<p>It also depends on what courses you are taking. One of my kids, a humanities student, will graduate never having taken fewer than four courses per quarter. She only ran into trouble with that a couple of times, near the end of a quarter, and she was never willing to give up courses she wanted to take and could get into. My other kid was taking three lab courses first quarter, and barely kept his head above water with that. The next quarter, he also took three courses, two of them with labs, and he wished he had taken a fourth.</p>
<p>newmassdad,
Participating in ScavHunt may qualify as a fourth class for some spring quarter… ;)</p>
<p>DEFINITELY on the Scav Hunt… especially for those in Snitch. 
One thing to note that I forgot earlier is that PE classes don’t count toward your class count- so, you can take four classes and a PE class on top of that without having to pay extra tuition.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info! As long as I’m asking questions…
I’m from Maryland, is the cold weather in Chicago really that unbearable?</p>
<p>Gracello, Breck is back!!!</p>
<p>lightsup, S is from Maryland. He did not mind the cold. Eventually he replaced his duct-taped shoes with boots, too. Seriously – the only additions to his usual winter garb were boots, warm socks and a hat. He said that layers are very useful, as some of the older buildings are particularly well-heated and by the time he crosses campus and climbs to his HUM class on the fourth floor, he’s pretty toasty.</p>
<p>hey, I got in regular action but im kind of concerned about the amount of reading and emphasis on classics… i think? is there a big difference in the amount of reading i would do if i went to another college, maybe william and mary as an example?</p>
<p>a) The amount of reading would probably vary more from class to class than from institution to institution. The amounts of readings for my classes has varied quite a bit-- and many times, doing the 100 pages of reading is easier than doing the 20 pages of reading, so be careful about how you quantify workload!</p>
<p>b) The emphasis is not really as much on the classics (in terms of dead white western guys) as much as it is classics in terms of important texts to understanding modern society (Freud, Marx, Simone De Beauvoir, WEB DuBois etc.) My impression is that most U of C students are happy they did the core and had the chance to read a selection of important texts.</p>
<p>c) I don’t think you should worry too much about being able to do the work. If you showed yourself to be a great candidate for admission, that’s all you really need to be concerned with. Also, there were 3,000+ more applicants this year than the year I applied, so admissions has had the opportunity to become more and more and more selective, and you still made the cut.</p>
<p>ah, thank you for your answers unalove but im afraid i have/will have a lot more questions…</p>
<p>im not too sure i understand about the “core” class, especially with respect to the reading and biology aspects… I think I would be interested in the psychology and philosophy aspects of the literature, but I havent really enjoyed reading Daunte, the Odyssey, etc in high school. Im also not really a fan of biology at all, so I am torn about the curriculum at UC…
also, I would most likely be swimming UC’s swim team, and im kind of worried about how academics and athletics will work out… do you know how the typical student athlete fares at UC?</p>
<p>Hi I have the impression that the University of Chicago’s intellectual vitality is mostly due to discussions and Socratic seminars (esp. in core classes, I’ve heard). However, I am worried that, as a somewhat quiet person who doesn’t share thoughts as often and spontaneously as others, I might not fit in well and lag behind in classes. I am definitely attracted UChicago’s emphasis on the “life of the mind,” but will I have enough time to adapt and improve myself, or just be left behind in the dirt?</p>
<p>Also, how difficult is it to switch majors? and how often can you do it (every quarter, every year, etc)?</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your time!^^</p>
<p>I’ll try to answer some of these, and students can correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>edawg: You should read the Chicago course catalogue’s description of the core requirements. It’s a little turgid, but if you read it carefully, and read the course descriptions, you will have a better sense of things. Basically, there are two different kinds of general education requirements at Chicago: (1) Special broad “core” classes in Humanities (essentially literature and philosophy), Social Sciences, and Civilization (history and area studies). These classes are unique to Chicago, cross-disciplinary, and do not count towards any major. Each category has a limited number of courses from which you can choose, and in Hum and Sosc most of the choices involve a significant amount of overlap (e.g., most of the Hum classes will involve Plato, the Iliad, Dante at some point; most of the Sosc courses read Adam Smith, Marx, Durkheim). (2) Requirements similar to distributional requirements at other universities – you have to take a certain amount of math, biological science, physical science, and at least dabble in the arts, and demonstrate competence in a second language. For the most part, the courses that meet these requirements aren’t specifically “core” courses. Regular or honors intro biology, chemistry, physics, etc. will satisfy the core requirements, even if they are required for your major. However, in order to avoid forcing all of the English and Economics majors to take the same into biology classes as the pre-meds and bio jocks, like most other colleges Chicago also offers special science courses for non-science majors – courses that satisfy the core requirements, but would not satisfy science major requirements or medical school requirements. (Elsewhere, these courses are commonly known by nicknames like Physics For Poets and Rocks For Jocks.) These generally consist of one-quarter general intro courses, and one-quarter “topics” courses that focus on the science surrounding specific subjects of public interest (like global warming, cancer, biological weapons, etc.). When people talk about “core biology”, they are referring to the one-quarter non-scientist intro biology class, which science majors never take (unless they are so turned on by it that they become science majors later). Science majors don’t have to take the “topics” classes, but many do, because they are interesting, and some of them are designed to be more sophisticated than others to appeal more to students with greater competence in the background science.</p>
