Univ of Chicago

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I taught at UofC and the students there are my favorite. Compared to other universities where I've taught, I found students more willing to engage with ideas and less likely to have a "what do I need to do to get an A because I'm applying to med school" mentality. I didn't think I would like the core curriculum, but found that having shared texts really enriched class discussion.

Thanks for chiming in, UofC admissions team.

If you want to move from annoying to full stalker, you can ask Jeff. I'm sure he could confirm that I've mentioned teaching at UofC in other posts. And, I'm pretty sure official Chicago boosters are only allowed to write UChicago. The downsides to me were a significant number of students experiencing mental health issues exacerbated by stress (a graduate student shot himself in a library bathroom and died while I was there) and the quarter system which is grueling.

Different "pro Chicago" poster, and I definitely get the same sense from my prof husband. He'd agree with all of your points in both posts, including the stress-caused mental health issues. And the quarter system! Lordy. I went to grad school on the quarter system and it was very, very tough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are an alum or have a child at Univ of Chicago, can you share your thoughts/experiences. My DD thinks it’s her “dream school” and I want to learn more about it. Will be taking her up to visit.

Tell us more about your kid and we can opine on whether it's a dream or a nightmare in the making.

She and I know that schools in this tier are a dart throw but something about this school seems to appeal to her.

She is a decent student - mostly A’s, some A minus. Heavy AP courseload. High 1500s SAT scores.

She is not athletic. Not really got any standout long time ECs.

But she gets deeply interested in subjects. Sometimes esoteric ones. Will randomly choose to go to lectures on topics that she hears about. Will go to the portrait gallery to walk around “just because”. She is truly undecided on what she wants to major in. She likes and is good at science but also likes languages. Some interest in neuroscience it seems. But zero interest in med school. She loves to read. I think she would make a successful tenure track prof at some point.

Socially, she has good friends but not part of a large friend circle. Likes small group activities. Certainly not in the group of kids that others might want to emulate. I think she is straight but hasn’t really shown an interest in dating. Probably leans liberal but is not a social Justice person.

She loves Boston - she hasn’t spent any time in Chicago so no idea there.

I appreciate everyone who has responded.

Sounds like an archetypal U of C undergrad to me. Also, Chicago weather is better than Boston's weather despite what some might have you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Chicago is a fun city. UofC has great museums, cafes, Folk Festival, Doc Film series on campus (which is beautiful). Good access (transit pass, arts pass, planned outings) to off-campus museums, arts events, etc. My DC had very similar interests/social life. Now in a Bio PhD program.

Interesting to read posts like this but when that UChicago student was killed this summer on the way back to campus from his downtown internship, many comments suggested he shouldn't have been using that specific train route or something along those lines. So the university and its boosters rah-rah public transit, but once on campus, naive students are supposed to know all these unspoken train and bus stops and routes to avoid? The city is totally safe... EXCEPT for...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sounds like an archetypal U of C undergrad to me. Also, Chicago weather is better than Boston's weather despite what some might have you think.

False. And Boston is on the eastern seaboard, a train ride from NYC, Philly, DC. And easy plane access to Florida, Asian or Europe via Logan, JFK and LaGuardia. Chicago is in the middle of the country. It feels much more isolated during the grey cold months, especially to kids from the coasts.

[Anonymous]

I am UChicago alum from about 15 years ago. I also went to an ivy league school for grad school and came from a very competitive private school on the east coast. I loved my experience there and am still very close to many friends from school but there are some major differences that I didn't realize at the time:

- The curriculum is very rigorous and there is no grade inflation. I took a couple of pre-med requirements at Harvard in the summer and it was a joke compared to my science classes at UChicago. I had to beg the dean to even accept that as credit. They don't care if you are applying to med school/grad school/etc . . they still give out low grades freely.

- The core has a lot of requirements and is in-depth. I enjoyed but it does require you to invest a lot of time and efforts into subjects you might not be interested in. In contrast my husband studied engineering at a top ranked state school and I know it was intense but he didn't have to pull A's in history, literature and social studies as well as his engineering courses in order to graduate with a high GPA.

- The alumni network and "college love" just isn't as strong as other schools. I worked at a FAANG in Chicago and the focus was way more on schools like UMich, Notre Dame, and Northwestern. Alums from those schools are really pulling for more hires from their respective alma maters.

- UChicago is still heavily midwestern so lots of kids from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, etc. If you don't want to end up in Chicago after school ends it can be a little more challenging because alot of people do want to stay in the midwest. There are alot of kids from the midwest that apply because they want to go to a top tier school but they don't want to leave the midwest.

- Chicago still has alot of crime and UChicago isn't in the best neighborhood and yes you have to rely on public transportation to access alot of the fun and amazing things Chicago has to offer. You have to have some street smarts and feel comfortable with a campus that's in an urban area.

