| Two prefaces to anything I say:
1) There is no concrete evidence that Chicago is "extremely rigorous," at least when compared to other elite schools. I'm under the suspicion that you can find challenging courses equivalent to "Chicago level" almost anywhere. (My evidence for this is trailing comments from a handful of posters, who turned down big-name schools like Chicago for little-name schools, and were able to find courses that match or exceed their challenge level).
2) Where Fun Comes to Die is a slogan we slab on a t-shirt (and sweatshirt) and sell for an enormous markup to current students. The only people who take it seriously are prospies.
... Now that that's out of the way.... ways in which Chicago can be considered rigorous....
-- The Core Curriculum is pretty extensive and Core courses are not "gut" courses
-- Classes move at a pretty fast pace on the quarter system, there's no lull or downtime from the moment you sit down on the first day to when you take the final.
-- A grades are not given out for entitlement's sake; they are earned with a good amount of hard work
-- Students here really like working and can be intimidating through the quality and thoughtfulness of their comments in class. Simply doing the reading won't make you feel at the top of the class-- you've got to go beyond.
The kinds of people who don't do well here are those who are emotionally attached to high grades and those who feel insecure about their intelligence. I think this school is excellent at making you feel stupid, at times, and it doesn't emanate the same warm fuzzies that a lot of other schools do-- we're more on the "tough love" end of things. I, for one, really thrive in this atmosphere-- I've been stretched intellectually without being overexerted emotionally. |