First-year here. Ask me anything.

sindarknave
Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:35:12 +0000

Let’s get the major, well-worn ones out of the way:

Is UChicago hyper-competitive?
I would say less hyper-competitive than academic - a difference more than semantic or euphemistic. I would classify hyper-competition as “grade-grubbing”: students ripping pages off popular textbooks stocked at libraries, playing sycophants to instructors - i.e. destructive, selfish behavior. But UChi is a community of scholars and I have seen way more helpful, open and friendly people than the opposite - even in a Gen Chem class full of pre-meds, I was generally able to get help and discuss freely without curve-related inhibitions getting in the way. Anecdotally, I would posit that more pre-professional schools may be more hyper-competitive in this regard.
Our rigorous academic focus, however, and high calibre of students does mean that the work intensity may come as a shock. The difficulty lies perhaps less in the material than the short duration (10 weeks a quarter) that you have to understand and apply in annoyingly frequent midterms (last quarter I had a “midterm” just before reading period); the material is sometimes more theoretical and advanced than in comparable courses at peer schools. But while you’ll be expected to study hard to do your best in classes, you’ll have a supportive community braving the same battle. The grade deflation is usually not as bad as it seems, and usually depends strongly on the instructor - you’ll still need good time management and discipline. All this hard work, FYI, has this cool positive side-effect on helping you sort out your true academic interests.

Does fun come to die?
Nah. Student life is vibrant. If you’re applying, you’ve probably heard of our espousal of a “cerebral” type of fun. In Fall Quarter I spent a lot of time discussing psychiatry over ping pong matches, and there is no short of the Trivial-Pursuit, Crossword-Puzzle, rants-on-why-Durkheim-is-an-idiot-over-Mario-Kart fun, you don’t necessarily need to get boxed in with the blowhards. Chicago has a bustling arts scene that you’ll get student tickets to on the cheap; there are so many RSOs, from business/finance societies to the circus, whose listhosts will soon overwhelm you within a few weeks; in Max P, my dorm, we have a strong house culture and have frequent study breaks and outings. (Those “female asian UChicago students” hardly count as a representative sample.)
And onto the traditional college fun! Jostle in 5000+ hormonal teenagers into a sleepy town and you’ll definitely have some of it. Yes, we have frats and sororities whose parties are well-attended; a few of our sports teams are passable (Tennis, I hear; Quizbowl? alright screw this); Ratner is new and cool to work out in. Some of the jocks here are among the most intelligent people I’ve ever met.