<p>Are there a lot of annoying overachievers at university of Chicago? I go to a prep school and if I have to make a choice between hanging out with jerks who steal their parents money to buy Skoal and type A nerds who talk about GPA as if anyone cares for another 4 years I think Ill lose it. I already know that the first group are not going to be there. I know everyone says that University of Chicago is the quirky school for people interested in learning, not making money but is that really true or is that just what people say because I also hear that University of Chicago has a lot of Ivy School rejects who want to go to a school in the top ten of the US News Ranking so they can pretend that they were never rejected at all.</p>
<p>I’ve gotta say, it’s these sorts of posts which make me rethink studying in the US. :p</p>
<p>And what does that mean? Are you saying that you want to avoid me, the dip fiends, or people who want a top ten university because they like money? My question was pretty legitimite.</p>
<p>I don’t think bragging is necessarily what they mean by nerds or anything. Not quite sure where you want to go with this…and since I’m only an applicanee, I’ll try my best to answer until a reg can do it better.</p>
<p>Students at UofC like to learn. They ENJOY knowledge. It has little to do with grades, and more to do with the pursuit of intellect. That is what they are known for. It is a school with a rigorous curriculum…so it is well known that the students attending are qualified in that aspect. So…They don’t have to brag. It’s a given. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I did not feel a single snobby vibe at all when I visited. Much more quirky, down to Earth intellectual people who are driven to discover, explore and what have you.</p>
<p>The last sentence of your question/statement bothers me a bit. I agree. I dislike students who apply everywhere and don’t care where they go, aslong as it’s a Top school. I, however, am IN LOVE with UofC…and it is my absolute dream school. On the other hand…I’m sure there will be a few of those students there, just like at any other high ranking university.</p>
<p>Hope that helps…</p>
<p>Background: I went to a competitive public high school, in which everyone in the top ten knew everybody else’s GPA, down to the second or third decimal points. The competition was cutthroat, and the entire school felt like a pressure cooker. Outside of class, you would find people lounging around in the halls talking about grades or the SAT, asking what answer they got on so-and-so number on the calculus test, etc. As I said before, absolutely cutthroat, and I came to UofC with the impression that it would be rigorous but very supportive at the same time.</p>
<p>It’s held up to my expectations so far. Granted, I’ve only been in class for two weeks, but the change in atmosphere is startling and very welcome. I’ve been asked exactly once what my SATs were (by a prospie, so I don’t think that should count), and I’ve never even heard anything about GPA outside of the “I’m a premed, give me advice on how to keep my GPA high”, which I think is understandable. In fact, I think the average student here doesn’t know his/her GPA, to be quite honest.</p>
<p>As far as “overachievers” go, I’m not sure I understand what you’re asking. Are there overachievers, as in people who study extra hard and do extra reading and take extra notes? - because there are plenty of those people here. But it’s not an “in-your-face” sort of thing. It’s my understanding that many of them do extra work because they want to understand the material, not because they explicitly want a higher GPA. (Not to mention, let’s just say being called on in class to speak and then not knowing what to say is more than a little embarrassing.)</p>
<p>Insofar as competitiveness, I personally don’t think UChicago is very competitive in the traditional sense of the word. As I said, it’s rigorous, but people are always willing to help, and I find it all quite relaxing, though that may just be me. :P</p>
<p>But yeah, take what I say with a grain of salt. Again, I’ve only been here for two weeks. unalove can probably give you a more comprehensive answer.</p>
<p>To Litlhurry: Yeah I know thats what everyone says but I was looking for some evidence, preferably anecdotal, that held up the idea that people at UChi are not obnoxious overachievers. I have two very conflicting ideas of the school. On one hand, its the school where everyone knows something about every topic under the sun and can carry on an intellectual discussion about everything. On the other hand, I see all these “chance” threads where people who want to get into Harvard, Yale etc. use U of Chi as a sort of backup. I can’t imagine going to school with the 4.0’s at my school who go to the ivies let alone the ones who are rejected who now have the need to compensate.</p>
<p>To Netlharion: Thats more what I was looking for. At my school, its kind of like your school among the honors/AP kids and it is just a pain. I really couldn’t imagine spending 4 years with kids who would steal my notes so as to eliminate competition (happens at my school) and talk about the SAT (at my school people talk about the PSAT as if that matters). Do you notice any brown nosing or any students who talk to the proffessors as if they are equals?</p>
<p>There are all types of students at Chicago. I’m sure there are people who obsess about their GPAs, but that’s way out of the mainstream. My kids knew their own GPAs, but didn’t know (or care) about anyone else’s, including their best friends’. And I never heard a single tale of hypercompetitive behavior. Even in pre-med classes and economics classes (a field that tends to attract more than its share of competitive people), the atmosphere is collaborative.</p>
