<p>I agree with kodama on all accounts, so let’s see what I can add…</p>
<p>I find it funny how many people I run into who think that UChicago is specifically a math/science school, because we certainly have a breadth of majors and departments. I’m on the humanities end of the spectrum, and I could probably go down the list on each department we have and name the hotshot professors and the people who are known in their fields… the exciting thing about being a student at Chicago is that you have the opportunity to get a lot of professors who are on the rise in every field. For example, one of my profs was bottom of the totem pole at Chicago last year, and this year he got a tenure-track job (a BIG deal) at NYU for history. I was going to take a class from another assistant prof of sorts, who also got a great offer from Michigan or somewhere for English. I have so many professors, some of them old and at the end of a very productive career, some of them young and beginning to make waves in their field. This is the great fun of going to a school that puts such pride into its professors.</p>
<p>There are also opportunities to join symphony orchestra, UChoir, Motet Choir, etc., as well as classical music at Mandel Hall almost every weekend. music.uchicago.edu should have some listings.</p>
<p>I am in the non-science crowd (NELC), although I enjoyed my science classes. The humanities and social sciences here are wonderful.</p>
<p>I transferred from a suburban university and actually feel safer here. Chicago takes safety seriously. It is really easy to get involved with music. I play the trumpet, and I’m not even that good. One of my friends is in pep band (yes, we have one!).</p>
<p>Socially awkward guys and girls, although I’m more bothered by the socially unacceptable.
THAT KID.
Too Many Unattractive Girls - I tried to deny it at first, but after spending an entire quarter here, I cannot deny it anymore.<br>
BJ and Pierce food - I dare you to gain weight if you eat at one of those dining halls. So maybe this is actually a positive.</p>
<p>Just so you know, I’m having a wonderful time at UChicago and would never consider transferring. The academics are awesome. I have a core group of friends that are great people. The awkward kids are very amusing, so I usually just laugh at them. Only rarely do they actually irritate me. And there are attractive girls; I would just like to see more.</p>
<p>The guys are much, much worse than the girls.</p>
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<p>I’ll back this up. I eat at Pierce, and I estimate that I’ve lost 5-10 pounds since September (and I’m not particularly heavy - about 150 when I entered). The food really is awful. At least first-years have 60 Bartlett points so we can avoid it every once in a while.</p>
<p>I was invited to a social gathering filled with ~30people and most of them were grad students from art and religion departments. I had a VERY short chat with this religion professor:</p>
<p>…
I: I go to Northwestern
Prof: what’s your major?
I: chemical engineering
Prof: what are you going to do with it (condescending tone)?!
I: probably going to…blah blah (thinking, “you think your area is so useful, huh?”) </p>
<p>This showed up in the campus LJ group, from the NYT. It can be true, you get used to it:</p>
<p>“The University of Chicago, where I majored in psychology, was like an extension of the Upper West Side. Conversation was a competitive sport; humor was meant to draw blood.”</p>
<p>Haha Sam Lee, I know a Chicago student who had a VERY similar conversation with somebody else. “Biology… what are you going to do with that?”</p>
<p>We all know that unless you major in bio, engineering or econ/applied math and are planning to go into medicine or finance, your years of undergraduate study at a school like Chicago or Northwestern WCAS (the other schools have more pre-professional slants) will have very little to do with your career path.</p>
<p>The knowledge you gain in college will not directly help you in whatever career you pursue, but the abilities you gain from doing work (communicating clearly, facing challenges, being timely, working hard, expecting a lot from yourself, analyzing a situation) will help you enormously.</p>