<p>JHS - that’s a fair point. First off, I def think the relationship between undergrads and their TA teachers at Chicago can be quite different. During my time at Chicago, I had great relationships with TAs, and they approached the “warm, friendly” side of the spectrum more than my relationships with tenured professors.</p>
<p>Now, I don’t mean to say there’s a wall between students and professors. If students seek it out, they can have good, meaningful, and productive relationships with faculty members. Interestingly though, when I was at Chicago, pretty much anyone in any humanities/social science discipline had to write a thesis, and I believe it was highly recommended for some science disciplines. </p>
<p>Maybe this is wrong, but since I graduated, I believe this requirement was changed - it’s no longer a requirement for history, poli sci etc. The thesis, however, is the absolute best way to get to know a faculty member well, and I really don’t know why Chicago abolished this requirement. I assume that being a drain on a faculty member’s time was one reason for it. </p>
<p>On the other hand, look at a place like Princeton, where the thesis is required for all majors, and it leads to a lot more good student-faculty connections. Chicago pretty much used to be like this across many disciplines, and it’s weird they gave it the axe.</p>
<p>Again, as JHS noted, if you’re proactive, you can certainly form good relationships with professors. There are, from what I can see, no institutional mandates or ethos that promotes this. On the other hand, some of the mandates that would’ve promoted more interaction (i.e. thesis requirement with a professor advisor), have been lessened.</p>
<p>You come to Chicago because of the unparalleled caliber of the faculty and their tradition of superb teaching. Faculty and students don’t do anything close to holding hands and singing kumbaya though. TAs is a totally different story, but full fledged faculty… yah certainly students form good connections by being very proactive, but I don’t see much that promotes it.</p>
<p>(I’m assuming this is how it is at the majority of major research institutions - Harvard, Columbia, UPenn, etc. Chicago is probably no better or no worse on the approachability standpoint.)</p>