<p>I’m sure you’ll get more input from others but, please make sure that U of C really appeals to you and that your choice is not based on the City. You’ll spend much more time on and near campus, in class and hanging out, than exploring the city.
Your other schools have a very different geographic setting. You’ll see what feels right when you visit.</p>
<p>I understand the NU/U of C applications (though many don’t), but the others are VERY different from either of the above-named schools. Bowdoin is small, in a small city, and Dartmouth and Middlebury are equally isolated. The towns are small and the student bodies quite different from Chicago, and to a lesser degree, NU. My S loved Middlebury, but that was before he saw and fell in love with Chicago. Once he decided that he’d rather be in a more urban environment, Middlebury was eliminated from the list. And as to how much time you actually spend in the city of Chicago. My S spent a lot of time in the city, and his sister (just finished 1st year) said that she spent more time in the city than almost any of her friends. I think having spent time there with her brother made it very comfortable for her to jump on the bus or train and go explore, with or without company. Many never leave Hyde Park. And as for NU kids, my friends’ kids, and my kids’ friends who attend say that they seldom go in during their first 2 years. The train is there, but its just not that convenient. YMMV. Choose the right school environment for you, the city is an extra added bonus in the case of NU and the U of C.</p>
<p>I am not sure what to expect when I visit the eastern schools. From what I’ve read, the student body at each of the three schools are top notch, as are the academics and profs. Whether I can adjust to a small, quaint setting…I don’t know. I know I could spend the rest of my life on Michigan Avenue in dowtown Chicago and be perfectly happy. And I love the Evanston setting as well. I guess with U of Chicago there is a small “fear factor” with the location of the school that I just can’t seem to get out of my head. But there is the attraction of the “make up” of the eastern schools that seems very inviting. Thanks for your comments. Greatly appreciated!!</p>
<p>nickoftime–you’re doing the right thing by visiting them. You may even be lucky enough to have an “ahhhh–this is where I belong!” moment like I did when I stepped onto Middlebury’s quad at twilight on an early autumn evening.</p>
<p>The students at the Eastern schools you mention are top-knotch students most of whom are attracted to a rural, outdoorsy environment and a relatively small, isolated, self-contained college where the college is the absolute focus of everyone’s life. The University of Chicago isn’t like that, and the students it attracts most tend to have different ideas about what’s fun and what’s stimulating.</p>
<p>arcadia…thank you. I hope to experience that same AHHHHHH feeling when I visit the eastern schools!</p>
<p>JHS…after visiting UofC I fully understand what you are saying. My parents are really behind me attending Chicago, but I just didn’t get that “comfort” feeling that others have experienced. I don’t quite know if it is the location of the school, the students or what. I am just knot as sold on Uof C as my parents are. I am fortunate, however, that like me, my parents are also open-minded to the eastern schools. I do love the UofC campus and the buildings. But when my tour guide said that the campus security and Chicago police around the campus are second only to the vatican it sort of made me stop and think. Thanks for the input!</p>
<p>The nice thing about Chicago EA is that you don’t have to worry too much about whether you like it or not. Applying to schools that you’re not absolutely thrilled with is against my general college search/application philosophy (I’ve written long, long posts on another thread explaining why).</p>
<p>All the schools you’re talking about-- Midd, Dartmouth, NU, have great professors and great students. I just think they are great professors and great students of somewhat different flavors.</p>
<p>I think runnersmom got it right-- the city is a great resource and a bonus, but not part of your everyday life. You should not choose the U of C solely based on its proximity to exciting things; you should instead choose it because you think the school and the people in it will be exciting for you. It sounds like you’re more sold on Northwestern in that regard.</p>
<p>If you are absolutely in love with Chicago and are looking for admissions safeties, perhaps DePaul U (in Lincoln Park!!) is worth your consideration. If you’re on the East Coast, perhaps you have enough time to trail by Columbia/NYU to see what’s going on.</p>
<p>Thanks unalove…I am from Michigan and each year our hs of 1400 students sends about 4 students to Northwestern…4 to U of C 4 or 5 to ivies and about half the grad class attend u of m. Our hs is a short 2 mile drive to the campus at msu. I love NU and like U of C. My parents think that from a pure academic point of view U of C is tops. They are positive that I will come out of chicago a “thinker”. Law school is my eventual goal. Trying to find the right fit between NU and U of C and the smaller lac out east. Bowdoin seems to be a nice fit from the research I did.</p>
