Oh geez. Broad question. I’ll try to answer it through the other ones.
Go downtown. Party. Talk. Binge watch stuff on Netflix. Normal college stuff, though usually with a nerdier than average bent.
Depends on the person. I go downtown all the time, at least once a week. Some people never go. Some people go multiple times a week every week (it’s like $2 to just hop on the 2/6 and be in the loop in 20 minutes, it’s really convenient).
Hyde Park is really great and absolutely safe, it feels like a college town. Woodlawn and Washington Park are also nice (reports of how dangerous they are are exaggerated). If you’re in a group you’ll be fine. If you are alone you’ll also probably be fine. It’s still a city, and you should be alert, but it isn’t even close to as bad as people make it out to be.
Cutthroat? Not at all. There’s no sense that we’re fighting each other, more like it’s students vs academics. Free time isn’t rare either, school doesn’t totally take over your life unless you let it (hint: don’t try to take all honors classes like in high school). Time management is key.
The core for both.
Answered
Yes. They mostly either wanted to do something that UChicago didn’t offer, anything from musical theater to engineering. Some people do not like going from being the best to being “average” (by UChicago standards). This is rare, but some people absolutely hate the core or feel like they aren’t smart enough to handle the school and try to transfer out.