<p>To Alums, Why UChicago?
Hi, I realize on these forums you commonly see posts “Will I get into _<strong><em>” or “What are my chances for _</em></strong>”. I have a completely different question.</p>
<p>Why did you go to Chicago? When you got there what stood out to you? (pros and cons)</p>
<p>And lastly what differentiates Chicago from other top universities?</p>
<p>Thanks, and fyi I am a good student, just trying to decide which schools I will be applying to.</p>
<p>What differentiates Chicago from other top universities? (1)</p>
<p>A Clear Mission Focus
Start with Chicago’s latin motto: *Crescat scientia; vita excolatur<a href=“%5Bi%5DLet%20knowledge%20grow%20from%20more%20to%20more;%20and%20so%20be%20human%20life%20enriched%5B/i%5D”>/i</a></p>
<p>Contrast that with a few others:
*The voice of one crying in the wilderness<a href=“Dartmouth”>/i</a>
Laws without morals are useless ((Penn)
*Under God’s power she flourishes<a href=“Princeton”>/i</a>
*The wind of freedom blows<a href=“Stanford”>/i</a>
*Not to be ministered unto, but to minister<a href=“Wellesley”>/i</a></p>
<p>Chicago, unlike many peer schools, has never been on a crusade to save souls, to turn out “1000 male leaders” per year, or (as one CC poster recently described one of the aims of education) “to put people of all economic and social classes in equal footing”. Chicago’s primary (and nearly exclusive) mission is to discover and share knowledge, in the belief that knowledge in itself enriches human life. This mission focus is reflected throughout the university, in its governance & policies, its curriculum, and in its approach to admissions.</p>
<p>Superb Faculty Resources
You may have heard that Chicago has the 2nd highest number of affiliated Nobel laureates in America, or the 3rd highest-paid faculty, and other such claims. What really sets Chicago apart is the engagement of excellent faculty in undergraduate education. Chicago has the lowest percentage of big classes (=>50) of any research university, and one of the highest percentages of small classes (< 20). Chicago cultivates and rewards excellent undergraduate teaching ([Llewellyn</a> John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching | The University of Chicago](<a href=“http://www.uchicago.edu/about/accolades/quantrell.shtml]Llewellyn”>http://www.uchicago.edu/about/accolades/quantrell.shtml)). Undergraduate faculty are appointed to “The College”, not to undergraduate departments (which actually do not exist); this fosters an interdisciplinary approach.</p>
<p>In addition, unlike at many other schools, at Chicago the professors (not professional administrators) run the university. President Zimmer was a Distinguished Service Professor of Mathematics. The Provost, Thomas Rosenbaum, is a Distinguished Service Professor in Physics. The Dean of the College, John Boyer, is a Distinguished Service Professor in History. Long-time Dean of Admissions, Ted O’Neill, was a Philosophy professor. The fact that faculty run the place means that academic concerns are front-and-center in major decisions about investments, policy, and curriculum design.</p>
<p>What differentiates Chicago from other top universities? (2)</p>
<p>A Principled Approach to Curriculum & Instruction
Chicago does not offer up a Chinese Menu of “distribution requirements” or an anything-goes Open Curriculum. Every undergraduate experiences an integrated, 2 year Core curriculum that ensures broad exposure to “the best that has been thought and said” in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Biological and Physical Sciences. The emphasis is on discussion, not lectures, and on primary source materials, not textbooks. As another CC poster recently wrote, you don’t read “Karl Marx said …”, you read Karl-Bloody-Marx. Professors generally don’t stand at a lectern and hold forth for 50 minutes to students assembled in rank-and-file order. They sit with students at a round table and ask challenging Socratic questions based on a close reading of the text. They don’t hesitate to “call BS” when a student is showing off or running off-topic, rather than honestly attempting to address the question. Reading loads and writing assignments are demanding; professors don’t relax them to accomodate students’ extracurricular pursuits. </p>
<p>First-Rate Academic Facilities
It has been said that Chicago has the most beautiful urban campus in America ([Campus</a> Images | The University of Chicago](<a href=“http://www.uchicago.edu/about/campusimages.shtml]Campus”>http://www.uchicago.edu/about/campusimages.shtml)). That’s great (assuming you like Gothic architecture), and so is the quality of athletic facilities, as well as access to everything one of America’s most vibrant cities has to offer. Again, however, what really sets Chicago apart is the focus on academics. This can be seen in the physical connection of buildings around the old quadrangles, a design feature that represents the connections among academic disciplines. It can be seen in the historic demolition of the school’s original football stadium (Stagg Field) to make way for one of the world’s premier research libraries. At a time when many peer institutions are moving library books to remote warehouses, Chicago has invested in new, state of the art facilities that give it the country’s sole top academic research library system with its entire collection on campus ([Joe</a> and Rika Mansueto Library](<a href=“The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library - The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library - The University of Chicago Library”>http://mansueto.lib.uchicago.edu/)). This gives Chicago one more major advantage (along with top salaries) to continue attracting the best faculty.</p>
