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

[Anonymous]

My DCs love University of Chicago. They are both currently enrolled there. Why?
- they love the Hyde Park neighborhood- eclectic academic, affluent, long-term diversity, beautiful walkable neighborhood
- their friends are interesting and march to their own beat, and friends were made through classes, sports, RSOs and house living. They went out to the point to celebrate the end of year with a picnic and generally do normal college kid things outside class
- the courses are challenging and teach critical thinking; they constantly feel pushed to be the best version of themselves as students. My son’s favorite course was proof-based mathematics, and he is grateful he is getting incredible academic training
- professors for both have been very strong and empathetic. It is hard but go to office hours, show your effort, get to know them… and they have built meaningful relationships with their professors in Economics, mathematics, art and HUM
-employers that value extremely smart students recruit at UChicago in Finance, Consulting and banks… don’t know about other courses
Free speech reigns. They love that ideas can be discussed openly without self censorship. This is a huge plus for U Chicago
- they don’t see the crime people fret about on this thread- just be careful. They are city kids so used to handling themselves carefully. in fact the campus police who stand on street corners on campus all night, the blue light phones, etc… do make the campus feel safe
- however, they recognize it’s more effort to get into Chicago than living in the city )they are city kids), and that it gets really cold and that is hard, and that their grades are probably going to be lower and the quarter system is really fast-paced. This is life and no college is perfect, so can you live with and adapt to downsides?
I am just pointing out that experiences vary and the 99% freshman retention rate suggest many more students share my DCs experience.
If you don’t like U Chicago, don’t apply. Or transfer. Find the better school for you, but be honest enough to acknowledge other people are having equally valid positive experiences, and don’t try to blanket dismiss or devalue their lived experience.


I

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

I’m a coastie but Chicago would be world class if they just went full Lee kwan yew

Of course, but that will never happen, so it's a bleeding city and uncool to stay there when you have better options. The kids who really love the city of Chicago are the kids from the Midwest who want to remain close to family. Average Big Ten graduates love Chicago. More competitive top 20 private college graduates generally don't want to be in the middle of the country, they prefer New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, Miami and Boston.

You say many things (e.g. , what's considered "uncool" or who the kids who love Chicago are) as if they are facts, but they're not. It is your biased opinion,, so of no value.

It is not an opinion that most UChicago students flee the Midwest after graduation. This sub-topic came about after someone asked why go to college for four years in the crummy south side of Chicago if you are not going to remain in Chicago after graduation. It is not like UChicago offers such a distinct education or provides any bump in pay or prestige; UChicago salaries are relatively awful. You are better off going to college someone ranked a little lower in the region you can see yourself living in after college.

This was you. Not "someone," but you. You are the OP on both threads and you have been sock puppeting with this talking point that I will generously call an argument. Why are you grinding this axe?

I don't think you or your child were rejected from UChicago, as some other posters have suggested, because one gets over that kind of thing eventually. I think you may have been fired by a Chicago alumnus, or maybe your ex went there. Oh--or was it the lover who stole your ex away? It had to have been someone you think ruined your life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DCs love University of Chicago. They are both currently enrolled there. Why?
- they love the Hyde Park neighborhood- eclectic academic, affluent, long-term diversity, beautiful walkable neighborhood
- their friends are interesting and march to their own beat, and friends were made through classes, sports, RSOs and house living. They went out to the point to celebrate the end of year with a picnic and generally do normal college kid things outside class
- the courses are challenging and teach critical thinking; they constantly feel pushed to be the best version of themselves as students. My son’s favorite course was proof-based mathematics, and he is grateful he is getting incredible academic training
- professors for both have been very strong and empathetic. It is hard but go to office hours, show your effort, get to know them… and they have built meaningful relationships with their professors in Economics, mathematics, art and HUM
-employers that value extremely smart students recruit at UChicago in Finance, Consulting and banks… don’t know about other courses
Free speech reigns. They love that ideas can be discussed openly without self censorship. This is a huge plus for U Chicago
- they don’t see the crime people fret about on this thread- just be careful. They are city kids so used to handling themselves carefully. in fact the campus police who stand on street corners on campus all night, the blue light phones, etc… do make the campus feel safe
- however, they recognize it’s more effort to get into Chicago than living in the city )they are city kids), and that it gets really cold and that is hard, and that their grades are probably going to be lower and the quarter system is really fast-paced. This is life and no college is perfect, so can you live with and adapt to downsides?
I am just pointing out that experiences vary and the 99% freshman retention rate suggest many more students share my DCs experience.
If you don’t like U Chicago, don’t apply. Or transfer. Find the better school for you, but be honest enough to acknowledge other people are having equally valid positive experiences, and don’t try to blanket dismiss or devalue their lived experience.


