston College, and Duke. Her senior year of high school and over the last year she has spent weekends or longer at like a dozen universities. She has a good handle on what she believes is lacking at Chicago.

She should beware that the grass is always greener. Many of her criticisms apply to other universities just as well. For example, insufferable classmates can be found at BC, albeit insufferable in different way, perhaps. And profs who don't speak English well. Etc etc.

A weekend at some other school is not telling you anything sorry.

She should transfer if unhappy. But most of these complaints just sound whiny and don't make any sense / certainly don't sound unique to this school.

[Anonymous]

professors were "checked out" or "barely spoke English !!!!!
This is absolutely not true!!
Some of the best professors are at U Chicago with guests speaker from all over the world.
I can understand not liking any school but her reasoning does not seem to be true.

[Anonymous]

She sounds like a brat, IMO, but regardless...not every school is a fit for every student. *shrug* Not exactly sure what you want us to say. Plenty of students transfer. And it's not true that most transfer deadlines are in January. Hardly any are. Most peer schools are March 1 or March 15. So too late now, but alas...

[Anonymous]

Deep South side. LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She earned very high marks and she does not wish to return. And not just for known reasons like violent crime, weather, and its isolated location in the Midwest, and more specifically, on the deep south side of Chicago. We had a long lunch and here are her words in quotes: Her classmates are "repulsively obnoxious" and "insufferable," her professors were "checked out" or "barely spoke English," the university seems "unprofessional" and in "disarray," and most of the staff she encountered were "useless" and "incompetent." "It looks like a serious university but it does not operate like a serious university."

It was not her first choice but she was so excited when we met for lunch late last summer. It is sad to see her so unhappy after a year.

You realize it is hard to take you seriously when you lead with “the violent crime” and the “isolated location”.

First, the area around the school has crime, but the school itself is fine.

2nd… a city of 5 million people is hardly an isolated location.

Why even mention those two points…doesn’t sound like they had anything to do with your niece liking or not liking the school.

What motivates you to spin? The university gives every kid free Lyft ride credits each month because there are so many muggings, assaults, and there were multiple student murders in recent memory. And the Midwest is very isolated to children from the coasts. And south side Chicago feels a world away from downtown skyscrapers, and ritzy neighborhoods like River North, Gold Coast, West Loop and Lincoln Park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry for her and hope she can find a better fit. You’re a good Aunt to listen and be supportive. Curious if she is from the DMV and went to public or private?

Yes. Private.

[Anonymous]

I am insisting my next lunch with a relative be off the record.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So Miss Sunshine has applied to transfer, right?

She wants to decompress and explore what if any options she has. As she explained, Chicago is on the quarter system, which makes it difficult to transfer courses to the far more common semester universities? And transfer deadlines tend to be in January, so she would have had to begin that process right after her first quarter. She tried to give it a fair chance for two more quarters and she remains unhappy. It sounds like she has made some good friends but she seems to dislike everything else about the school. She thought it would be different.

UMD takes transfer applications in June.

[Anonymous]

Why is this any of your business?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry for her and hope she can find a better fit. You’re a good Aunt to listen and be supportive. Curious if she is from the DMV and went to public or private?

Yes. Private.

Predictably

[Anonymous]

are you foreign?

No American would say “marks”

Or “Deep South side”

I’m not a fan of UC Hicago but it has better faculty than most t10s

If this isn’t a troll,

What she’s really complaining/ missing is boys - she’s wants the type that’s easier to find at Dartmouth, vandy or duke

[Anonymous]

20 years ago I had a friend who had a similar experience and also transferred out. This person was from a non-DMV public school system. I have heard many similar stories and it seems that Chicago is quite polarizing and many do transfer out. Freshman learn a lot about the college experience in first year when they visit friends and see what is happening at other schools. I would just support her as best you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:are you foreign?

No American would say “marks”

Or “Deep South side”

I’m not a fan of UC Hicago but it has better faculty than most t10s

If this isn’t a troll,

What she’s really complaining/ missing is boys - she’s wants the type that’s easier to find at Dartmouth, vandy or duke

Interesting comments. But missed the fact “was not her first pick”. Hmmmm