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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UChicago has been pretty well known for happy really solid faculty for at least 50 years.

By happy and solid do you mean abrasive, smug, and hostile pr*cks? There's a reason you can quickly tease out UChicago faculty and graduates at conferences and in the workplace. They are insufferable pr*cks.

I am sorry that you did not get in.

I’m married to a U of C professor and am also an academic in my own right and this is just straight up false; there are academic jerks all over the place and lovely U of C professors, too. I’ve met some I don’t like, but isn’t that… normal? My husband is beyond generous to his students, both undergrad and grad, with his time and emotional energy.

[Anonymous]

My son loves his professors and most of them are always available to help with a demanding
Academic course.
They enjoy lots of small gatherings outside of classes and talking about different subjects.
You might not like the place or you don’t feel you belong there but it is very unfortunate to blame others for your unhappiness.

[Anonymous]

Chicago is a shit hole

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In case not posted earlier in this long thread. When I visited U of Chicago book store years ago, they had banners on sale there with the school’s unofficial slogan: “The University of Chicago, Where Fun Goes to Die.”

It's also where hell freezes over.

?? Chicago is indeed cold in the winter, but winters there aren't as bad as in Madison, WI or Ithaca, NY, or the Twin Cities, or some other university locales.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In case not posted earlier in this long thread. When I visited U of Chicago book store years ago, they had banners on sale there with the school’s unofficial slogan: “The University of Chicago, Where Fun Goes to Die.”

It's also where hell freezes over.

?? Chicago is indeed cold in the winter, but winters there aren't as bad as in Madison, WI or Ithaca, NY, or the Twin Cities, or some other university locales.

Along with "Where fun goes to die," its one of the other sayings about UChicago because its hell there but since the winters are brutal, it freezes over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think u Chicago undergraduate is better than Columbia.

True

Both are bleh tho

But Chicago > Columbia

[Anonymous]

U of Chicago is all about the grad school experience and not really great resources for undergrads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think u Chicago undergraduate is better than Columbia.

True

Both are bleh tho

But Chicago > Columbia

Columbia > UChicago

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:U of Chicago is all about the grad school experience and not really great resources for undergrads.

100 percent disagree !!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:U of Chicago is all about the grad school experience and not really great resources for undergrads.

One of the things you're missing is that undergrads do original research and take classes with PhD students toward the end of their time. Having shared the experience of developing critical thinking skills in the first half of their undergraduate experience, they become mini grad students by the time they leave.

It's a crazy amount of work--much more than at most other schools, and it is clearly not for everyone. But when the fit is good students can grow in amazing directions.

All of that said, I don't understand why our prolific drop-in troll is grinding this enormous axe. I think anyone who knows anything about UChicago is aware it won't be appropriate for all students, but OP's "arguments" are all either false or irrelevant. Why is it so terribly important to OP? This is truly odd behavior.

[Anonymous]

Very true

[Anonymous]

I was miserable (somewhere else) and transferred after just one semester to a school that had previously admitted me. It was shockingly easy. I began January of freshman year at the second school.

[Anonymous]

My 2 kids have studied & worked in Chicago in recent years. One of their high school friends went to UC, & they have met a bunch of UC grads through her. The stories of UC grads being goofy & obnoxious & wound too tightly are apparently—if-anything—UNDERstated. Even the friend who WENT to UC can barely stand them.

[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.

So what if the professors cannot effectively speak English?

[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.

So what if the professors cannot effectively speak English?

If professors can't speak English at UChicago, how will the students learn?