<p>Just to add some anecdotal evidence to what TaiTai said, I think that this forum in particular on UChicago has definitely contributed to my attraction to the school. I am a prospective student, and had the fortune of visiting UChicago during the spring break of my junior year. This visit and information session definitely got me hooked on the school; this was only reaffirmed after reading about the experiences of current students on this forum. To be specific, I think the level of curiosity and all-around intellectuality of UChicago is something that is fairly uncommon among top-notch universities. From what I can tell, UC students care much more about the actual learning then the final grade. They have a true passion for learning and inquiry; these are the kind of students that would stay up all night to rediscover the works of some abstract philosopher not because they had a test on it the next day, but rather because they were interested in it. The subtleties of UChicago itself speaks to this passionate curiosity in its students; The Core, the application essay questions, the endless list of Nobel Prize winners, etc… UChicago seems to just foster this kind of environment of intellectual meanderings. UC students learn with conviction. </p>
<p>I will stop now before I begin to post my entire “Why Chicago” essay. Just thought I would throw in the perspective of a soon-to-be applicant. I read the posts of some of the members of CC religiously in effort to scrounge out every piece of information I can. I have read only good things.</p>