University of Chicago Top Questions

they can be. Studying does take up a good portion of your time, sometimes all of it and then some, but there are a lot of opportunities to get out and take a break from all that. If you want to go out you can and if you don’t then you can always find people in the library with you. This applies to the students as well. Some people here spend a majority of their time in the library or in their dorms doing work while others tend to spend more time going out and then still there are people on every level between those. You can find people that want to do the same things as you, you simply have to look for them.

Pretty much.

To a certain extent these stereotypes are accurate. It depends on the people you meet, but I wouldn't generalize the student population one way or the other. Also, this school is very intense, but there's always ways to have fun! Plus, Chicago is a huge city - there's always something to get into.

Now that I am here I am miserable, cold, usually bored, annoyed by and hostile to most of the students I know, and seriously considering transferring. I never would have come here if I had known the details.

Partially - we are generally pretty nerdy kids and some people don't have too many social skills. But there are also lots of people who are fun and have fun and we live in Chicago - there are three million ways to have a good time, you just have to leave Hyde Park sometimes. I've had some of the most fun of my life sitting around the dining hall being a dork with my friends! The quarter system is more work because we have more midterms and more finals, but the classes are also shorter which can be good or bad depending on the class. Hyde Park is not the ghetto and it isn't scary. Other parts of the South Side aren't as nice but you don't have to go there. It's a city, be smart.

Yes. Oh god yes.

To a certain degree they are true. It is a pretty nerdy student population, but not in a bad way necessarily. I mean, everyone in your classes is there because they want to, which makes for a great dynamic. There are some downsides. I'll never forget one of the first parties I went to where a fist fight almost broke out that was started by "Tolstoy's Christianity is anti-fundamentalist! Read War and Peace asshole!" So you get some really pretentious people, and a lot of "That-Kid"s, but overall we aren't as bad as we're made out to be.

As far as a stereotype goes, yes.

Pretty much, yes. However, the good stereotypes have downsides (brilliance can bring with it the pain of pretentions) and the bad ones have upsides (awkward people are hilarious, and there's collectivity in the pain). Actually UChicago kids are all just regular kids: often smart, often friendly, often socially confused, often partying, often studying, usually a little odd.

Yes. But it's an annoying self-fulfilling prophecy. Half the time I think these creeps act this way because they know they should. It's weird for the sake of being weird, not interesting or sincerely thoughtful.

To a point. I would venture to say we're all pretty dorky in one way or another, but that it tends to actually ease social interaction rather than hinder it.

YES

Yes and no. As you might imagine, there are all types of people at the school - jocks, artists, pre-med, econ majors, classics majors ? not only that but the small undergrad student body shares the campus with the large graduate student population (which is just as diverse). On the other hand, because of the reputation of the school (it?s viewed as a pretty serious and intense place), the undergrad population at U of C is pretty self-selecting and so a good number of the students are fairly studious and introverted ? then again, that?s not entirely fair to the people I knew who were hardly as one dimensional as that sounds (heck, most of my friends weren?t even all that ugly).

Far less so than I expected, actually. Tons of people who simply want to get a high GPA and go to law/med/business school. There are also a ton of nerds, but there is an active party scene with drinking, frats, etc. It's definitely not on the level of a state school, but it's not like campus is dead on weekends.

Yes, to a large extent

Mostly, yes. I've spent more than one Friday night in doing a crossword puzzle, but when we stay in, it's largely due to the fact that our brains are sapped from all the work we do, and it's impossible to function without some sleep!! We don't sleep much here, and I think that's where the stereotypes come from. Yeah, there are some people who act like they've never seen a person of the opposite sex, let alone talked to one, but most of us, though nerdy, are perfectly capable of functioning on a social level.

Anti-social: If this means not knowing how to act in every-day social interactions, reluctant to forge actual friendships, and looking down at the ground when walking through the quad, then yes...unless you get involved. That is really key- there are many clubs, RSOs, intramural sports, and fraterities/sororities to get involved with. Nerdly: If this means spending so much time in the library that people bring toothbrushes and actually utilize the 24-hour library spaces, skip meals to study, and spend 4 years in Hyde Park without ever venturing out into the big city, then yes...but there still are certain things, like Bar Night every Wednesday (all you need is a UChicago ID), or the Pub in the basement of Ida Noyes (you actually need to be 21+) that might combat this stereotype. Intelligent: If this means going to your first discussion class and realizing that your peers have not only done the Spinoza reading, but have understood it too, then yes...of course there are also those students in your classes who just won't shut up and you know they are talking bull. Eccentric: If this means looking to the left of you and seeing a kid with dreadlocks searching advanced martial arts techniques, looking to the right and seeing a girl knitting in class with a bookstand, looking straight ahead and seeing a tiny girl in a mini skirt chowing on spicy beef jerky and reading a comic book in Arabic, then yes...there are a handful of interesting people to say the least. Diverse: If this means having most of the university's population coming to school bilingual, representing every continent but Antarctica, and having many cultural activities every quarter, then yes...sometimes I feel a little bit left out, being from the suburbs! Strange: If this means following the traditions of Scav Hunt (where someone has been known to eat his own umbilical cord) and Kuviasungerk/kangeiko (waking up at 45in the morning for a week for activities like yoga and ice skating)...then yes, but it sure makes the experience that much more exciting. Philosophizing: If this means that after a glass of wine on any given weekend night at least one person resorts to a discussion on happiness or intent or Descartes or Nietzche, or actually anything at all that can be argued for a few hours, then yes...but it doesn't mean that the discussion leads anywhere.

Hahahaha you think anyone would make it four years here if they were? Trust me, our suicide rate would be a lot higher as all the obsessed academics realized for the first time that there is someone SMARTER THAN THEM *gasp*. So no, not accurate in the least. This school makes you work hard, but it also forces you to do things other than academics, or you'll go crazy.

In many cases, yes. A lot of people have inflated egos and I think the creates a lot of social barriers. Either inflated egos or a crippling lack of social confidence, it wavers between the two.

Not always. These stereotypes may be true in some people, but it's not really true of the general populace. What stereotype you do or do not fit into depends solely on what you want to make of yourself here. Everyone is different and your experiences change how well or how poorly you fit into the UChicago stereotype.