<p>To speak to the structural differences: The core classes at Chicago are very similar to what you described from Reed. They may sometimes be taught by post-doctoral fellows, or the occasional ABD (all-but dissertation completed for a Ph.D.), but basically they’re 18-20-person discussions with someone who knows a lot about the topic (and I’ve had the undergraduate chair of philosophy and the master of the Social Sciences division for a quarter in core sequences).</p>
<p>The difference you’ll see, I would guess, between Reed and Chicago is in things like Intro to ______. While Chicago still has a smaller class size than many other research institutions, things like Intro to Microeconomics or General Chemistry are pretty large lectures (Microecon. is probably the largest at about 200, others, depending on the department, run 50-80, usually). It’s in courses like these where you’ll run into TA’s and such (usually it’s a lecture from a professor with discussions/labs with a TA).</p>
<p>To be completely honest, the TAs in some of the Intro to ____ classes have left a bit to be desired, and if I could change one thing about my experience at Chicago it would be that. But it’s not prevalent (probably only 3 of the 28 classes I’ve taken have been hampered by a mediocre TA) – and if the class is big enough for TAs, you probalby also know several other people in the course (I’ve never taken a lecture course [more than 40 students] that didn’t include at least one other person I knew, and usually it’s several), so it’s unlikely you’ll be stuck trying to learn something on your own from a mediocre TA.</p>
<p>Also, the TA situation is different from department to department. Some depend on them more heavily than others. Things like writing a BA thesis are also departmental variations, in some they are optional, some required, some only for honors, and in some they don’t really exist. </p>
<p>I would echo the sentiments about Chicago’s libertarian/laissez-faire attitude towards just about everything, in terms of viewpoints. There’s a pretty strong sentiment that everyone has the right to believe/do as they please without ridicule/proselytizing. While the average student is probably “liberal” (as would be the case on just about any academic campus), I know a lot of rather conservative folks who fit right in.</p>