I

The OP is fake. There is no niece.

[Anonymous]

I’m not going to read this whole thread but there is a prevailing current on this forum of trashing several colleges, namely Chicago, Northeastern, and UVA. Columbia (especially General Studies) also, to a lesser extent. I suspect almost all of the trashing comes from people who have no direct experience with any of them but have axes to grind for whatever reasons. I just don’t understand why people care do much about whether X university is “better” than Y university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DCs love University of Chicago. They are both currently enrolled there. Why?
- they love the Hyde Park neighborhood- eclectic academic, affluent, long-term diversity, beautiful walkable neighborhood
- their friends are interesting and march to their own beat, and friends were made through classes, sports, RSOs and house living. They went out to the point to celebrate the end of year with a picnic and generally do normal college kid things outside class
- the courses are challenging and teach critical thinking; they constantly feel pushed to be the best version of themselves as students. My son’s favorite course was proof-based mathematics, and he is grateful he is getting incredible academic training
- professors for both have been very strong and empathetic. It is hard but go to office hours, show your effort, get to know them… and they have built meaningful relationships with their professors in Economics, mathematics, art and HUM
-employers that value extremely smart students recruit at UChicago in Finance, Consulting and banks… don’t know about other courses
Free speech reigns. They love that ideas can be discussed openly without self censorship. This is a huge plus for U Chicago
- they don’t see the crime people fret about on this thread- just be careful. They are city kids so used to handling themselves carefully. in fact the campus police who stand on street corners on campus all night, the blue light phones, etc… do make the campus feel safe
- however, they recognize it’s more effort to get into Chicago than living in the city )they are city kids), and that it gets really cold and that is hard, and that their grades are probably going to be lower and the quarter system is really fast-paced. This is life and no college is perfect, so can you live with and adapt to downsides?
I am just pointing out that experiences vary and the 99% freshman retention rate suggest many more students share my DCs experience.
If you don’t like U Chicago, don’t apply. Or transfer. Find the better school for you, but be honest enough to acknowledge other people are having equally valid positive experiences, and don’t try to blanket dismiss or devalue their lived experience.


I

+1. Same experience here.

[Anonymous]

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

Friend's DC seems on the verge of making this decision. If DC ends up not playing sport due to injury, etc, then not sure they'll be happy there knowing the kid as well as knowing Chicago from when older sister attended. Yes, a lot has changed in the last few decades, yet the complaints I heard from my sister as well as our older DC's friends who attend there remain largely the same.

Some of the problems here, however, sound like any large institution.

[Anonymous]

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.

She should transfer to Northeastern, Georgetown, NYU.. Somewhere in a more fun city. Chicago can be dreary.

[Anonymous]

If you are not capable of having fun in Chicago, something seriously is wrong with you.
I have been to so many cities in the world, and Chicago is top 5 in my list .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

I’m a coastie but Chicago would be world class if they just went full Lee kwan yew

Of course, but that will never happen, so it's a bleeding city and uncool to stay there when you have better options. The kids who really love the city of Chicago are the kids from the Midwest who want to remain close to family. Average Big Ten graduates love Chicago. More competitive top 20 private college graduates generally don't want to be in the middle of the country, they prefer New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, Miami and Boston.

