Reality check: social scene at UChicago

[Anonymous]

Uchicago's social scene is very fragmented and cliquey. On one hand, they have the traditional nerdy STEM kids that are introverted, geeky, and love the theoretical Uchicago education.

On the other end, there are hordes of elite prep school products enrolled in Econ and trying to land finance jobs. These kids are responsible for revitalizing Uchicago's greek system and creating a much less egalitarian social hierarchy than in previous generations.

The swarm of prep school kids at Chicago has also created an environment where questions like "where did you go to high school?" now get tossed around, and students from the elite, famous prep schools have access to a lot of campus social capital. If you attended Andover, Choate, or Horace Mann, then there's tons of your classmates floating around campus and they can loop you into the exclusive campus groups, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uchicago's social scene is very fragmented and cliquey. On one hand, they have the traditional nerdy STEM kids that are introverted, geeky, and love the theoretical Uchicago education.

On the other end, there are hordes of elite prep school products enrolled in Econ and trying to land finance jobs. These kids are responsible for revitalizing Uchicago's greek system and creating a much less egalitarian social hierarchy than in previous generations.

The swarm of prep school kids at Chicago has also created an environment where questions like "where did you go to high school?" now get tossed around, and students from the elite, famous prep schools have access to a lot of campus social capital. If you attended Andover, Choate, or Horace Mann, then there's tons of your classmates floating around campus and they can loop you into the exclusive campus groups, etc.

This is well put. And you're not getting those finance jobs if you're not coming in with connections. my kid attends a private high school that sends a ton to Chicago and they're all Econ majors and will get jobs through family connections. they're rising sophomores now and they all have internships because they called family friends. To a person. It's remarkable.

your average Reddit kid from DMV suburbia or middle American paying $100k to Chicago hoping to get a top finance job? Uh no. not happening . It's predetermined.

[Anonymous]

I am so confused. So some parents said that the Chicago private kids are unhooked, while other parents said they are hooked so they can get finance jobs. So which one is true?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uchicago's social scene is very fragmented and cliquey. On one hand, they have the traditional nerdy STEM kids that are introverted, geeky, and love the theoretical Uchicago education.

On the other end, there are hordes of elite prep school products enrolled in Econ and trying to land finance jobs. These kids are responsible for revitalizing Uchicago's greek system and creating a much less egalitarian social hierarchy than in previous generations.

The swarm of prep school kids at Chicago has also created an environment where questions like "where did you go to high school?" now get tossed around, and studrents from the elite, famous prep schools have access to a lot of campus social capital. If you attended Andover, Choate, or Horace Mann, then there's tons of your classmates floating around campus and they can loop you into the exclusive campus groups, etc.

My daughter just laughed out loud when I asked her if the Greek system has been revitalized by a bunch of "elite school products creating a much less egalitarian social hierarchy than in previous generations" ....you sound like the Onion! U Chicago Greeks play Dungeons and Dragons in their party rooms - probably not what you want to hear - but it's true. Just let them be. Yeesh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mentioned ED2—what's the ED1 choice?

Yale REA

This was my daughter last year. Did REA to Yale and then ED2 to Chicago, which was a very close 2nd choice to Yale. I agree they are far more similar than Vanderbilt and Chicago. Not sure why someone would be interested in those two as top choices aside from ranking and strategy.
Regardless, my daughter is finishing her first year. Had an amazing year and plenty of social outlets. Went to fraternity parties, out to various events and dinners in Hyde Park and Chicago, hung out with friends, etc. There is a wide range of personalities, as at most schools, and social activities for all types. My kid said she doesn’t really know anyone who is unhappy, but does know a few who have struggled academically as they came from less rigorous high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mentioned ED2—what's the ED1 choice?

Yale REA

This was my daughter last year. Did REA to Yale and then ED2 to Chicago, which was a very close 2nd choice to Yale. I agree they are far more similar than Vanderbilt and Chicago. Not sure why someone would be interested in those two as top choices aside from ranking and strategy.
Regardless, my daughter is finishing her first year. Had an amazing year and plenty of social outlets. Went to fraternity parties, out to various events and dinners in Hyde Park and Chicago, hung out with friends, etc. There is a wide range of personalities, as at most schools, and social activities for all types. My kid said she doesn’t really know anyone who is unhappy, but does know a few who have struggled academically as they came from less rigorous high schools.

