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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

can't tell if this is a troll but definitely MAGA. I'd recommend Liberty University for your niece. Seems more her kind of people

Absolute nonsense. A US student has the right to a teacher who can communicate in English. Mere technical competence, even giftedness, means nothing if the students cannot understand the teacher. It is not a question of xenophobia.

USA has no official languages. But a college should clearly document the languages it teaches in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've never once heard anyone use the term "Deep South Side." And there's no one in Chicago who would call Hyde Park the far south side. The University of Chicago is a 15 minute drive from the center of downtown Chicago outside of rush hours. But misconceptions about and slights against Chicago and the university aren't the important part. She's not happy. I hope she takes a semester or two off of school and finds the right match. Every university's Common Data Set will show if they accept mid-year transfers. Many semester abroad programs probably are also still accepting applicants.

I think they meant Deep Dish Side.

[Anonymous]

Good Lord. Look
at all those miserable sad students and parents

https://youtu.be/GzzO9c1lyOI

Must indeed be a terrible place 🤔🙄

I mean compared to this sh**h**e, any ivy, just be heaven 😲🤨

[Anonymous]

Deep Dish Side - there ya go!

Other than that, this is the world’s dumbest thread. Who cares about this helicopter auntie and her niece’s feelings about u of c???? So soooooo odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Deep Dish Side - there ya go!

Other than that, this is the world’s dumbest thread. Who cares about this helicopter auntie and her niece’s feelings about u of c???? So soooooo odd.

So if the aunt wants to post, what’s it to you? You sound overly invested in this and a bit like what you accuse OP of doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Deep Dish Side - there ya go!

Other than that, this is the world’s dumbest thread. Who cares about this helicopter auntie and her niece’s feelings about u of c???? So soooooo odd.

So if the aunt wants to post, what’s it to you? You sound overly invested in this and a bit like what you accuse OP of doing.

NP. I was thinking the same. Caring isn't the same as helicoptering. And, PP seems very invested for someone throwing stones.

[Anonymous]

She sounds insufferable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is an "isolated location in the Midwest"? It's the 3rd largest city in the US.

What percentage of UChicago undergraduates remain in Chicago after graduation? Very few outside of the kids who go straight to Chicago-based graduate programs. The most lucrative full-time job offers are in New York City, California, Washington DC, Seattle, Miami, and Boston. What is the point of spending 4 years in Chicago if you're not going to stay there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is an "isolated location in the Midwest"? It's the 3rd largest city in the US.

What percentage of UChicago undergraduates remain in Chicago after graduation? Very few outside of the kids who go straight to Chicago-based graduate programs. The most lucrative full-time job offers are in New York City, California, Washington DC, Seattle, Miami, and Boston. What is the point of spending 4 years in Chicago if you're not going to stay there?

This is a strange argument. It's true for most schools. Who stays in New Haven, Providence, Ithaca, Durham, Hanover, Amherst, Williamstown, Charlottesville, etc etc I'd venture more stay in Chicago than these places.

[Anonymous]

Are you American? Is she? Your post reads like you're not and uses terminology that is more British, so I wonder if that's part of the issue.

Anyway... I think some of her gripes about Chicago aren't misplaced, but some of them definitely are. Maybe she has a TA that doesn't speak English well? Chicago has famously good profs (definitely not useless in their disciplines) & it's pretty unlikely that they don't speak English well... but I've heard about this problem with grad students in math/science disciplines before (not at Chicago), so wondering if that could be the problem? If so, it will probably improve as she gets older and takes fewer large lectures w/ TAs and more seminars with professors.

That said, the isolated location in the Midwest comment makes it sound like maybe she's actually missing her friends who are having what she perceives to be better experiences and/or visiting each other. You say it wasn't her first choice and I wonder if this is more peer envy than anything else.

I also don't really understand the anti-staff comments (how much University staff does a Freshman encounter) which sound mostly entitled/obnoxious. I'm also curious what she thinks a "serious" university operates like... and this gets me back to the is she foreign question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is an "isolated location in the Midwest"? It's the 3rd largest city in the US.

What percentage of UChicago undergraduates remain in Chicago after graduation? Very few outside of the kids who go straight to Chicago-based graduate programs. The most lucrative full-time job offers are in New York City, California, Washington DC, Seattle, Miami, and Boston. What is the point of spending 4 years in Chicago if you're not going to stay there?

Your evidence for this? Plus, what percentage of Yale students remain in New Haven? What percentage of Vanderbilt students remain in Nashville? What percentage of Cornell students remain in upstate New York? Etc. Should top students avoid the University of Michigan just because they don't intend to work/live in Michigan? Do you think DMV students who go to SEC schools plan on staying in the states in which their chosen school is located, especially ones like Alabama?

[Anonymous]

It is uncool to remain in Chicago after graduating. The gunners all move to the coasts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is uncool to remain in Chicago after graduating. The gunners all move to the coasts.

Like Harry and Sally!

Native Chicagoan here and I'm still laughing over "Deep South Side!" I suppose Lincoln Park is the "Far North Side" too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is uncool to remain in Chicago after graduating. The gunners all move to the coasts.

Like Harry and Sally!

Native Chicagoan here and I'm still laughing over "Deep South Side!" I suppose Lincoln Park is the "Far North Side" too.

Live video feed from Lincoln Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApxnAr6pRt0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is an "isolated location in the Midwest"? It's the 3rd largest city in the US.

What percentage of UChicago undergraduates remain in Chicago after graduation? Very few outside of the kids who go straight to Chicago-based graduate programs. The most lucrative full-time job offers are in New York City, California, Washington DC, Seattle, Miami, and Boston. What is the point of spending 4 years in Chicago if you're not going to stay there?

Proof?