You say many things (e.g. , what's considered "uncool" or who the kids who love Chicago are) as if they are facts, but they're not. It is your biased opinion,, so of no value.

It is not an opinion that most UChicago students flee the Midwest after graduation. This sub-topic came about after someone asked why go to college for four years in the crummy south side of Chicago if you are not going to remain in Chicago after graduation. It is not like UChicago offers such a distinct education or provides any bump in pay or prestige; UChicago salaries are relatively awful. You are better off going to college someone ranked a little lower in the region you can see yourself living in after college.

This was you. Not "someone," but you. You are the OP on both threads and you have been sock puppeting with this talking point that I will generously call an argument. Why are you grinding this axe?

I don't think you or your child were rejected from UChicago, as some other posters have suggested, because one gets over that kind of thing eventually. I think you may have been fired by a Chicago alumnus, or maybe your ex went there. Oh--or was it the lover who stole your ex away? It had to have been someone you think ruined your life.

Oh honey, you have serious issues to post like this. Why are you so bitter? Please get some help. This is not normal
behavior on a college admissions forum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

I’m a coastie but Chicago would be world class if they just went full Lee kwan yew

Of course, but that will never happen, so it's a bleeding city and uncool to stay there when you have better options. The kids who really love the city of Chicago are the kids from the Midwest who want to remain close to family. Average Big Ten graduates love Chicago. More competitive top 20 private college graduates generally don't want to be in the middle of the country, they prefer New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, Miami and Boston.

You say many things (e.g. , what's considered "uncool" or who the kids who love Chicago are) as if they are facts, but they're not. It is your biased opinion,, so of no value.

It is not an opinion that most UChicago students flee the Midwest after graduation. This sub-topic came about after someone asked why go to college for four years in the crummy south side of Chicago if you are not going to remain in Chicago after graduation. It is not like UChicago offers such a distinct education or provides any bump in pay or prestige; UChicago salaries are relatively awful. You are better off going to college someone ranked a little lower in the region you can see yourself living in after college.

This was you. Not "someone," but you. You are the OP on both threads and you have been sock puppeting with this talking point that I will generously call an argument. Why are you grinding this axe?

I don't think you or your child were rejected from UChicago, as some other posters have suggested, because one gets over that kind of thing eventually. I think you may have been fired by a Chicago alumnus, or maybe your ex went there. Oh--or was it the lover who stole your ex away? It had to have been someone you think ruined your life.

Oh honey, you have serious issues to post like this. Why are you so bitter? Please get some help. This is not normal
behavior on a college admissions forum

[Anonymous]

You could write the same Subject about any college in the U.S. Just fill in the blank:Niece just finished her freshman year at University of ______. She hates it.

[Anonymous]

The niece is a lie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The niece is a lie.

Agree. OP is a troll.

I expect it's the same person/people who trash the universities in the Midwest and simultaneously or a few days later post about how fabulous some college in Alabama or Florida is. It's tiresome.

[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.

Schools better than UChicago:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
MIT
UPenn
Caltech
Duke
Columbia
Dartmouth
Brown
Georgetown
Amherst
Pomona

+1 but replace Georgetown with Williams

Schools better than UChicago:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
MIT
UPenn
Caltech
Duke
Columbia
Dartmouth
Brown
Vanderbilt
Georgetown
Amherst
Williams
Pomona

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Schools better than UChicago:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
MIT
UPenn
Caltech
Duke
Columbia
Dartmouth
Brown
Georgetown
Amherst
Pomona

+1 but replace Georgetown with Williams

Schools better than UChicago:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
MIT
UPenn
Caltech
Duke
Columbia
Dartmouth
Brown
Vanderbilt
Georgetown
Amherst
Williams
Pomona

Eh. UChicago > Vanderbilt and Georgetown for undergrad still. I would also say UChicago ~ Dartmouth, Brown, Amherst, Williams, Pomona. HPSM, Caltech, Yale, UPenn, Duke, Columbia are the only schools I feel confident saying are better than UChicago undergrad.