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The University of Chicago Visit Report by book_worm

Visit to The University of Chicago in March 2010 by book_worm
(Student, HS Class of 2010)
(Member since December 23 2006 with 569 posts)
 
1 of 1 people found this visit report helpful

Visit Activities:


Information Session: Yes - Um, the woman, like, um, talked like she had no idea what to say. Reading the website provides better info. (To be fair, I was listening with the perspective of an EA admit.)

Campus Tour: Yes - Beautiful campus - very gothic. The tour guide gave detailed descriptions of the dorms, study abroad/internships, student activities, core requirements, etc - much better than the info session.

Classroom Visit: No - Was there during finals week - wasn't able to sit in on a class.

Campus:


Friendliness/Courtesy of Students:
4 - Very Good
4 - Very Good
Many of the students were holed up in the library studying, but the ones that were paroled were friendly to my large-ish tour group.


Friendliness/Courtesy of Staff:
5 - Excellent
5 - Excellent
They answered all of my mother's questions, and we were able to get a walk-in meeting with a financial aid officer.


Appearance of Campus:
4 - Very Good
4 - Very Good
Gothic buildings on the main part of campus. Very ugly dorms, in my opinion.


Building/Facilities Maintenance/Cleanliness:
5 - Excellent
5 - Excellent



Dormitories:
4 - Very Good
4 - Very Good
Was not able to tour one.


Security/Safety:
4 - Very Good
4 - Very Good
Campus has emergency button towers everywhere, and noticed several campus police officers.


Overall Campus Impression:
5 - Excellent
5 - Excellent


Off-Campus:


Area Immediately Around Campus:
3 - Good
3 - Good
Typical residential neighborhood.


City/Town/Community:
4 - Very Good
4 - Very Good
It's Chicago, aka a love-hate relationship.

Campus Visit Notes for The University of Chicago


Visit Description:

My mom and I decided to go and visit - it's a four hour drive one way. After the joys of being confined in a small space with my mother, we arrived on campus, only to fail to find a parking spot. Mom called the admissions office, and they literally gave her turn-by-turn directions to the parking garage and stayed on the line until we got there. Good first impression.

The Admissions office building is right on the main quad (at least I think it's the main quad) and has very creepy castle-style doors. We went in and immediately left to go to an info session - see comments above.

After that, we departed for a tour. My tour guide was a senior economics major with a very audible voice: the tour was excellent.

UChicago literally has a coffee shop in every building. Not sure how I feel about that. Other than that, nothing really stood out - it's a pretty typical campus.

After the tour, Mom and I saw a financial aid officer for about 20 minutes, decided that we'd better start the drive home, and left.

Other Comments (Transportation, local attractions, parking, etc.):

Driving to campus is an adventure.