August 9, 2009
I donҀt even know where to begin the account of my experience with UChicago. Just the name gives me goosebumps. Growing up in a suburb of the city itself, it has long been a college on my mind, and is a relatively popular choice at my school, due to its notable prestige and academic prowess. Of course, plenty of people, even in the Chicago area, donҀt understand how important the school really is, often mistaking it for the University of Illinois at Chicago and not realizing that the 7th best university in the world (QS 2009) is in their backyard. Even more dangerously, many of my fellow prospective students donҀt realize how unique Chicago is. They donҀt know enough to understand that Chicago caters to a relatively small, specific demographic of students: those willing to sacrifice a raging social life, extra-curriculars, and their sanity, all for a nearly unmatched academic atmosphere and all around collegiate education.
LetҀs begin with just that: the education. The main components of ChicagoҀs curriculum can be broken down into three sections, each consuming about one third of a studentҀs time at Chicago; Core classes, or required classes of all undergraduates, major requirements, or classes required for each departmentҀs major, and elective classes, or free choice classes to round out the experience. This is an alarming level of requirements for a modern college curriculum. There are few other top colleges with such extensive core-curriculums, much less ones so rigorous. Courses required of all undergraduates range from exposure to great books and philosophy to more general math and science reasoning courses. Because of these demanding requirements, it is a long hike to earn a Chicago degree. It is a truly stimulating amount of work, and one has to make a lot of personal sacrifices to complete it. However, Chicago is one of the leading schools in terms of sending grads on to get PhDҀs as well as other professional degrees. Employers and graduate schools know how demanding the academics at Chicago are, and they look highly upon how well the school prepares its students for academic life.
ChicagoҀs campus is equally amazing. Located about twenty minutes (by subway, bus, or car) south of downtown Chicago. Though the immediate area surrounding the universityҀs neighborhood of Hyde Park is quiet and upper class, as little as a few blocks off the campus can put you right in the middle of some of ChicagoҀs worst south side neighborhoods. The school takes advantage of its location, offering field studies in Chicago and urban studies to study these surrounding areas. Due to the campusҀs location, crime is fairly high, and students are always on the lookout. This is a downside to any city campus though, and should be taken with a grain of salt; the immediate area surrounding the university is well policed (by the largest private police force in the country) and well lit, so as to provide a bubble of relative safety around the campus.
Chicago is a city I think everybody should see sometime in their lifetime, and the university only adds to the cityҀs magnificence; UChicago has a jaw-dropping campus. The reason it is so beautiful and symmetrical is because it was built from the ground up from RockefellerҀs fortune, so the school was planned from its first days as a university, unlike most college campuses, which are architecturally eclectic because they were built over time and on budgets. It simply looks like a place to learn. The campus is still mostly composed of the original collegiate-gothic buildings, but plenty of interesting, modern, buildings add to the scene. When I first visited the campus, I couldnҀt help but to just lie down for a few minutes in a quad and stare at the hundred year old oaks and the ivy on the buildings rippling in the wind.
Among these buildings, the Regenstein Library, also known as simply Ӏthe RegԀ, seems to be a campus favorite. This building has seven full sized floors of material, and the university is expanding the library this summer with a state-of-the-art underground book retrieval system to house even more books. There are plenty of rumors surrounding this building, but nearly all have to do with students Ӏnever leavingԀ to fulfill their tremendous workloads. The Reg is an amazing facility which I really enjoyed my time in, and it provides a great atmosphere for Chicago students to work in, in addition to the many great coffee shops on campus.
Essentially, the best way to wrap your mind around Chicago is that it is a uniquely academic place and that a school canҀt have everything. The university has accordingly been nicknamed the place Ӏwhere fun comes to dieԀ due to its weak social scene and high workload. Though the school is making great steps towards introducing a more vibrant social scene to the campus, it seems almost counter-intuitive to add this element to only increasingly rigorous academics. One of these elements that seems extremely popular is the House system of first year housing. Students are assigned to a social house (think Harry Potter), which becomes their family for the next four years. Students eat meals at their house table, and even after upperclassmen move off campus, many still attend social house events.
However extreme the school might seem, keep in mind that the Princeton Review dubbed Chicago Ӏschool of the yearԀ in 2007 for overall undergraduate experience. I see that ranking more political in purpose than genuine (the Princeton Review has for quite some time been labeled as too focused on social aspects of institutions), but the point still stands that this is truly a great place to spend your four years. As long as you have done the research and have truly established academics as your number one priority, Chicago could very well be the place for you. This sort of self-selectivity where students are ӀafraidԀ of the school has kept the schoolҀs admissions numbers relatively lenient compared to itҀs Ivy League competitors. However, Chicago saw a 100% increase in Early Action applications for the 2009-2010 admissions season, so the school may well be on the track to catching (back) up to the biggest names out there.
