Anyone know anything about University of Chicago?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chicago's awesome -- great food, live music, interesting theater, Art Institute, nice parks, independent bookstores, decent transit. I spent a couple of years there during grad school and loved it.

The challenge at U of C will be to get out of Hyde Park and see other parts of the city. It's almost like Berkeley to SF which is more of a schlep than Cambridge to Boston.

Chicago - freezing 8months out of the year, then boiling hot for 4, everyone has a layer of fat/blubber, extreme violence (it isn't called chiraq for nothing), boring northside - there's a reason why it is so cheap even with its 'world class bones' compared to cities like boston and even seattle (forget about sf).

It's so shit even moody's has given it a bond rating of almost as bad as detroit

[Anonymous]

That's about pension funding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's about pension funding.

and when analyzing public bonds, future economic vitality of the city is modeled in.

Chicago doesn't have it like SF, NYC, DC, Boston or even seattle.

[Anonymous]

Went there for MBA. Loved it. Undergrads are a bit different/strange and very academically challenged. They seem happy though I swear I never saw one smile. Surprisingly small but active Greek scene from what I observed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Went there for MBA. Loved it. Undergrads are a bit different/strange and very academically challenged. They seem happy though I swear I never saw one smile. Surprisingly small but active Greek scene from what I observed

Smile? It's theme isn't 'where fun goes to die' for no reason. But just love Chicago! DC really liked UofC and will be applying.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for updating OP. Sounds like a good fit for him. And now I'm interested for my daughter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's about pension funding.

and when analyzing public bonds, future economic vitality of the city is modeled in.

Chicago doesn't have it like SF, NYC, DC, Boston or even seattle.

So what universities in those cities do you think are comparable to U of C? Nothing in DC or Seattle comes close. Berkeley/Columbia/Harvard share some attributes, especially wrt grad programs, but scale and undergrad culture is very different. As an undergrad, you're looking first at schools, then at location/what you have access to, at which point your focus is on the next 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that in the 2000s UofC has become more invested in making it easy for students to get out of the neighborhood-so there's more direct bus service to downtown and the northside and more frequent bus service to the El. And the University puts more effort into making sure that students actually know how to use public transit to get around. You do need to be more intrepid if you are in Hyde Park and really want to enjoy all of Chicago, but to me that's a benefit.

My nephew is a law student at UofC. Taking public transportation to other parts of the city is really time-consuming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that in the 2000s UofC has become more invested in making it easy for students to get out of the neighborhood-so there's more direct bus service to downtown and the northside and more frequent bus service to the El. And the University puts more effort into making sure that students actually know how to use public transit to get around. You do need to be more intrepid if you are in Hyde Park and really want to enjoy all of Chicago, but to me that's a benefit.

My nephew is a law student at UofC. Taking public transportation to other parts of the city is really time-consuming.

The #2 aka the Hyde Park Express is decently fast (25 minutes north end of campus to the Loop), but only runs during rush hours. The #6 aka the Jackson Park Express runs all day every day and also goes from Hyde Park up Lakeshore Dr (25 minutes Museum of Science and Industry to the Loop) but doesn't go through campus, you have to meet it a few blocks away from campus.The METRA is really fast (15 minutes trip Hyde Park to Van Buren in Grant Park) but doesn't come as frequently as buses so you have to time your trips. You can also take the Red Line or the Green Line (15 minutes Garfield to Adama/Wabash or Monroe in the Loop), which run all the time and trains come frequently, but the stations are somewhat far away from campus (it might be a good idea to take the 55 bus to them instead of walking) and in sketchy neighborhoods.

It's very easy to get downtown if you know how to use public transit.

Also, starting the 2016-2017 academic year, all UChicago students will be able to use their ID cards to ride the CTA (all buses and the L) for free.

