Anyone know anything about University of Chicago?
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Anonymous
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DS (Junior) is looking into colleges and really likes what he's reading about it. He's pretty introverted, intellectual (I guess? He genuinely enjoys his classes and thinks most of his non-APs were too easy; he wants a hard school) and nerdy and loves the atmosphere. But, I'm a little worried that something like this will happen to him http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-02-17/news/chi-university-of-chicago-student-20-found-dead-20140215_1_dorm-students-death-foul-odor, because it's totally like him to just lock himself in his room for a week without talking to anyone.
Also, he wants to go into Comp Sci, which Chicago isn't known for, but I asked a colleague and he literally said that you can't wrong with Chicago (their grad program is ranked #30ish by US News, can't be that bad). DS also wants to double major in history, so he's not too happy with schools like MIT, CalTech or Harvey Mudd which aren't good at all with non-techy things. Other schools that are good with both are too reach-y for him to really pin down (Chicago's early acceptance rate is 50% from our school and the average accepted SAT score is around 2150 - nothing like the other schools in USNews top 20), though we understand that Chicago is still going to be a reach. He thinks he has a reasonable chance though, especially since he fits the exact stereotype Chicago seems to be trying to attract (he's been complaining about generic essay questions since the second time he had to write about the theme of a passage). So...general opinions? Anyone have an experience with the school? It doesn't really come up here often... It is as good as it looks for the introverted kid who's nerdy enough to like strange things like Lord of the Rings linguistics and gets excited over a robotic library? |
Anonymous
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Alum and alumni interviewer here. It's a great school, but they are very selective. I can't really compare it to others like MIT/CalTech but a history/comp sci major would probably love Chicago. Be aware, though, that the 'stereotype' of student Chicago is trying to attract has changed significantly over the past few years. It's no longer looking to be the place where fun comes to die.
What do his extra curriculars look like? Sports? |
Anonymous
I went to grad school with a couple of UC CS graduates and I was pretty impressed. I agree, you really can't go wrong with Chicago. I do disagree that MIT etc wouldn't be good with the non-tech majors. They wouldn't be as good as the STEM majors, but any school with kids that smart is going to be decent. |
Anonymous
| University if Chicago: where fun goes to die. |
Anonymous
| I went to U of C years ago (graduated in 2000.) There really isn't much of a social scene, which was fine with me. Frats were kind of a joke, as well as athletics. Overall, once I found my group of friends things were fine and I had an ok experience. My biggest gripe with the school is that when I got out I felt like people didn't know the school - despite it's stellar reputation in academia, the general population that I encountered didn't really know at all where I went to school. I moved to New York and only a few people in my age group knew the school I went to. Everyone thought I went to the University of Illinois. My father, an economist, was extremely proud though. |
Anonymous
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Though my new favorite has to be “The University of Chicago: where the only thing that goes down on you is your GPA.”
Please, let your kid get laid in college. |
Anonymous
Really? He won't be happy to hear that. But, I think he'll be happy as long as the essays are still unusual. That was the first thing that attracted him (that and the architecture). His extra-curricular are...weird. I have no idea if they'll help him or hurt him. He really likes computers. He built his own, taught himself several programming languages, programs massive and complex projects and games, participates in programming contests (And does well! Unfortunately I can't say more because you'll be able to cross reference who he is - but he managed to get >$1000 in prize money for his school). He also writes modifications for video games, some of which have been downloaded 10,000+ times (or so he tells me, I wouldn't actually know). He also was a CIT at his camp, tutors middle school kids after school, is in his school's environmental club, etc...you know the usual things that most kids have done. The only thing he really does on the history front is read history books, but he's read a LOT of history books. He'll devour 600+ page monsters written by university professors, aimed at...I don't even know, but not high schoolers, in a matter of weeks and come back for more. He also likes watching lectures on history and linguistisc that various colleges have posted on youtube, but I doubt either actually count as extra-curriculars. The problem is there just doesn't seem to be anything for a history-oriented kid to do besides learning history.
Both I and DH went to MIT actually, and we don't think he'd be happy with the humanities there. It just isn't pervasive enough for him; he loves casual conversation about history. Sure, there are some history buffs here and there, but most people were there cause they really liked math. We actually had one friend who got in with a higher verbal than math SAT (practically unheard of there) who majored in linguistics and she would sometimes say that she regretted not going to a school where humanities was more of a focus, even thought MIT's linguistics program is fantastic. |
Anonymous
| Maybe Columbia? An intellectual student body similar to U Chicago's. Good for both history and computer science through the engineering school. I'm pretty sure that kids are free to take classes between the college and the engineering school (SEAS) provided they've met the prerequisites for a given class. If he loves reading history tomes (and great for him!), then he won't be thrown, as some are, by Columbia's core curriculum which will have him reading Plato and Herodotus. |
Anonymous
PS, should add that Columbia's early decision acceptance rate is about 20%. |
Anonymous
| 17:57 here. As you describe his interests, Chicago does sound like a good fit for him due to the strong humanities interest combined with the computer science inclination. What about community service/volunteering? You didn't mention sports or arts at all. Do you consider him to be well-rounded? Would you say history is his passion? |
Anonymous
| Sorry, I just realized you did mention tutoring. |
Anonymous
He doesn't have a lot of volunteering, really just enough to fulfill MCPS requirements...though being a CIT at his camp was actually non-trivial, they actually reject people and he had to actually act as counselors for a night (this was at a sleep over camp). They also completely ran the camp during color war...planned all the activities and stuff. CIT there isn't just a name, they choose all their counselors from people who have been CITs there, with only a few exceptions, and it's treated as actual counselor training. I also forgot, he volunteered every weekend for about 4 months at a nursing home, but one of the people he'd visit died and he was too shaken to keep going. Didn't even get the form filled out. He doesn't play sports though...not his thing. And the thing is, he has two passions. He can't decide which he likes more, history or programming, but he doesn't want to ignore either in college.
I'd LOVE if he went to Columbia, I love New York and I love that it's not too far from me, but he doesn't want to get locked down with ED. If he gets in RD hopefully he will seriously consider it! I think I'm more for Columbia more than him though, and I'm definitely not going to force him to go if he doesn't want to. We'll visit, if he gets in, and I'll try my best to convince him. |
Anonymous
| For a night each week* Not just one night, that wouldn't mean much. |
Anonymous
| 17:57 again. I forgot to ask - how are his writing skills? As you can guess from the essays, Chicago does spend a lot of time evaluating those. |
Anonymous
| I loved Chicago. But the school is rather Jewish. |