<p>To respond quickly:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes. There is social life. Not oodles and oodles of it, but I definitely spend a significant chunk of my week with other people and doing non-academic things.</p></li>
<li><p>No. You can find parties pretty easily.</p></li>
<li><p>Hyde Park doesn’t have that many bars, and to be honest, I don’t really see their appeal. If you want to meet students en masse, you are more likely to end up at a fraternity party or an apartment party. Compared to one or two other schools I can think of that have a pretty substantial bar scene, Chicago is lacking in that department. On the other hand, I don’t really see the appeal of bars, especially considering that the alcohol and socializing is available without them.</p></li>
<li><p>The University cares a lot about your health and not at all about the substances in your system. (Though smoking isn’t allowed in the dorms, the Shoreland has a distinct scent to it). People have open parties, consume alcohol, and talk about consuming alcohol with residence staff pretty frequently, in my experience.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>It’s important to remember that “Where fun comes to die” is kind of an unofficial University slogan. It’s something that we came up with and slapped onto t-shirts, not something that somebody from outside said to criticize us. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, as the slogan wards off students who see college as an expensive means of getting sozzled for the next four years), it’s the only thing that seems to stick to people’s minds. I find it kind of funny, at least in the way that most colleges seem to be proud of something silly, and the slogan pokes fun of that need.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong-- Chicago will never appear on a list of top party schools or anything like that-- and I’d be willing to bet that drinks consumed per capita is probably way lower than average across schools nationwide-- but it’s not as though parties and social life are nonexistent.</p>