<p>As Idad said, keep in mind that at any decent college/university, there is a lot of flexibility that is never outlined or discussed in the course catalog or other “official” documents. An academic unit at Chicago has tremendous flexibility in terms of who it admits, what courses count and don’t count, and so forth. But they won’t even begin to discuss anything with you until you’ve shown them what you can do in a Chicago like environment.</p>
<p>So focus on doing well in classes and getting to know faculty in areas of interest. Sometimes the latter is hard to do, but persistence, and willingness to volunteer time, can pay off. (as can a willingness to get to know the up an comers instead of the nobelists!)</p>