<p>I should add this…the two fears that seem to be nagging at me with respect to U of C is the safety issue ( I know I am being paranoid about this) and whether I would be able to “measure up” intellectually to the other students (class discussions, philosophical debate). My only drawbacks. I consider myself a very good students and my grades and gpa will bear this out…but I tend to be on the quieter side and am not sure about holding my own in class discussions (during my visit our tour guide said that profs and other students can be condescending during discussions, in an attempt to draw out info from students)</p>
<p>I’m going to turn these comments into questions… (best friend’s best friend goes to Bowdoin; I believe Nathaniel Hawthorne went there too!)</p>
<p>How do students stay safe in Hyde Park?</p>
<p>The nice thing, with regards to safety, is that you can always take preventative measures to make sure you are safe. Stay out of deserted areas at night, and use the university safety resources (shuttles, door-to-door vans, police escorts, etc.)</p>
<p>I feel like the vast majority of students don’t feel superurgency to use these resources (I have lots of female friends who wander alone at night and think very little about it because they’ve always felt comfortable, so that’s what I’m basing that claim on). However, they are there, and you can use them.</p>
<p>You can also (like one of my friends), when you see a group of U of C students out in HP, yell, “HEY, CAN I WALK WITH YOU GUYS?!” but usually there are enough college students out and about that you never feel like you need to walk “with” somebody.</p>
<p>Will I feel swamped intellectually? Are teachers and students sometimes condescending?</p>
<p>I think that the “condescension” (at least to the extent that I’ve experienced) is only a ploy to delve into deeper conversation. A lot of my friends here get frustrated when a prof tends to “agree with everything” and not prod or question students a little bit. Nobody likes somebody who breathes out a lot of hot air and name drops when convenient. That’s NOT what real learning is-- that’s showing off.</p>
<p>I happened to have had one teacher whom I felt made me feel stupid, but I realized as I got to know him that he was a brand-new teacher and that he wasn’t so confident in his teaching abilities, and I got wind of this because he was very personable outside of class and we would chat if we saw each other on the quads or in the dining halls. I conferenced with him not to tell him how I felt sometimes in his class, but to work on a paper, and his comments helped me improve my writing in a major way (he also gave me a ton of book suggestions that I’m trying to chew through this summer).</p>
<p>Anyway, long story short was that I talked to other students who had him and I realized I wasn’t alone in feeling how I felt, and I used anonymous course evaluations as a way to delicately frame his strengths and weaknesses as a teacher so that he can improve in the future.</p>
<p>I also think that the rigor of the school is suited to the academic level of the students who attend it, so questions of feeling completely overwhelmed are usually resolved by the selection process of the admissions officers themselves-- my impression is that ten or fifteen years ago, the school was admitted students who were in one way or another not suited for the work, but that is definitely not the case today.</p>
<p>Thank you for the comments unalove. You have a way of succintly getting to the heart of the matter without sounding like a marketing brochure for U of C! I do plan to EA to U of C, as well as ED to either NU or Bowdoin College in Maine. If accepted at U of C, I know I would be able to handle the workload and tansition into this fine Chicago school. I am also confident that if I attend U of C…I will become an intellectual, not in an arrogant sort of way but as an open-minded thinker. I also believe I would mature as a person, too. Thanks again!!!</p>
<p>nickoftime-- One experience I heard about may help. 1st year feeling out of their comfort zone in civ (I think, but core for sure) missed the whole point of a midterm paper. Student did not seek help because it seemed like conversation could not be productive. Well, in firm but subtle ways help came, in class, in extensive comments on papers and the student felt supported and really learned a ton. So sometimes even when the student should take responsibility, faculty see the issue and take care to help with out flattening a student. nice.</p>
<p>^^ </p>
<p>That reminds me…</p>
