<p>“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>There is no other university that matches what UChicago purports to be. I would be looking for something else entirely in a school.</p>
<p>I wrote this in another thread:
“My ideal school would merge introspection and a joyful engagement with life, so take from that what you will.”</p>
<p>And before everyone jumps on and says “You were looking for something that wasn’t at UChicago in the first place, btw I went to harvard LOLOLOLOL”
Let me say that the life of the mind as sold by the admissions department is a wonderful idea. I thought I could merge it into my life in an engaging way. When it turns out the life of the mind as defined in the uncommon app wasn’t truly on campus, the whole house of cards came tumbling down.</p>
<p>All I can tell you, IHateUofC, is that my son’s experience at U of C is quite different from yours. He’s <em>very</em> happy there (infinitely happier than he was in high school), works hard, loves (and is passionate about) his studies. He calls me up all the time to talk about his classes, and his professors, and I can hear the excitement in his voice. Yet, he’s made a lot of very good friends, and certainly has time to lead a “balanced life” by his own definition. In other words, to enjoy himself in his spare time by doing things he likes to do. And most of the people he’s friends with are happy there, too. Then again, he and his friends are mostly humanities types, and I don’t know if he could speak to how generally happy people are who major in, say, economics or math or one of the hard sciences. I’ll have to ask him if he sees any difference.</p>
<p>And, yes, he’s very proud of being there.</p>
<p>There is one particular type there that he’s told me he doesn’t like, but I know from my own experience that there are kids like that at Ivy League schools and probably at any good school. Namely, people he thinks of as being unpleasantly arrogant, who think of themselves as being better than others because they go to a top school, and who also think of themselves as being God’s gift to the University of Chicago – instead of the reverse, instead of being appreciative and grateful for being there, and for having the opportunities that being at a school like Chicago gives them. My son continually reminds himself of how fortunate he is to be there, and what wonderful opportunities he’s been given. And he doesn’t like people who don’t seem aware of that. But, as I said, I’m sure there are people like that everywhere.</p>
<p>Northstar, it is partially my fault, I’m not denying that. But I tried to be reasonable in transferring. I spent my first year and a half trying to find classes, people, rso’s that I thought would match “the life of the mind” The second half of my second year, I didn’t want to admit to myself that I was so wrong.</p>
<p>I decided to transfer third year, but realized the schools i was looking at wouldn’t take me until senior year, and credits might be an issue. So I was stuck more or less.</p>
<p>I tried to be reasonable, which you don’t understand, you just like bossing people around and telling them what they should have done so you’re not hearing me</p>
<p>re#328-
Well mummom I didn’t say anything about you starting an anti- Uof C thread any more than I said anything about you starting THIS (or a similar) thread. These are mistakes on your part. You also attributed something else to me way back, many pages ago, when this actually had been a civilized thread (when you reacted to the phrase that pizzagirl used- “take a chill pill” and thought I had said it), when all I had done was post one post in this thread-- which was a comment about the things I liked about ** the essay<a href=“the%20topic%20of%20this%20thread”>/b</a>. </p>
<p>So, I have been accused of using an expression I did not, of claiming you started an anti U of C thread (I did not) and that I had “attacked” you in a post that wasnt even to or about you. Can you not understand, as oldfort so nicely stated, that this might be bothersome? I think many of the things you attributed to me might have been said by pizzagirl, but I am not sure. You can feel free to go do your research. Please do it correctly before claiming things that simply aren’t so.</p>
<p>"My ideal school would merge introspection and a joyful engagement with life, so take from that what you will</p>
<p>Sounds like you would have been happier at Stanford or at a LAC like Oberlin.</p>
<p>“I tried to be reasonable, which you don’t understand, you just like bossing people around and telling them what they should have done so you’re not hearing me”</p>
<p>I notice that you believe in casting aspersions on others’ personalities instead of sticking to the facts.</p>
<p>I think you made a mistake by staying so long at a place that made you miserable. I’m stating an opinion, not being bossy.</p>
<p>Instead of spending your time letting everyone know what a horrible place you think U of C is, you’d better serve your own life by making sure that you’re making better choices than you have in the past.The time you’ve spent here complaining about Chicago could have been better spent enjoying wherever you are now or looking for a grad school or job that you would enjoy.</p>
<p>PG:
Since I did not make a comment about the prompt being a put-down of other colleges, I won’t address this.</p>
<p>My point was that although the writing prompts are definitely not the same as the Common Application prompts, there is a huge overlap not only in the students who apply and get admitted, but, I suspect, in the experience of many. I do know a number of Chicago graduates, and they don’t appear to me very different from the Harvard alums I know. The most successful i-banker I know graduated from UofC.</p>
<p>What was your field of study, IHateUofC? What dorm did you live in? Because your description of the student body and the academic experience bears no resemblance to what my son tells me. (And, no, he’s not pretending to be happy. He would tell me if he weren’t happy; I promise you. As some people here know, we’re really quite close.)</p>
<p>Haha, I like how northstar tells me she’s not bossy, and then immediately turns around and tells me what to do with my life. Classic. You’ll see I more or less stick to the facts, the other bits are thrown in because of your over inflated ego.</p>
<p>Donna, I did go there, but I won’t tell you my dorm or major.</p>
<p>Really? You actually think that mentioning your field of study, or even your dorm, is going to identify you? A very odd notion indeed. Unless you had a reputation for being “the guy who hates this place”!</p>