<p>I am not certain whether acceptable AP or IB scores can get you out of the general education science requirements. You’ll have to read the catalogue for that.</p>
<p>To address your specific questions: My son didn’t like the Odyssey in high school, either, and he thought his Hum course was the best class he had ever taken. If reading Homer at the University of Chicago weren’t different than doing it in high school, they wouldn’t bother. But there’s no guarantee you’ll like it. My other child, much more a literature person, never really liked her (different) Hum class, and thought it was exactly like high school, except with somewhat smarter kids.</p>
<p>Bio – you would have to take at least the one-quarter bio survey course (which most students seem to dislike) and one bio topics course (which most students seem to like a lot). If you really don’t want to take any biology, then don’t go to Chicago. They think it’s important.</p>
<p>Chococat: There are plenty of quiet people at Chicago. Noisiness and intelligence aren’t necessarily correlated, and there is a great deal to be said for the proposition that it may be harder to learn something if you are the one talking. At the same time, there’s a lot of value in learning to express your ideas clearly to others, and to defend them. You probably WANT to learn that, and Chicago wants to teach it (but so does every other college). Don’t worry about being left behind because you are not chatty.</p>
<p>Switching majors: Most college students change their ideas of what they want to major in between the time they start and the time they graduate, often more than once. At Chicago (and most similar colleges), you don’t even have to pick a major until the end of your second year. Before that, you can decide to have a different major every day if you want. Some people do. After that, I don’t know of any restriction on switching majors, and it definitely happens. Some majors don’t let just anyone in, you have to get the department’s consent, but most are open. The real limitation comes from the fact that you have to satisfy your major’s requirements in order to graduate, and unless you are pretty firmly settled in a major and have met at least some of the requirements by the end of your third year, that is going to be tough. You will have an advisor to help you work through these kinds of questions.</p>
<p>there will changes, subtle or not, in all of us as we go into college. you may surprise yourself and find that you are comfortable contributing in these classes.</p>
<p>It’s that time of year again, and I’m going to revamp this thread.</p>
<p>* What have you learned in your time at Chicago? *</p>
<p>I’m a better writer, a better reader, and I’m tons more confident and relaxed now than I was three years ago. When I stepped into the real world this summer, I realized just how many skills the University helped me cultivate. Chicago is very much a “tough love” kind of place, and I think many of the school’s rewards pay off long-term. You might not be totally in love with the school when you’re staring into the belly of three midterms and a problem set, but you’ll come back to complain to all of your college friends that people in the real world just “don’t get it.” And… it’s not like other schools don’t give midterms and problem sets.</p>
<p>If you had to do it all over again…</p>
<p>I’d still choose Chicago. In hindsight, there are a few other schools I should have examined more carefully, given my academic interests and my personal interests, but I had many reasons for choosing Chicago over those other schools, and for Chicago-specific reasons I’d still choose Chicago.</p>
<p>What major changes do you expect for the College in the next 3-5 years?</p>
<p>I expect there to be more campus vibrancy-- with a new library wing, a new arts center, the new dorm, and now the newly paved quads-- I think that campus will look more impressive. Time will tell if Obama resides permanently in Hyde Park or donates his collection to the University of Chicago. Also, I’m hoping that some awesome scholarship brings Chicago more household fame. I work closely with a prof whose work is extraordinarily well-received within her field, and her work has major crossover appeal-- I am crossing my fingers that she becomes the next Steven Levitt and publishes a best-selling book. Society as a whole is not yet ready for her work. </p>
<p>I also expect Chicago to have a higher representation in the top business, law, and med schools, and I expect that more Chicago grads will be upper-level management at top companies. The College has smarter, more pre-professional, and more people-oriented students than it did 10-15 years ago.</p>
<p>* How should I strategize my admission to Chicago? What’s the real secret? *</p>
<p>Personally, I think worrying about admission is a waste of your time, time you can spend doing lots of interesting, productive, or healthy things. Whenever students on CC worry about selective college admissions, I think of the Homer Simpson nugget: “Aw, shucks, an extremely rare blood type and I don’t have it!”</p>
<p>Do well in school and do things that interest you. You might know kids who do 5,000 activities for the sole purpose of getting into college, and you might be worried that you’re not doing enough. If I can say anything about Chicago admissions, I can say that they have a remarkable BS meter, as somehow the 5,000 activities for college kids don’t end up coming here, and we’re all happy about that.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, you should be confident in what you submit to Chicago or any college. If they reject you, you’ll know it’s their loss.</p>
<p>UChicago sounds fantastic. I’m a newbie here on College Confidential and this is isn’t one the best places on the site to ask this question but I am thoroughly confused by the Ss and the Ds I see in the forum! ex. S1…does it mean Son #1?</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>DS= Dear Son
DD= Dear Daughter
DH= Dear Husband (not Designated Hitter)</p>
<p>D as the first letter may not always mean “Dear…” ;)</p>