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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DC at U Chicago here. Let me try to answer your original question.

The first years just took their first quarter midterms, and are bemoaning calculus at various levels and inquiry based learning (proofs) across the board. Chicago is unique in that college level calculus and three humanities sequences reading primary sources are required of ALL undergraduates.  You cannot place out of math here, just place into higher levels of math. The philosophy of the school is that the college sits across all disciplines and you cannot graduate without learning significant ways of thinking in all areas. The kids are reporting 27 out of 40, 10 out of 40 on the midterms... by contrast I went to Harvard and did not have to take a single math course to get a summa degree in economics at graduation.

My DC also loves that the Chicago Principles exist and are supported by President ZImmer and Alivisatos, which support vigorous debate and free speech on campus. So loud external agitators can't shut down debate the way they can at other schools. I heard about grad students at Chicago agitating to get a professor who had beliefs they disliked fired, and the President shut that down asap by citing the principles and telling the grad students they were free to go elsewhere. This was something my DC wanted - his point "how can I study philosophy effectively if I am going to be told what to think"? David Axelrod founded the Institute of Politics at Chicago and "gasp" it is bipartisan and even invites conservative speakers!

Finally, at Chicago a kid needs to be a self starter and confident- there are  hundreds of clubs, Greek Life, house events, and a career track you are introduced to immediately and most kids join multiple things. This is while you are thrown into the quarter system- add drop is by week three, then midterms are week 4-5, so there is no grace period. Midterms are occuring concurrent with Family Weekend, so kids are trying to see their families and still needing to submit papers by midnight Friday, Saturday, Monday... . But point of pride they are getting it done.

This is a snapshot, but hope it helps. It's the right fit for our family. I don't want to convince anyone of anything, just share what was important to us. Good luck to your daughter.[/quote]

You don’t need to take calculus as part of the core at Chicago.

http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/mathematicalsciencescore/

You do need to take calculus for economics at Harvard.

https://economics.harvard.edu/concentrating-economics[/quote]

Yup.  But I agree with this person’s subsequent post that the things that appeal to him/her about UChicago might not be appeal to others — and I would add that they don’t even appeal to others who appreciate UChicago. To me, the stuff pointed out in this post is inaccurate (e.g lots of insecure kids at UChicago, don’t have to be a self-starter — just able to deal with a relentless academic workload) or par of the course at any good Uni (reading primary sources, hundreds of clubs) or effed-up (scheduling parents weekend and midterms simultaneously, quarter system, exams where the medians are shockingly low (either you’re teaching or testing poorly if that happens when your class is full of smart, hardworking students), very short window to sort out courseload, Adm’s repressive posture toward dissent).  What I as a parent liked about Chicago was faculty, resources (including funding for non-corporate internships), and focus on academics. My kid liked the idea of a cohort that all agreed (or signed on to a regime that demanded) that being educated meant your couldn’t just be a STEM person who knew nothing about politics or lit or history or arts, or an artist or soc sci or … that knew nothing about science.  And DC appreciated the close relations developed with faculty from very early on as well as opportunities to TA. DC also loved the camaraderie/mutual assistance of classmates, the abundance of student-run coffee shops on campus, the Seminary Co-op bookstore, the ability to live off campus (and Hyde Park Produce), and DOC films.

These days, UChicago attracts and admits a bunch of different kinds of students for a lots of different reasons. Because faculty (and non-academic reputation) changes slowly, the school remains nerdier than the other elites. For demographic and institutional reasons, the current Administration is working hard (and largely successfully) to make the College look/feel/function more like HYPS.  It’s a transitional moment, so both cultures co-exist right now. Our family was mostly attracted by the old. PP’s by the new.  [/quote]

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