Is chicago right for me?

Maroon8
Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:47:21 +0000

1) Fun doesn’t die. Yes, there are people who might spend free time doing intellectual things. Much less than you might expect, though, partly because, especially if you are taking four classes, you don’t feel much like spending your free time doing things that require cognitive exertion. Often academic stuff comes up in non-academic settings. But there are also plenty of people who do things in their free time that might be considered “normal” for the average person, like go to sports events or bars or concerts and say not a word about Plato, Marx, or “alpha-null” [which must be math or something, because I have no idea what it means/refers to].

2) The average GPA is in the 3.25-3.35 range. To get As consistently, you’ll have to work a lot. To avoid C’s, though, most of the time you just need to do what’s required with some effort (I think the relative lack of C’s is due, in part, to the fact that very few Chicago students completely blow off academics). Sciences and Econ are sometimes curved, which makes getting a poor grade somewhat easier, but you still are probably not going to fail unless you are really lazy/don’t care.

-But if you divide life into “necessary” studying and being freed from academics, Chicago probably isn’t quite the best fit. If you are repulsed at the idea of reading Plato for fun (and not just because you disagree with him) and can’t understand why anyone would, Chicago is probably not a good fit. On the other hand, if you are just very self-aware and realize that most of the time, you won’t actually want to read Plato on a Saturday when there are other things you could do, then you are just more realistic than many prospective students. {Many students are relatively academically starved in high school. Once the actual school work becomes intellectually challenging/stimulating, the need to read Plato on Saturday nights goes away}