[Anonymous]

I am so glad to hear that UofC is doing CTA bus passes! We were pushing for that when I was a grad student there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that in the 2000s UofC has become more invested in making it easy for students to get out of the neighborhood-so there's more direct bus service to downtown and the northside and more frequent bus service to the El. And the University puts more effort into making sure that students actually know how to use public transit to get around. You do need to be more intrepid if you are in Hyde Park and really want to enjoy all of Chicago, but to me that's a benefit.

My nephew is a law student at UofC. Taking public transportation to other parts of the city is really time-consuming.

The #2 aka the Hyde Park Express is decently fast (25 minutes north end of campus to the Loop), but only runs during rush hours. The #6 aka the Jackson Park Express runs all day every day and also goes from Hyde Park up Lakeshore Dr (25 minutes Museum of Science and Industry to the Loop) but doesn't go through campus, you have to meet it a few blocks away from campus.The METRA is really fast (15 minutes trip Hyde Park to Van Buren in Grant Park) but doesn't come as frequently as buses so you have to time your trips. You can also take the Red Line or the Green Line (15 minutes Garfield to Adama/Wabash or Monroe in the Loop), which run all the time and trains come frequently, but the stations are somewhat far away from campus (it might be a good idea to take the 55 bus to them instead of walking) and in sketchy neighborhoods.

It's very easy to get downtown if you know how to use public transit.


Compared to other city schools in UofC's peer group -- e.g., Columbia, Harvard or MIT -- the options you're describing don't sound that easy, safe or convenient.
Also, starting the 2016-2017 academic year, all UChicago students will be able to use their ID cards to ride the CTA (all buses and the L) for free.

[Anonymous]

That's cherry-picking. cf Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Hopkins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:University if Chicago: where fun goes to die.

My friend who is an alum from Chicago says that she has fun. It's just intellectual, geeky fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that in the 2000s UofC has become more invested in making it easy for students to get out of the neighborhood-so there's more direct bus service to downtown and the northside and more frequent bus service to the El. And the University puts more effort into making sure that students actually know how to use public transit to get around. You do need to be more intrepid if you are in Hyde Park and really want to enjoy all of Chicago, but to me that's a benefit.

My nephew is a law student at UofC. Taking public transportation to other parts of the city is really time-consuming.

The #2 aka the Hyde Park Express is decently fast (25 minutes north end of campus to the Loop), but only runs during rush hours. The #6 aka the Jackson Park Express runs all day every day and also goes from Hyde Park up Lakeshore Dr (25 minutes Museum of Science and Industry to the Loop) but doesn't go through campus, you have to meet it a few blocks away from campus.The METRA is really fast (15 minutes trip Hyde Park to Van Buren in Grant Park) but doesn't come as frequently as buses so you have to time your trips. You can also take the Red Line or the Green Line (15 minutes Garfield to Adama/Wabash or Monroe in the Loop), which run all the time and trains come frequently, but the stations are somewhat far away from campus (it might be a good idea to take the 55 bus to them instead of walking) and in sketchy neighborhoods.

It's very easy to get downtown if you know how to use public transit.


Compared to other city schools in UofC's peer group -- e.g., Columbia, Harvard or MIT -- the options you're describing don't sound that easy, safe or convenient.
Also, starting the 2016-2017 academic year, all UChicago students will be able to use their ID cards to ride the CTA (all buses and the L) for free.

WTH?

NP It's very easy and convenient to ride the trains. There's a Metra station on campus. When I worked at Chicago, I took the El downtown and then rode the Metra to campus. There were a number of kids under the age of 10 who attended the lab school and rode the same train with me. An assistant from the school met them at the train station and they all walked over to school together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's about pension funding.

and when analyzing public bonds, future economic vitality of the city is modeled in.

Chicago doesn't have it like SF, NYC, DC, Boston or even seattle.

Forbes just listed Chicago as one of the best cities in the country for jobs. Chicago is a world class city for the arts and business across multiple fields. Seattle is nice, but it's not a world class city.