I know all of this makes it sound like I don't love the school and thats farthest from the case. I truly love the friends I made and really loved the classes I took and have great memories of experiencing a liberal arts education. But it's really for a specific type of student that's going to enjoy that type of experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Chicago is a fun city. UofC has great museums, cafes, Folk Festival, Doc Film series on campus (which is beautiful). Good access (transit pass, arts pass, planned outings) to off-campus museums, arts events, etc. My DC had very similar interests/social life. Now in a Bio PhD program.

Interesting to read posts like this but when that UChicago student was killed this summer on the way back to campus from his downtown internship, many comments suggested he shouldn't have been using that specific train route or something along those lines. So the university and its boosters rah-rah public transit, but once on campus, naive students are supposed to know all these unspoken train and bus stops and routes to avoid? The city is totally safe... EXCEPT for...

Simple answer — different posters/different perspectives. I wrote the post you’re quoting. My DC, a recent UofC grad, took public transit everywhere — including that line. It was tragic that a college student got killed while riding the El home from his summer internship downtown by a bullet fired from outside the train. But it’s not a sign that riding public transit or living in Chicago or going to UofC = putting your life at risk. Nothing = “totally safe” — and certainly not any environment that includes cars or drugs or alcohol or guns — which is pretty much all of the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sounds like an archetypal U of C undergrad to me. Also, Chicago weather is better than Boston's weather despite what some might have you think.

False. And Boston is on the eastern seaboard, a train ride from NYC, Philly, DC. And easy plane access to Florida, Asian or Europe via Logan, JFK and LaGuardia. Chicago is in the middle of the country. It feels much more isolated during the grey cold months, especially to kids from the coasts.

Are you aware of O'Hare International Airport, the world's sixth largest international airport? Or Midway, a hub for Southwest. Chicago is the opposite of isolated for anyone hoping to get anywhere via the sky. I'll give you trains, though.

And, speak for yourself re: weather/"feeling isolated." I seem to recall a year where Boston sat under 6 feet of snow for a month. But, specific weather events aside, Boston has a very similar winter low average to Chicago and sees more snow.
But, don't believe random DCUM poster, review the data yourself: https://www.bestplaces.net/climate/?c1=52507000&c2=51714000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sounds like an archetypal U of C undergrad to me. Also, Chicago weather is better than Boston's weather despite what some might have you think.

False. And Boston is on the eastern seaboard, a train ride from NYC, Philly, DC. And easy plane access to Florida, Asian or Europe via Logan, JFK and LaGuardia. Chicago is in the middle of the country. It feels much more isolated during the grey cold months, especially to kids from the coasts.

BS (or solipsism) and, no, Chicago not the “middle” of the country. I’m from one coast; DC’s from the other. Neither felt “isolated” in Chicago. Pretty sure O’Hare has flights that would get you anywhere Logan would. And JFK and LaGuardia aren’t in or even near Boston.

That said, having lived in both cities, I agree that Chicago’s weather isn’t better than Boston’s.

[Anonymous]

I have literally flown from DCA to Midway, grabbed lunch and flown back by late afternoon. It is super easy.

[Anonymous]

Seriously. People on DCUM are really trying to convince us that a 1-2 hour flight to Chicago is somehow soooo much harder or sooooo much more isolated than, say, an 8 hour drive or a 1-2 hour flight to NYC or Boston + 3 hour drive into the wilderness. Delusional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have literally flown from DCA to Midway, grabbed lunch and flown back by late afternoon. It is super easy.

This. DCA to Midway is a 2 hour flight. I have had a hard time landing at Midway a few times over the winters (flights diverted), so that's a real limitation.

My DC is there and generally loves it. I do think OP's child sounds like a good fit, but I second previous posters' caution to be aware that the quarter system (recently reduced to 9 weeks!) in a school with a lot of work is brutal. It's like DC is underwater from week 2 through week 9.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seriously. People on DCUM are really trying to convince us that a 1-2 hour flight to Chicago is somehow soooo much harder or sooooo much more isolated than, say, an 8 hour drive or a 1-2 hour flight to NYC or Boston + 3 hour drive into the wilderness. Delusional.

O'Hare to UChicago or vice versa is literally 1 hr and 30 to 40 minutes via public transport, so don't forget to add on over 3 hrs RT.

Yes, UChicago is isolating on the south side and in Chicago. It's weird how everyone hypes "Chicago" which means downtown and Cubs games. But UChicago is not downtown, it's actually 30 to 60 minutes south of downtown. It's akin to saying Rockville or Gaitherburg (MD) are "in DC".

