Future Chicago students: Why do YOU want to go to Chicago?

silver_wavez · 04-05-2005, 12:51 PM

Yes I know.. very college essay type question..
Tell me in a paragraph or 2, please be very honest and candid..
Why do YOU want to go to Chicago?
What is so awesome and unique about Chicago.. What will you get out of it.. that makes you want to go to Chicago so badly..

Thanks very much folks.

undecided · 04-05-2005, 01:56 PM

I already wrote the essay, so I'll paraphrase:

I'm looking for a place where the end of class isn't always a relief, but something people go "Over already?" for, where the end of the lecture doesn't mean the end of the discussion. I think Chicago is a cool place because it can have a library that has a decent collection of rare books as well as a subscription to Playboy Magazine. It's also a place where groups like Rude Mechanicals and Blue Chips can exist alongside The Ultra-Secret Cabal of Scavenger Hunt Organizers and the Doctor Who Society. I was looking for a place where education was not a means to an end as it tends to be in my public college, but an end and a beginning in itself.

Plus, you know, Chicago is a cool city.

silver_wavez · 04-05-2005, 06:53 PM

Wow.. if you put it that way Chicago does seem awesome lol. Yes, and I know the city is pretty cool, I just haven't been yet.

Hmm... *more thinking to do..*

jpps1 · 04-05-2005, 08:54 PM

I love the city, the blues, the Cubs and the Bulls (Hinrich)! The campus looks beautiful and the neighbourhoods are diverse. I love the close interaction with profs that a 4:1 ratio offers, and the liberal education. And I'll be brutally honest on the last one--I want to make a ton of money in i-banking, and UChicago or Stern were just about the only feeder schools that I had a legitimate shot of getting into. It's sort of a case of "Don't be with the one you love, but love the one you're with."

bigjake587 · 04-05-2005, 10:02 PM

Jpps, did u pick Chicago over Stern?

I'm actually picking between those two right now...and i really don't know. Stern of course is awesome for finance and wall street, but it probably won't give me the intellectual challenge that Chicago will. What made you pick one over the other?

jpps1 · 04-05-2005, 10:08 PM

No...(I've posted this a million times before; not your fault) I applied a year early to Chicago, I'm in the 12th year of a 13-year program in Quebec...

The app was sort of a rush job, almost a practice for next year cause I wasn't expecting to get in...so I only applied to UChicago this year, with designs on applying next year to NYU Stern, UChicago, UCLA, UCB, Duke, UNC-CH, Columbia, Northwestern and USC....

Only thing was, I actually did get in this year with my "warmup" app....so I'm not so stupid as to turn down a sure thing (and choosing not to enroll this year as to be able to apply to more schools next year will surely have me blacklisted from re-applying to Chicago), and that's why I'm enrolling here. Sort of an unexpected bit of good news.

ottothecow · 04-05-2005, 10:37 PM

I would think that they would honor your request to defer enrollment for a year if you really wanted to finish your CEGEP program (though it sounds like you want out).

jpps1 · 04-05-2005, 10:40 PM

I want out academically--it just seems like such an amazing learning environment at Chicago, I'm genuinely excited...but at the same time, this will be the last year for me at home, probably forever (since I'll be on the move from Chicago to a job in finance hopefully to B-school and back to Wall Street), and I'll definitely miss my friends and girlfriend...it just feels like it'd be happening too quickly if I left in September.

silver_wavez · 04-06-2005, 06:10 AM

I know I'm taking advice from other people right now lol, but let me offer you some advice jpps1.. your last year of high school is truly awesome.... I would never think of missing my last year here... I can't imagine why you'd not want to experience senior year!!!
You're going to go to college anyway.... and you're going to leave home eventually.. why do you want to do that all sooo soon? (BTW, I can't stand living at home and want out).. But I would NEVER EVER EVER EVERRRR think about missing my last year of HS.. giving that up just to go to college a year early... you're going to go to college in good time. EVERYBODY'S TIME COMES... DON'T RUSH IT!!!
Yes compared to Chicago, the academic challenge is rather a bore at HS (and I'm saying this even though I do the IB!!!! - arguably the toughest high school baccalaureate there is..)... but still ... don't miss your last year of HS..

You can always defer enrollement..

configure · 04-06-2005, 06:20 AM

silver, you're not in UWC, are you?

silver_wavez · 04-07-2005, 11:08 AM

lol.. yes I am configure.. I am at UWC

How did you know?? and why do you ask??