<p>Excellent Students Committed to Learning
A few other schools have lower admission rates. A few other schools get more applications; they may attract a more scintillating mix of extracurricular talents (athletes, “story kids”, celebrities, etc.) Yet Chicago is near the top in average GPA/rank and test scores of admitted students. Its quirky application essays are designed to discover students who, in addition to solid “stats”, bring imagination and a playful spirit to academic work. This spirit shows up not only in the classroom, or in after-class discussion, but in extracurricular traditions such as the annual Scav Hunt ([The</a> University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt](<a href=“http://scavhunt.uchicago.edu/lore.html]The”>http://scavhunt.uchicago.edu/lore.html)) or the [Famed</a> Latke-Hamantash Debate](<a href=“http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2011/11/09/famed-latke-hamantash-debate-return-nov-22]Famed”>Famed Latke-Hamantash Debate to return Nov. 22 | University of Chicago News). It shows up in the post-graduate choices students make. Chicago students have some of the highest rates of PhD completions, as well as high rates of participation in the Peace Corps and Teach for America. The University of Chicago has long been called “the teacher of teachers”. So, unlike other top schools that revel in the number of investment bankers or US Presidents they turn out, Chicago people take pride in the number of professors, college presidents, and Nobel laureates among the alumni ([List</a> of University of Chicago alumni - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_notable_University_of_Chicago_alumni]List”>List of University of Chicago alumni - Wikipedia)).</p>
<p>In my admittedly biased opinion, Chicago offers the best undergraduate liberal education in America, bar none. The magazine rankings are catching on to this. However, the features that really set it apart are beyond what the rankings can easily capture.</p>
<p>^^ Very good writeup. I particularly liked the part about the mission of the school. This is a very important, and often overlooked, point.</p>
<p>I went to get a great common core liberal education that challenged my mind in and out of the classroom first and then to become a physician. Not the other way around like it is for so many other top students…Chicago was not used only as a “stepping stone” to professional career…but to learn how to think more critically…especially from fellow students around the breakfast tables, student lounges, or the dorm rooms…</p>
<p>Moreover, when I attended back in the early 80s, the undergraduate college felt more like a small liberal arts college like Williams, Swarthmore, or Amherst. We only had about 600 graduates at the time. It is important to point out, it is not in the PAC-10/12, Big-10/12, or ACC which are mostly made up of extremely large schools nor is it MIT/Caltech. It has a very unusual position in the academic world that cannot really be described…it is like trying to explain what it takes to become a doctor or be a doctor to a person who never went through it themselves…</p>
<p>I believe the entering class sizes have grown tremendously in the past 10 years so it may feel very different…</p>
<p>Ultimately, I widened my horizons, explored and questioned the truths forming our perception of the world, discovered the transforming capabilities of thoughts, immersed myself in a panorama of academic discovery and delving, conversed within and between disciplines about issues linking us all as humans, got personal with the fundamental structure of ideas that forms our society, better understood myself as well as my place in the universe, and experienced beautiful depth of thinking as opposed to mindless bredth.</p>
<p>The University of Chicago has both kindled and engaged every part of who I am: mentally, personally, professionally, and spiritually. I go through my life with bigger eyes as well as the ability to understand and express all that I have seen in new ways.</p>
<p>This isn’t just your typical liberal arts education. You ask questions about yourself, your society, and the world. You connect with the past and present and create intellectual and creative potential for the future. You really experience the life of the mind. (And I don’t mean life of the mind in a way that only Uchicago owns. I just think it is especially present at the University of Chicago.)</p>
<p>And to bounce off the post above, some students that I know do agree that the class size is significantly larger than those of the past. 1400-1500 now I believe. But all of them say that they still feel the nature of a small school with intimate classes and faculty relationships. But now there is a more vibrant social atmosphere with the arrival of more students. I see it as a nice balance between tiny and raucous.</p>