<p>If one selects a college and finds out it wasn’t what you wanted, after giving it a reasoable amount of time to make sure it’s not a fit, transfer. Don’t stay there while being miserable and hoping the college will change to suit you.</p>
<p>You must be confused. You read posts written to <em>different</em> posters about <em>different</em> topics as attacking you??? And who said you were “repeatedly attacking” U of C? Not me. </p>
<p>As far as the Dbate thread, it was you who took a comment he made elsewhere out of context.
So is it ok to refer to another post in another thread or not?? Where is the rulebook… Agreed-- shouldn’t say such things to other posters. So don’t do it.</p>
<p>Now as for my question that still hasnt been answered-- since you implied in post # 285 that I had attacked you
when you clearly misread my post (as I wasn’t even speaking to or about you, as I explained in the posts above), my question remains
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<p>Again, northstar you are putting words in my mouth. I’m not looking for a “rah rah” student body or school. Oldfort gets it right. I know for a fact that hardly anyone I know who went to UofC would recommend it to anyone else. People don’t like UofC, they like hating it. It looks funny on a tshirt, but gets old after four years.</p>
<p>Also northstar, I gave it a shot for two years, decided to transfer my third, but ultimately decided it wasn’t worth it for just the final year. I was trying to be levelheaded, but you seem to like to feel superior to everyone else so I doubt any of this will get through</p>
<p>“Yes, you went to Harvard. You’re proud of that (as you should be, I guess). I think that’s been established enough. Why not mention where you went to grad school ever? Because it wasn’t Harvard (I’m not being sarcastic here–I actually am curious).?”</p>
<p>My point was that I liked being at a school that doesn’t have a lot of school spirit: Different students want different undergrad experiences. That was my point. Just because IHateUofC hated that school doesn’t mean that other students would. Neither Harvard nor Chicago nor any school is a perfect fit for everyone, no matter how smart a student is. I personally would have liked Chicago’s ennui that IHateUoC describes. I wouldn’t, though , have wanted to be in a place where “fun goes to die.”</p>
<p>A friend of mine who is one of the most brilliant people I know (has a JD and PH.D. from Yale) transferred from some LAC to Stanford for undergrad because she wanted to have the prototypical college experience. If that’s the experience that IhateUofC wanted, he or she should have transferred to a school with that kind of spirit. That would have been a better way to spend his/her time than waiting for UofC to change to fit him/her.</p>
<p>" I know for a fact that hardly anyone I know who went to UofC would recommend it to anyone else. People don’t like UofC, they like hating it. It looks funny on a tshirt, but gets old after four years."</p>
<p>Fine. The one person I know who currently goes there likes it.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why if students hate UofC so much they don’t transfer instead of wasting their college years at a school they hate. If they were good enough to get into U of C, they should be good enough to transfer to a great school that they’d love. What’s fun about loving to hate where one is? Sounds to me like people who love being miserable. </p>
<p>I don’t understand why someone would graduate from a college and then make up a name on CC flaunting how they hate that college. Seems that the alum would be more interested in their current life than disparaging their alma mater.</p>
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<p>Wow! How’d you figure that out? :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Northstar you are fundamentally misunderstanding me. When I say I wanted school spirit, I do NOT mean the rah rah, get drunk “prototypical” college experience.</p>
<p>Let me repeat that.</p>
<p>When I say I wanted school spirit, I do NOT mean the rah rah, get drunk “prototypical” college experience.</p>
<p>What I mean is that I wish there was the same level of energy and passion within the classroom and student body that was displayed by the admission staff. Do you get it now?</p>
<p>oldfort: Civilized? When people persist in discrediting a poster (i.e. me) because they do not care for my views about a university? Really?</p>
<p>jym: I’m pretty sure SOMEONE said I had STARTED an anti-UofC thread. I do not have the time to check back on this sthread. It WAS NOT YOU, okay? Can we hang it up now?</p>
<p>I’m sorry I got back on here. If your goal was to get rid of me–you WON. Bye!</p>
<p>“Yes, you went to Harvard. You’re proud of that (as you should be, I guess). I think that’s been established enough. Why not mention where you went to grad school ever? Because it wasn’t Harvard (I’m not being sarcastic here–I actually am curious).?”</p>
<p>If you check my back posts, I’ve mentioned my grad schools many times. I went to GWU for clinical psychology, and think it is a good school for undergrad work, particularly for those who plan to major in political science. I don’t think it’s worth going into big debt to attend. </p>
<p>I’ve mentioned it several times as being an example of loving one’s safety. GWU was my undergrad safety school. I genuinely liked it and would have happily gone there if I hadn’t gotten into colleges that I preferred. I happily went there to grad school.</p>
<p>I’ve mentioned that I spent a year in Stanford’s grad school. Stanford is a lovely school and provides an excellent education, but is too laid back and isolated for my tastes. I’ve told students deciding between Stanford and Harvard for undergrad that if they like warm weather and a laid back atmosphere, they should choose Stanford. If they are more type A and can deal with the cold, then Harvard would be a better fit for them. Both are excellent schools.</p>
<p>Actually, I thought either my S would have been happy at UofC. They’re not the rah rah type, they don’t much care about “school spirit” and probably don’t have the same sense of “fun” as what a lot of students posting on CC have (e.g., attending parties where alcohol flows). They loved the courses they took at their respective colleges in which the readings sound pretty similar to what I think the Chicago Core curriculum includes.