<p>In high school, I thought I was “too good” for conferencing with my teachers. In some ways, I understand how I thought that-- the only kids who conferenced with teachers were the kids who wanted to turn their A’s into A+'s. (In retrospect, it’s sad and pitiful that these grade-grubbers took away attention and resources from the, say, C students who could actually use it, but such was life, and such was my high school). So in high school, I only went to office hours if a) I was forced to, or b) I wanted to talk about something cool with my teacher in a non-academic way, like a book I was reading outside of class.</p>
<p>In college, office hours lose whatever stigma I had or you may have. Professors HAVE office hours and EXPECT students to show up. In my experience, students do show up, particularly before handing in a paper, and profs often e-mail out additional OH’s or means of contact.</p>
<p>There’s really no reason for a professor to ever antagonize a student, particularly not a U of C student. In fact, I was so surprised with the sort of back-and-forth between profs and students that I saw when I first came here (now I’m used to it), and I remember telling my family that I thought the bond was especially strong because I think the profs see younger versions of themselves in their students, to some extent.</p>
<p>glasses and unalove…sounds very similar. There is a bond hs students have with some hs teachers. This bond may develop because the students view the teacher as someone who holds the same values, attitudes and beliefs. Or, it could be that a student warms to a particular teacher because he/she has a “laid back” style of teaching. Whatever the reason, hs seems very manageable from the approach of communicating with and gaining knowledge from teachers who are often mentors and role models, in addition to being educators. If a student says something dumb in class, other students may laugh, but a teacher generally does not put a check next to the students name for making a dumb comment.</p>
<p>College appears to be a place where everything uttered and written is scrutinized by profs and students alike. The question will eventually be asked by most incoming frosh…do I say nothing and hope I understand enough to be able to do well on a test or a paper. or do I ask a lot of questions and allow my ignorance to show which may put me behind the eight ball for the remainder of the term. This, I am sure, is something most incoming college students must ask at some point in the early going.</p>
<p>From what I’m hearing from my S and company, it’s easy to connect with faculty and peers and not be personally crushed if your thoughts don’t stand up to argument The story I heard struck me 'cause even though my S’s friend felt that her ignorance was showing and she was going to be lost for the rest of the term, the prof picked her up almost in spite of herself. She learned to trust that when stumbling, she isn’t always going to be stomped on and she could still sort her way out of the confusion. I’m sure that sometimes a prof might just let you fall, but this person learned so much about herself, the subject, and thinking/writing it will stick for a long time.</p>
<p>If you feel completely lost, it’s probably best to talk to the prof after class.</p>
<p>Usually, at least for core, the material is new and challenging to almost everybody. Very few people have read (or, more importantly) understood core texts before college, so everybody is on the same boat of confusion.</p>
<p>I remember going to office hours with a good friend of mine, and the good friend would just “get it” after two minutes. “Oh, Professor,” she’d say. “It’s like this, this, and this?”</p>
<p>“Exactly,” the prof would say.</p>
<p>“Hunh?” was my usual reaction.</p>
<p>The best thing to learn how to do (and something that students do often in class) is to learn how to ask questions. A good question is not a question that’s immediately apparent in the text, a question whose answer lies three lines after you stopped reading. I think you’d be surprised, nickoftime, to see how hard it can be for the “smart” students to answer a good question posed by the “dumb” student.</p>
<p>Speaking of “smart” and “dumb,” asking questions is about the least dumb thing you can do. It shows that you care and that you are thinking and you are trying to climb the mountain. Nobody understands Marx by intellectual osmosis-- wasn’t it Einstein who said that if you think you understand special relativity, you have it wrong?</p>
<p>Agreed, if you learn to ask the questions then you’ve “got it”. And it will stay with you for life. Chicago is all about finding the questions and defining the terms.</p>
<p>Great points…and greatly appreciated. This is something each person has to work through when he/she begins college. I probably would not have assigned so much importance to the fear factor at U of C, had it not been for our tour guide that day. He was just someone who appeared to be a bit confused and a little unsure of himself. His comments about asking questions and speaking up in class indicated to me that he had been through the wars and was not able to handle it very well.</p>
<p>Yeah, Chicago is not the first school I think of when it comes to the warm and fuzzies kind of academic love, it’s much more the “tough love” sort. Works great for me, maybe not the best for others.</p>