I don’t know why people write empty posts like this. Doesn’t inform us anything, what you described is so generic it could fit for any school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mentioned ED2—what's the ED1 choice?

Yale REA

This was my daughter last year. Did REA to Yale and then ED2 to Chicago, which was a very close 2nd choice to Yale. I agree they are far more similar than Vanderbilt and Chicago. Not sure why someone would be interested in those two as top choices aside from ranking and strategy.
Regardless, my daughter is finishing her first year. Had an amazing year and plenty of social outlets. Went to fraternity parties, out to various events and dinners in Hyde Park and Chicago, hung out with friends, etc. There is a wide range of personalities, as at most schools, and social activities for all types. My kid said she doesn’t really know anyone who is unhappy, but does know a few who have struggled academically as they came from less rigorous high schools.

I don’t know why people write empty posts like this. Doesn’t inform us anything, what you described is so generic it could fit for any school.

She actually shared her daughter’s experiences at UChicago, so I’ll take the PP’s post any day over random poster’s strong opinions with no connection to the university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mentioned ED2—what's the ED1 choice?

Yale REA

This was my daughter last year. Did REA to Yale and then ED2 to Chicago, which was a very close 2nd choice to Yale. I agree they are far more similar than Vanderbilt and Chicago. Not sure why someone would be interested in those two as top choices aside from ranking and strategy.
Regardless, my daughter is finishing her first year. Had an amazing year and plenty of social outlets. Went to fraternity parties, out to various events and dinners in Hyde Park and Chicago, hung out with friends, etc. There is a wide range of personalities, as at most schools, and social activities for all types. My kid said she doesn’t really know anyone who is unhappy, but does know a few who have struggled academically as they came from less rigorous high schools.

I don’t know why people write empty posts like this. Doesn’t inform us anything, what you described is so generic it could fit for any school.

She actually shared her daughter’s experiences at UChicago, so I’ll take the PP’s post any day over random poster’s strong opinions with no connection to the university.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uchicago's social scene is very fragmented and cliquey. On one hand, they have the traditional nerdy STEM kids that are introverted, geeky, and love the theoretical Uchicago education.

On the other end, there are hordes of elite prep school products enrolled in Econ and trying to land finance jobs. These kids are responsible for revitalizing Uchicago's greek system and creating a much less egalitarian social hierarchy than in previous generations.

The swarm of prep school kids at Chicago has also created an environment where questions like "where did you go to high school?" now get tossed around, and students from the elite, famous prep schools have access to a lot of campus social capital. If you attended Andover, Choate, or Horace Mann, then there's tons of your classmates floating around campus and they can loop you into the exclusive campus groups, etc.

I can tell you aren’t affiliated with the university in any way. This is 100% false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mentioned ED2—what's the ED1 choice?

Yale REA

This was my daughter last year. Did REA to Yale and then ED2 to Chicago, which was a very close 2nd choice to Yale. I agree they are far more similar than Vanderbilt and Chicago. Not sure why someone would be interested in those two as top choices aside from ranking and strategy.
Regardless, my daughter is finishing her first year. Had an amazing year and plenty of social outlets. Went to fraternity parties, out to various events and dinners in Hyde Park and Chicago, hung out with friends, etc. There is a wide range of personalities, as at most schools, and social activities for all types. My kid said she doesn’t really know anyone who is unhappy, but does know a few who have struggled academically as they came from less rigorous high schools.

I don’t know why people write empty posts like this. Doesn’t inform us anything, what you described is so generic it could fit for any school.

99% of the posts here are AI generated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mentioned ED2—what's the ED1 choice?

