<p>
Chicago has a well-earned reputation for being intense, and most students take pride in that. Part of it is due to its Core, part of it is due to the quarter system, and part of it is simply due to the mentality of the students it tends to attract. See, for example, this article written by a Princeton student about his visit to Chicago:</p>
<p>[Think</a> we’ve got it bad? U. Chicago has it worse - The Daily Princetonian](<a href=“http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2000/03/07/399/]Think”>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2000/03/07/399/)</p>
<p>Chicago does not assign an insane amount of work, students do not live in the library, and students certainly take time to have fun – but it still comes nowhere close to the laid-back feel of, say, Duke or Penn (or even Swat). I was pleased to see a noticeably more relaxed student body when I visited recently than when I had visited several years prior while in high school, however, which is no doubt a side effect of Chicago’s efforts at becoming more mainstream. I assume Chicago will continue that trend. </p>
<p>
While that would be fortunate, there is relatively little evidence to suggest such is the case. Cornell and MIT release pre-med admissions data, and the average GPA of their accepted students is quite close to the national average. Chicago underperforms in law school placement for the same reason.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, even several Chicago students and alumni encourage pre-meds to stay away unless something is strongly appealing about Chicago.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/1066027-pre-med-uchicago-current-students-only.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/1066027-pre-med-uchicago-current-students-only.html</a></p>