That said, I don’t like a lot of the writing prompts. Many are preceded by mini-essays where students try hard to sound “intellectual” by engaging in name dropping.
I agree that the Chicago essay prompt intimidate many would-be applicants; I’m not wholly certain that it results in a student body that is so very different from HYP. After all, there is quite a bit of overlap.</p>
<p>Post 327:</p>
<p>Yay! An answer to my question.</p>
<p>“Northstar you are fundamentally misunderstanding me. When I say I wanted school spirit, I do NOT mean the rah rah, get drunk “prototypical” college experience”</p>
<p>I never thought you were referring to rah rah get drunk. I don’t associate rah rah with drunkneness. I do associate rah rah with having enormous pride in one’s school and taking lots of pleasure in going to sporting events, and displaying lots of team pride by wearing the colors, painting one’s face, etc. Some schools attract students who love doing things like that. Some schools attract students who think that doing things like that is silly.</p>
<p>Since Chicago – the college where a student won the first Heisman Trophy – ended its winning football team because it didn’t want to be known as a sports powerhouse, obviously Chicago isn’t going to be a place for the more rah rah type of students. People for whom that’s most important would be happier at Northwestern.</p>
<p>As for passionate discussions of ideas, the U of C freshman I know says that’s one of the things he most likes about that college.</p>
<p>**** me, am I not making myself clear? When I mention school spirit, I do not mean school spirit as it is usually defined.</p>
<p>When I say school spirit, I mean the passion for the life of the mind that the uncommon application embodies. It’s in the application, it’s not in the rest of the school. That’s what was disappointing.</p>
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<p>Well, then, the free-market economics espoused at UChicago will play out – if indeed the experience is so horrible that hardly anyone likes it, then the word will get out and fewer students will apply. What’s the problem, then?</p>
<p>mummom - I don’t think anyone is trying to discredit you. It is not unreasonable to expect other people to react when they are accused of something they didn’t do. I am a fairly blunt person, so I am fine when someone answers me directly, and sometimes it may not be my liking, so I think you should expect the same.</p>
<p>Post 333 (I think you left out the “not,” but I get it, and that’s what I thought you meant earlier.)</p>
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<p>If you could have transferred, where do you think would have suited your particular tastes better? Forget affordability and whether they take transfer students and the logistics – what university, IYO, do you believe would better embody the passion for the life of the mind that you felt was lacking at Chicago?</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, it’s a cost benefit calculation. You do learn a lot there, but it’s like drinking four years of poison. For me, and probably many others, it’s just easier to slog through in pain and finish out the time there than to jump ship somewhere else.</p>
<p>Then instead of blaming U of C for not being the college you wanted, you should blame yourself for being too passive to leave. Obviously, U of C didn’t offer what you wanted, but it also didn’t force you to stay there and drink “four years of poison.”</p>
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<p>Of course there is overlap. I think it’s a straw man to suggest that Chicago’s prompts are there to isolate a very specific group of people who would <em>only</em> be happy at Chicago and would hate, hate, hate HYP or Northwestern or top LAC’s. I know for a fact that there are quite a few NU kids who would have been happy at Chicago, but for whatever reason decided they wanted a more “mainstream” college experience. That doesn’t make NU better than Chicago or Chicago better than NU. It just makes the two of them different things offering different experiences to smart kids. I don’t know why the differences seem so threatening to some and why they perceive Chicago’s self-stated difference as “put-downs.” And still, no one has answered what, specifically, about either the essay prompts or Chicago’s marketing of itself is a “put down” of other students.</p>