Yale REA

This was my daughter last year. Did REA to Yale and then ED2 to Chicago, which was a very close 2nd choice to Yale. I agree they are far more similar than Vanderbilt and Chicago. Not sure why someone would be interested in those two as top choices aside from ranking and strategy.
Regardless, my daughter is finishing her first year. Had an amazing year and plenty of social outlets. Went to fraternity parties, out to various events and dinners in Hyde Park and Chicago, hung out with friends, etc. There is a wide range of personalities, as at most schools, and social activities for all types. My kid said she doesn’t really know anyone who is unhappy, but does know a few who have struggled academically as they came from less rigorous high schools.

I don’t know why people write empty posts like this. Doesn’t inform us anything, what you described is so generic it could fit for any school.

Except for clinging on Yale so hard, it’s embarrassing. Chicago’s name doesn’t carry weight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mentioned ED2—what's the ED1 choice?

Yale REA

This was my daughter last year. Did REA to Yale and then ED2 to Chicago, which was a very close 2nd choice to Yale. I agree they are far more similar than Vanderbilt and Chicago. Not sure why someone would be interested in those two as top choices aside from ranking and strategy.
Regardless, my daughter is finishing her first year. Had an amazing year and plenty of social outlets. Went to fraternity parties, out to various events and dinners in Hyde Park and Chicago, hung out with friends, etc. There is a wide range of personalities, as at most schools, and social activities for all types. My kid said she doesn’t really know anyone who is unhappy, but does know a few who have struggled academically as they came from less rigorous high schools.

Thanks for sharing this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uchicago's social scene is very fragmented and cliquey. On one hand, they have the traditional nerdy STEM kids that are introverted, geeky, and love the theoretical Uchicago education.

On the other end, there are hordes of elite prep school products enrolled in Econ and trying to land finance jobs. These kids are responsible for revitalizing Uchicago's greek system and creating a much less egalitarian social hierarchy than in previous generations.

The swarm of prep school kids at Chicago has also created an environment where questions like "where did you go to high school?" now get tossed around, and students from the elite, famous prep schools have access to a lot of campus social capital. If you attended Andover, Choate, or Horace Mann, then there's tons of your classmates floating around campus and they can loop you into the exclusive campus groups, etc.

Very very accurate.
And those prep school kids are now "mixing" with the Northwestern sororities - renting out whole clubs in downtown Chicago. It's taken on a life of its own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UChicago today is a very different institution than 15 years ago. I don't think the old "where fun goes to die" and "awkward nerd" stereotype still applies.

They've aggressively targeted kids from prestigious private schools, oftentimes taking 15-20+ kids annually from places like Andover/Exeter/Choate/Horace Mann, etc. This has resulted in a far more socially polished and culturally elite student body than they've historically had. These are the sorts of kids that dominated the Ivies in the 80's/90's and that the Ivies now shun for "equity" reasons.

NP I completely agree with this. From our feeder private (the kind this board hates: 30%+ to T10 outside of DMV), the savvy, well groomed, full pay B+/A- kids are headed to U Chicago, the brilliant but awkward 3.95 kids (no one gets all As at our school), a fair amount scholarship kids and first gens are headed to HYP. If I have to bet, the 2nd group will graduate and eventually work as researchers, academia, community leaders/in non profits or similar while the first group graduate to work on Wall Street/ go into consulting. The 2nd group are smart and driven too, but they know how to network, not spend too much time studying and still make good grades (though not top grades). Based on who I see admitted, U Chicago may get higher donations per alumni donor from this new crop of admits at least from our n=1 small private school. I can totally see the HYP first-gen kids come back to teach at our school whereas the U Chicago kids will come back to buy our school for their private equity firms.

These are a lot of assumptions to draw based on the small dataset of kids from one high school. This pattern is different at my kids’ school, where the ivy kids are mostly very polished and preprofessional and often very athletic.

Same here. Top private.

Polished, super smart: Princeton, Dartmouth and Yale

Top non-polished, frankly often kids of immigrants: Harvard and Stanford

Second level kids of both types who want high academics and/or prestige: Chicago

Dartmouth is not even in real T20 . lol

[Anonymous]

Midwest city here. Top 5% of the class : MIT, CORnell, UChicago, Stanford.
Next tier : Brown, Columbia, UPenn

Haven’t seen anyone applying to Princeton , Harvard as no precedent.