@renaissancedad -There are a lot of reasons, although I hadn’t actually considered the Estonian population. I won’t be at a loss when the time comes to write my “Why UChicago” essay, that much is certain.
Part of it is the academics, obviously. It’s a great school. I first started paying attention simply because of Chicago’s reputation as a world-class school for economics. From the descriptions I’ve heard of the Core curriculum from a few current and former students, it sounds great-a continuation, in many ways, of the broad-based IB curriculums that have been the foundation of every school I’ve attended in the last decade. Although I’m unlikely to major in economics-partly because of what I’ve found to be the subject’s pedantic nature, and partly because I don’t much relish the idea of taking classes with large numbers of aspiring Wall Streeters-I’ve remained interested in the school, as I’ve learned more about the other things that make it a great place.
I’ve liked the school’s quirky personality since I read a piece on ScavHunt in the New Yorker a few years back, and traditions like an annual dip in Lake Michigan for some hardy souls do nothing to dispel the impression. There’s the usual attempts by the school itself to play some of those things up-I’ve lost count of the mentions I’ve seen of a working nuclear reactor built during a long-ago ScavHunt-but I’ve also come across quite a few anecdotes-of dormwide paintball games and similar escapades-outside university brochures and the like, which suggests to me that there really is a distinctive atmosphere at Chicago.
The school’s personality has also come across, for me, in the work of people like Gary Becker, Cass Sunstein and-perhaps most of all-Steven Levitt. Any school whose alumni include both Milton Friedman and Bernie Sanders-two people who, if nothing else, certainly haven’t been afraid to defy conventional wisdom-is clearly a place that welcomes differences of opinions and fosters new ideas.
Overall, I get the sense that people at UChicago are a very interesting bunch. The school’s lack of an Ivy League pedigree has also (from what I’ve read) attracted a slightly less preppy crowd-the son of senator X, Y, or Z won’t tend to choose Chicago when given his pick of schools, nor will most Middle Eastern royalty-and I won’t deny that I consider that a positive. A family friend is currently attending Harvard, and has described a sizable contingent of students that subscribes to the “if you’ve got it, flaunt it” school of thought when it comes to parental wealth. That’s something I’d rather steer clear of.
I’m glad the school competes in NCAA division III. That indicates to me that athletics aren’t likely to detract from the school’s educational mission in the way they do at, say, FSU. As someone who views with bemusement the obsession of some schools with their football programs, I’m among the minority who prefer a Div III college to a Div I school. My ambivalence towards college sports also stems, of course, from the fact that I wouldn’t be at risk of making a varsity team if Chicago competed in NCAA Division XIII.
I’m intrigued by the political scene, both at the university level and in the city. The juxtaposition of David Axelrod teaching at UChicago and a city with politics that once rivaled Tammany Hall’s is nothing short of unbelievable for me as a prospective Political Science/Government major.
And, though my mother’s done her best to make sure I have an open mind about colleges, not wanting to indoctrinate me at a young age, I have heard the occasional anecdote from her days at UChicago.
With all this in mind, I visited over the summer, taking advantage of a trip to Chicago to see what I already thought of as a great school, and just fell in love. I loved the campus, loved Hyde Park, and loved the city for more reasons than I could list in a week. I’m going to apply EA, and if I get an acceptance letter I feel sure that I won’t be sending out any RD applications.
It would seem, having set out to list in brief a few reasons I want to go to UChicago, I’ve instead written a long and rambling “why UChicago?” essay, so I’ll leave it at that.