<p>I’ll just point out that even by looking at class sizes, Chicago is much more in line with an LAC than with a university, it just doesn’t bill itself that way. Some profs are more fuzzy wuzzy than others (and I find grad students more approachable than profs, if only because they are younger, easier to relate to, and in some unfortunate/awkward occasions, I’ve been at parties where former grad student teachers have attended…) but Chicago generally is not a very fuzzy wuzzy institution. That’s not saying you won’t get the support and advice that you need and that’s not saying that there aren’t many resources to turn to, but it’s saying that the University doesn’t coddle its undergraduates, nor does it make the coddling/community/fuzzywuzzyness a selling point.</p>
<p>(I was the prospective student who, when reading LAC viewbooks, thought, “If I have to hear about close interactions with professors one more time, I’m going to vomit.” That, and obligatory co-ed/green grass/historic building photo really got to me.)</p>
<p>Before I start going off on more tangents, I’ll just close by saying that there is a sort of community that springs up spontaneously in a classroom, it’s just not one that’s mandated or enforced. Grad students do teach, but if you really don’t want to have them teach classes you could probably maneuver your schedule so that you’d never have them. However, I think you’d be missing out on a lot of cool classes if you did that.</p>
<p>when you are a current student, evaluations.uchicago.edu becomes your friend.</p>