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<li><p>**Teacher recs:**Talk to your guidance counselor about what you think you should do, but I would say go for the teacher of the harder subject. As a current student, I have no involvement in admissions mechanics, so I don’t like answering these sorts of questions.</p></li>
<li><p>Heating/Cooling: Heating is free with tuition and room and board. Only Max P has A/C (the new dorm that will be up by your first year will have it too) but dorms that don’t have A/C don’t have much to complain about. You don’t really need it. </p></li>
<li><p>Study abroad and financing options: I don’t think there’s a maximum number of study abroad programs you can do (as an IS major, you’re required to do one) and I have friends who have done two and one friend who went abroad for an entire year (three quarters). Financial aid does transfer to study abroad, but how other living expenses are worked out… I don’t know.</p></li>
<li><p>What’s the truth in “where the fun goes to die?” If you want to not have fun, nobody’s going to force you, but I think what’s largely misundestood that this is a slogan that we created to make fun of ourselves, and WFCTD t-shirt is probably the most popular unofficial shirt sold. President Zimmer and trustees are trying to get rid of it, which is an understandable but foolish move, as they’ll be alienating lots and lots of undergrads who won’t be able to buy their shirts anymore. Yes, Chicago kids party, go to movies, go downtown, etc.</p></li>
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<p>Then again… if you’re looking for an absolutely raging party scene, look further.</p>
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<li><p>From the pictures/brochures I’ve seen (I can’t visit unless I am accepted due to money problems), Chicago has a very beautiful side. What is its ugly side (aesthetically)? Pick hall, as one architectural guide put it, is like a suit that came back from the tailor and still had chalk marks on it. Other than that, I would say the “ugly side” aesthetically are areas west and south of campus, in neighborhoods Woodlawn and Englewood. There is almost nonexistent student interaction with these neighborhoods, but if you’re worried about safety, run a search on this forum for past threads… a lot of virtual ink has been spilled on this one.</p></li>
<li><p>Tell me about dorms. Are bookshelves/desks provided? Is there a closet? Are the bathrooms clean? Trash in the hallways and on the lawns? RAs evil? Can a “friend” spend the night? How are the beds? Are they twin size or larger/smaller? Are the mattresses old and stained? And how thin/thick are the walls? I like to blast Keane and Sara Bareilles. I’m sure the kid who loves megadeath will not appreciate. Nice, yes, yes, yes, no (lots of cleaning crews in and out of the dorms), mattresses are decent (get a nice and think mattress pad, the most expensive one your morals let you, and you’ll feel like you’re staying at the Ritz-Carlton), depends on the dorm. A lot of kids like to play their music loud anyways.</p></li>
<li><p>Will Chicago rip me off? That is, the bookstore selling a used textbook for only 10% off and things of that sort. Also, my FAFSA EFC is zero. Will Chicago honor that or recalculate it? College is really expensive, and the textbook market is horrific. I don’t know much about FA, but I believe Chicago honors FAFSA.</p></li>
<li><p>How are the prices/quality of surrounding shops and stores? I’m used to a dollar for a cup of ice cream and two-dollar sandwiches (these are from friendly community shops, not chains like Starbucks), if you want something to compare with. There’s a good deal of cute and collegiate mom-and-pop ness (Medici, Istria, Third World Cafe, etc.), but they are far more expensive (5-6 dollar sandwiches?). Including the bookstore, there are three Starbuckses in HP, but that’s because we’re a coffee-obsessed bunch.</p></li>
<li><p>Does the core really help you, or is it just annoying? Do you think it makes your college experience more stressful than need be? I’m think of the SNL skit “Men on Film”: “Loved it!” I think core is quite wonderful, and I would expound upon why, but it sort of deserves a post and a thread of its own. Maybe later.</p></li>
<li><p>How many classes (on average) do people take a quarter? What would you say is the average night of homework (excluding studying)? 4 or 3 (usually 4). How much time you spend on homework is highly variable, depending on your major, your classes, and if you’re the kind of person who reads every sentence of the 100-page reading or if you’re the kind of person who skims it and says, “That’ll do.” I probably put in about 20 hours a week of work for 13 hours of classes.</p></li>
<li><p>My best Chicago experience has been watching the sun come up over Lake Michigan with my friends. (Hokey, and not academic, but there it is). Maybe my second best Chicago experience is writing a five-page paper on three sentences in a short story. The one thing that has made me wonder if I should have gone somewhere else is that I fantasize about hills and forests on a near-daily basis, something which Chicago has none of.</p></li>
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