<p>I just want to tidy the forum a bit to link back to this thread, which was posted maybe two weeks ago:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/642331-truth-party-scene-chicago.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/642331-truth-party-scene-chicago.html</a></p>
<p>That thread gives a lot of different views on “party scene” and “social life.”</p>
<p>To answer your questions one by one:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>By urban standards, the neighborhoods of Hyde Park, Woodlawn, Englewood, and Bronzeville (Hyde Park is where the University is, W is south, Englewood west, Bronzeville north) are pretty decent for what they are. I say that as somebody who has had the chance to be in cities and has seen neighborhoods far, far, worse than any that surround the University. Some crime does happen here, for sure, but that’s part of the give and take of an urban neighborhood. Stay safe and stay smart, walk on well-lit streets where there are other people, don’t carry around tons of valuables, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>“Where fun comes to die” is a well-loved t-shirt slogan that we sell to our own students, so I guess it is :-). We have both super-party kids and hermit kids, with most falling somewhere very in between. You’ll be fine.</p></li>
<li><p>Massive grade deflation? No. Newmassdad was able to demonstrate, through a labor of love of counting the number of students graduating with honors (3.25+) in the graduation program, that about 2/3 of the student population has over a 3.25. I’ve gotten a lot of grades here, and each one was fair to me. Don’t expect all A’s, not here and not at any elite university.</p></li>
<li><p>Again, no, students do lots of things besides study. What there isn’t as much as is pure “shoot the breeze” downtime, and I don’t think there are many moments when I say to myself, “Gee, I have nothing to do.” But that’s because I’m working, at the gym, at paid work work, playing intramurals, doing club activities, volunteering, with my friends, downtown, and so on. So I’m pretty busy with many non-academic things.</p></li>
</ol>