University of Chicago Top Questions

cool

Otherwise, yes, it's expensive and there are a lot of geeks. Be prepared to bust your butt to get an OK GPA.

Not at all. I was worried about the same stereotypes before coming here, but after coming here as a student, I realize that these stereotypes aren't true at all. "Where fun goes to die"/"where the squirrels are cuter than the girls and more aggressive than the guys"/many other UChicago stereotypes were t-shirt slogans made up by the dorms here for fundraising purposes, but people that don't go to this school take them seriously. You will have fun if you want to have fun. The students here are amazing, really intelligent, and incredibly diverse. Of course, there are some nerdy, anti-social people here like there are at all great schools, but by no means are they the majority. In addition, classes here are rigorous, but by no means impossible or overwhelming. And despite common belief, there is a lot of time to do things other than homework at this school.

I feel that many people are nerdy, some people are anti-social, but no one is really boring. There are plenty of nerds, but there are also jocks and hipsters. The student body is pretty diverse, but most are very intelligent and most here have an inner-nerd. The student body is shifting with the new Dean of Admissions and the introduction of the Common Application, so it's difficult to assess the accuracy of stereotypes. Generally I feel it's shifting away from the stereotypes and becoming more mainstream.

to some extent. kids tend to be very cerebral and not have very high social skills or a high need to be social. there are the kids that go out, but the crowd is relatively small.

See and ye shall find. You will find a segment of students who do little else but work, but my impression is that a) that workload is self-imposed (i.e. nobody's forcing you to take honors analysis!) and that b) sometimes work can act as a safety blanket for people who are a little afraid to socialize. I feel like on any given night, I can find people hanging out, watching TV, and playing midnight soccer, and I can also go to the Reg and find people working very hard. Which one is the "right" U of C?

The stereotypes are as accurate as you want to make them. If you want to hang out with nerds you can see an aspect of the college community like that. If you don't want to go to parties, by all means, there are a large number of students who hang out in the library (studying or chatting). People go to off campus parties, dorm activities are abundant and fun, people hang out in each others rooms or the dorm lounge until all hours of the night. In short, don't believe the stereotypes. You make of college what you want.

No. I guess if you wanted to spend your entire time studying in the library, you wouldn't be the only one doing it, but most people have very balanced lives between their studies and what is fun for them (besides their schoolwork). We do work hard, but we play hard, too. People on campus aren't ugly, most guys aren't jerks, and this definitely isn't the place where fun comes to die. College is really what you make out of it, and I wanted to have fun, so I do.

A lot of student body is a little weird, but lots of normal people too. Plus, weird isn't always bad.

Not generally. As with any large group of people, there will be individuals of all types, so there are people here who fit the stereotypes, but there are also many who do not.

Yes and no. There are some truly brilliant people here, and, as truly brilliant people tend to be, they are weird. But usually they're weird in the "hey I think we should get together and make a suspension bridge out of marshmallows and then see who can eat the most of it" kind of way, not in the cower-in-the-library kind of way. While those people do go here, I wouldn't say they make up the majority of the population. It's nice to go to a school where most kids are different from each other.

Obviously there some are nerdy, non-sociable, "fun-hating", school-obsessed people a U Chicago, but you don't see very many of them for the obvious reason: they don't aren't in on the social scene. If you come here you're most likely to meet people who are sociable, smart and funny. They will generally be very passionate in discussions and willing to talk about almost anything. Conversation is really varied. There is a lot of academic discussion and much of it is school oriented but there is not limit to what can be over-analyzed. Tabloid gossip is also fair game.

Yes and no. Yes, everyone who goes here is for the most ridiculously smart. But they also have fun. No, binge drinking is not a huge thing at this University, although it is true that those who party often party hard, and those who don't don't really at all. We do occasionally talk about Foucault at parties and dating is difficult -- there is a contingent of socially incapable males here and as a female I've had to modify my flirting techniques so as to send the wrong signals. But everyone is not an econ major, and those that are do have souls; we have fun, but that fun doesn't involve all that much beer pong; our parties, I am happy to say, are often themed (Eurotrash anyone?) so that conversation topics are huilt in to one's clothes; we can play beer pong, there are frats and frat parties if you want them, and I for one am not rich at all and that is not all that uncommon. We do read all the time and I have spent a few Saturday nights in the library, but college is as much about if not more about academics than beer anyway.

UChicago is definitely an academic power-house (torture for some) and I like it that way. it is good to be in a place where you are intellectually challenged and where knowledge and learning are the main priority of the school. As for the students, we are not all rich, though many are, but everyone is very warm and friendly though many are geniuses.

No. While students here are often fascinated with cult media such as Monty Python, anime, Star Trek, etc, most are not unusually nerdy or unilaterally dedicated to their academic pursuits. Most students function quite well in social situations. Also, the workload demanded by the University is quite reasonable, and most students spend a substantial amount of time watching TV or going to parties, as opposed to working.

Not entirely. If you wanna have fun, you can.

Students here are nerdy. Some are strange and anti-social, but a lot of people are nice and relatively normal.

Chicago is a fun place to go to school, but students applying to the college need to understand that the atmosphere at U of C is very academic. In this respect I think the stereotypes are true. The U of C is a school where learning is fun, where social life merges with the academic life.

sometimes, but not always

In a way they are, but not in the way they seem. For example, Chicago students are very engrossed in their work and there is probably less "partying" but it really depends on your definition of fun. We might just not have the same ideas.