And Chicago, the city of, is far more isolating to east and west coast kiddos because no acela and all their friends are in eastern seaboard schools. Are you really not grasping that friend groups at Penn, Villanova, Columbia, NYU, Brown, Harvard, Boston College, Hopkins, Georgetown have a far easier time of seeing each other than the kid from Hyde Park, Chicago visiting their friend at the same colleges? And do you really not grasp these rich kids on the east coast pop on flights to Miami and Europe at the drop of a dime?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously. People on DCUM are really trying to convince us that a 1-2 hour flight to Chicago is somehow soooo much harder or sooooo much more isolated than, say, an 8 hour drive or a 1-2 hour flight to NYC or Boston + 3 hour drive into the wilderness. Delusional.

O'Hare to UChicago or vice versa is literally 1 hr and 30 to 40 minutes via public transport, so don't forget to add on over 3 hrs RT.

Yes, UChicago is isolating on the south side and in Chicago. It's weird how everyone hypes "Chicago" which means downtown and Cubs games. But UChicago is not downtown, it's actually 30 to 60 minutes south of downtown. It's akin to saying Rockville or Gaitherburg (MD) are "in DC".

And Chicago, the city of, is far more isolating to east and west coast kiddos because no acela and all their friends are in eastern seaboard schools. Are you really not grasping that friend groups at Penn, Villanova, Columbia, NYU, Brown, Harvard, Boston College, Hopkins, Georgetown have a far easier time of seeing each other than the kid from Hyde Park, Chicago visiting their friend at the same colleges? And do you really not grasp these rich kids on the east coast pop on flights to Miami and Europe at the drop of a dime?

You sound genuinely delusional. Getting from Chicago to virtually anywhere on the eastern seaboard is a piece of cake. I guess kids who go to Stanford or Berkeley or Pomona or Caltech are just country bumpkin idiots because they can't easily see their friends at *Villanova* (of all places! lmfao) over a weekend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously. People on DCUM are really trying to convince us that a 1-2 hour flight to Chicago is somehow soooo much harder or sooooo much more isolated than, say, an 8 hour drive or a 1-2 hour flight to NYC or Boston + 3 hour drive into the wilderness. Delusional.

O'Hare to UChicago or vice versa is literally 1 hr and 30 to 40 minutes via public transport, so don't forget to add on over 3 hrs RT.

Yes, UChicago is isolating on the south side and in Chicago. It's weird how everyone hypes "Chicago" which means downtown and Cubs games. But UChicago is not downtown, it's actually 30 to 60 minutes south of downtown. It's akin to saying Rockville or Gaitherburg (MD) are "in DC".

And Chicago, the city of, is far more isolating to east and west coast kiddos because no acela and all their friends are in eastern seaboard schools. Are you really not grasping that friend groups at Penn, Villanova, Columbia, NYU, Brown, Harvard, Boston College, Hopkins, Georgetown have a far easier time of seeing each other than the kid from Hyde Park, Chicago visiting their friend at the same colleges? And do you really not grasp these rich kids on the east coast pop on flights to Miami and Europe at the drop of a dime?

It takes time to get from any airport to anywhere else in a city. JFK/LGA/EWR to NYU or Columbia easily takes an hour via public transit. Georgetown to Dulles is 30 miles. Also, Midway Airport to UChicago is a 30 minute drive. You sound like you've never used airports before. Very strange argument you're trying to weave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously. People on DCUM are really trying to convince us that a 1-2 hour flight to Chicago is somehow soooo much harder or sooooo much more isolated than, say, an 8 hour drive or a 1-2 hour flight to NYC or Boston + 3 hour drive into the wilderness. Delusional.

O'Hare to UChicago or vice versa is literally 1 hr and 30 to 40 minutes via public transport, so don't forget to add on over 3 hrs RT.

Yes, UChicago is isolating on the south side and in Chicago. It's weird how everyone hypes "Chicago" which means downtown and Cubs games. But UChicago is not downtown, it's actually 30 to 60 minutes south of downtown. It's akin to saying Rockville or Gaitherburg (MD) are "in DC".

And Chicago, the city of, is far more isolating to east and west coast kiddos because no acela and all their friends are in eastern seaboard schools. Are you really not grasping that friend groups at Penn, Villanova, Columbia, NYU, Brown, Harvard, Boston College, Hopkins, Georgetown have a far easier time of seeing each other than the kid from Hyde Park, Chicago visiting their friend at the same colleges? And do you really not grasp these rich kids on the east coast pop on flights to Miami and Europe at the drop of a dime?

It takes time to get from any airport to anywhere else in a city. JFK/LGA/EWR to NYU or Columbia easily takes an hour via public transit. Georgetown to Dulles is 30 miles. Also, Midway Airport to UChicago is a 30 minute drive. You sound like you've never used airports before. Very strange argument you're trying to weave.

Actually, longer! 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours is more accurate.