<p>“ou’ll see I more or less stick to the facts, the other bits are thrown in because of your over inflated ego.”</p>
<p>You keep reducing yourself to casting aspersions on my personality and by bringing up where i went to college. Meanwhile you are going way out of your way to let everyone know that you hate your own college. I’m left assuming that you wanted to go to Harvard, but settled for U of C and stayed at U of C because you assumed you couldn’t transfer to one of the few schools rated higher.</p>
<p>Someone’s going so out of their way to say negative things about their college causes me and possibly others to wonder why you are so enraged at a place that you chose, and why you stayed there despite being very unhappy there. </p>
<p>College students who hate their colleges tend to transfer, not spend their time making up names reflecting their hate, and posting disparaging things about where they are. If they have the ability to transfer, they do. </p>
<p>Also, if U of C really is such a dreadful place filled with students lacking intellectual spirit, what does that say about your being a student there?</p>
<p>" You actually think that mentioning your field of study, or even your dorm, is going to identify you? A very odd notion indeed. Unless you had a reputation for being “the guy who hates this”</p>
<p>By IhateuofC’s posts here, it’s hard to imagine that s/he was noted for anything else. Thus far, the only thing that poster has stood out for here is hating U of C.</p>
<p>No one has ever said that Chicago people are SO SO incredibly different from the whole cohort of people who apply to other top universities. Of course there is lots of overlap.</p>
<p>Little details add up. I will say that when they sell chinese buns in front of cobb that the bbq pork are the best. At any rate my diploma is resting comfortably in my room whether you believe me or not</p>
<p>Actually, UChicago was far and away my first choice. My self esteem and self worth aren’t tied up in rankings, though you probably won’t believe me. My second choice, which in retrospect was where I rather would have gone or transfered to is actually ranked lower than UChicago.</p>
<p>“Also, if U of C really is such a dreadful place filled with students lacking intellectual spirit, what does that say about your being a student there?”</p>
<p>Well, given that I hated it there for what it was lacking, I would say that actually reflects well on me</p>
<p>I think IHateUofC has given specific examples about why the school was a terrible fit for him. I don’t know why he has to repeatedly justify why he didn’t transfer out. I have read countless posts by students unhappy where they are, where the advice they are given is to exhaust every possible means to make the college work for them. Sounds like IHUC tried to do that. He attended the school for 4 years and is entitled to his opinion – and I, for one, appreciate him sharing it. It gives further insight to a student considering the school and the culture there. As so many have pointed out, choices are good – as are a full range of informed opinions. That’s why I come on to this board in the first place.</p>
<p>I believe you went there, and that you would have preferred to have gone elsewhere, but weren’t accepted to a college that you regarded as better. I believe that although you hated Chicago, you stayed there because feared that you couldn’t transfer to one of the few colleges that are more highly regarded.</p>
<p>By complaining about Chicago, you make yourself look bad. If people believe you, they would assume that you must be like the students you’re complaining about. If you weren’t like them, you’d probably have transferred.</p>
<p>The people who don’t believe may be assuming that you’re a malcontent who wasn’t able to fit into Chicago’s atmosphere because you have difficulty getting along with others or because you had to struggle so much to survive academically that you didn’t have time for ECs although other students did.</p>
<p>Xiggi, I think that that the quirkiness of the Chicago prompts gave my daughter a sense of greater freedom in terms of creating her topic – thinking about those prompts got her creative juices flowing and gave her a sense of freedom to do something outside bounds of a typical college essay. The prompts on the common app suggest a theme along the lines of: “write about something real and important in your life”. The Chicago prompts suggest more of a “write about anything you want. explore a new idea. invent something.” So my d gave Chicago a piece of creative writing rather than a personal statement. (There was no “I” in her essay, for example). </p>
<p>I don’t think its the same. My d’s Chicago essays were probably among the best that she wrote for the college application process and were not submitted anywhere else, nor would they have been appropriate anywhere else. My d. also wrote a very good common app essay, probably along lines of the “challenge you have faced” (I don’t remember which exact prompt – all those common app prompts seem to be the same to me) - but overall it was also a far more conventional essay.</p>
<p>When you say “no one,” you may mean adults, or contributors to this thread. But journey over to other threads, other forums on CC, including recent years, and you’ll see am amazing array of students (and parents) who truly believe they are qualitatively different (read, better) than students attending virtually any other college or U in this country.</p>
<p>Thank you broetchen, I’m merely trying to let prospective students know there is a disconnect from how the school is pitched and how it actually is. </p>
<p>Northstar probably won’t believe me when I say that UChicago was at every step in the admissions process my top choice. The ultimate irony is that I truly did not care about school rankings when I was applying. I worried exclusively on which school felt like the right fit, and wow was I dead wrong.</p>
<p>My question isn’t why you stayed: You’ve answered that.</p>
<p>My question is why have you spent so much time letting others know how much you hate UofC? Don’t you have more pleasant things to do or things to do that would help ensure your having a fulfilling life now that you’ve graduated from U of C?</p>
<p>I don’t remember ever seeing anyone else here create a name reflecting a hatred of their alma mater and spending time blasting their alma mater. Even people who hated where they went to college tend to concentrate on their current life after graduating from that college. Why hang around on CC to dwell on the past?</p>