<p>UofC is different from other colleges, IMHO, because not only do profs assign readings, but also the students read them.</p>
<p>Flash forward to now. D is in grad school at Oxford (UK). Last fall, she would call and complain about how hard it was to find the readings for her grad school courses. Turns out she was the only one doing all the readings. The faculty called her “intimidating”.</p>
<p>Chicago does not assign more work than other schools, I suspect. But the students take the work more seriously that at most places because by and large the students are heavily engaged.</p>
<p>So maybe the best way to view the situation is not that Chicago students are expected to do more work, rather that they choose to do more work because they take it seriously.</p>