<p>Talking to professors as if they are equals – I’ll bet that happens. Why do you think that’s a bad thing?</p>
<p>Connstudent:</p>
<p>This is a terrific question, and I’ll give you a little bit about my background and personal experiences before diving in to a more rational explanation of what I see and why I think I see it.</p>
<p>First, I was in your boat. Even moreso, I was one of the scholarship students at a laa-dee-dah private school, and having grown up in a solidly middle class neighborhood, I had to go through several kinds of culture shock, and at the end of it I still didn’t feel like I felt in at all. I have “friends” from high school (the facebook friends I attended the same school as, the ones I haven’t seen since hs graduation) and “friends from my high school years”-- the people I still keep in touch with and hang out with when I am at home. The former are at the “elite” schools, the latter attend local colleges.</p>
<p>I was looking for a college that would replicate the intellectual/academic environment of my high school and leave behind all of the nonsense. So while everybody around me was brushing themselves up for other schools, I ran in the other direction (literally!)</p>
<p>Chicago is an unusual school in the kinds of people it attracts and the reasons why. Once in a blue moon I will come across a “bitter Ivy reject” kid who chose Chicago only because it was the highest ranked school they could get into… those students really get whipped here. But for the most case, Chicago applicants and Chicago attendees want to attend Chicago despite the fact that it doesn’t have a social cache or a clubhouse, despite the fact that they hear a lot about the workload, and despite the fact that the student body won’t give a flying you-know-what about how much money you have.</p>
<p>Occasionally students from my high school apply to Chicago, but they invariably turn it down for almost any other school on the east coast. Which reminds me: while Chicago might be have selective admissions than the Ivy league, little three, etc., all of its students had another choice in the process, and they turned down that institution for Chicago. So in the east coaster’s mindset, Chicago might play second fiddle to Columbia, Brown, or Penn, but in reality there are a LOT of schools that one could choose other than Chicago if one didn’t like the Chicago feel.</p>
<p>And… I find the quality of class discussion here to be far, far, superior to what I experienced in high school!</p>
<p>Connstudent - I am sure that there are many students at uchicago who applied to some or all of the ivies and didn’t get in but so what. That’s what most smart kids would do anyway - apply to a list of top schools that usually includes ivies and places like uchicago. However, as others have said, I don’t get the feeing from my son or his friends that they spend any of their time wishing they had gotten into HPY. But, you know what? -If this is important to you why don’t you visit for a weekend and see for yourself?</p>
<p>If I had the resources I would be there at least for a tour but unfortunately I do not. Its not that I am against the idea of considering ivies, you’d be mad to pass them up for what they are which is a great academic experience. However, I don’t think I would like to go to school with those types where a majority (at least from my high school) of them are hypercompetitive to the point of being unbearable. When I see people on collegeconfidential write about how they have been planning for college since they were 12 and want to retake a 2350 sat and then see UChicago on their list I start to wonder whether the school is really as intellectually focused as I have heard. After reading these responses I am for the most part assured.</p>
<p>Those kinds of people aren’t going to be happy here. Unless they also really really really like what they do academically.</p>
<p>And I also think that somewhere in the shuffle between high school and college, people learn to hush up about their accomplishments inside and outside of school. I spent three years walking around feeling like a relative idiot here until a friend showed me a list of Phi Betta Kappa winners and I realized that all of my friends were on it. Most of the Chicago people I know play “normal” and “chill” relatively well… until you see them set fire in the classroom.</p>
<p>S1 reports little conversation about GPAs, much conversation about what’s being discussed in class (and carried off to the dining halls, to other housemates, etc.). S describes himself as being set free (and he went to an extremely competitive HS).</p>
<p>As a fourth-year, my daughter knew her GPA, because she sometimes had to put it on job applications, or answer questions about it. I doubt she ever discussed GPAs per se with anyone, ever. She did know that her roommate got really good grades (ultimately a Phi Beta Kappa), but they had the same major, took a lot of the same courses, and were close friends for 3-1/2 years, so it’s not so awful that they may have talked about their grades sometimes.</p>
<p>I am pretty certain that my son – also the product of a hypercompetitive high school, and the kind of kid who knew the GPA and rank of every potential rival – does not know his Chicago GPA with any precision (he has a general idea, of course), and does not know (or care) anything about his friends’ grades. It would never be a topic of discussion. Well, now that I think about it, I take that back. Unlike his sister, he is friends with a bunch of aspiring lawyers and doctors, and I guess it’s likely that some of them might talk about their grades when they are thinking about the future. But it’s really not part of the culture at all to compare GPAs.</p>