University of Chicago Top Questions

cool

Otherwise, yes, it's expensive and there are a lot of geeks. Be prepared to bust your butt to get an OK GPA.

Not at all. I was worried about the same stereotypes before coming here, but after coming here as a student, I realize that these stereotypes aren't true at all. "Where fun goes to die"/"where the squirrels are cuter than the girls and more aggressive than the guys"/many other UChicago stereotypes were t-shirt slogans made up by the dorms here for fundraising purposes, but people that don't go to this school take them seriously. You will have fun if you want to have fun. The students here are amazing, really intelligent, and incredibly diverse. Of course, there are some nerdy, anti-social people here like there are at all great schools, but by no means are they the majority. In addition, classes here are rigorous, but by no means impossible or overwhelming. And despite common belief, there is a lot of time to do things other than homework at this school.

I feel that many people are nerdy, some people are anti-social, but no one is really boring. There are plenty of nerds, but there are also jocks and hipsters. The student body is pretty diverse, but most are very intelligent and most here have an inner-nerd. The student body is shifting with the new Dean of Admissions and the introduction of the Common Application, so it's difficult to assess the accuracy of stereotypes. Generally I feel it's shifting away from the stereotypes and becoming more mainstream.

to some extent. kids tend to be very cerebral and not have very high social skills or a high need to be social. there are the kids that go out, but the crowd is relatively small.

See and ye shall find. You will find a segment of students who do little else but work, but my impression is that a) that workload is self-imposed (i.e. nobody's forcing you to take honors analysis!) and that b) sometimes work can act as a safety blanket for people who are a little afraid to socialize. I feel like on any given night, I can find people hanging out, watching TV, and playing midnight soccer, and I can also go to the Reg and find people working very hard. Which one is the "right" U of C?

The stereotypes are as accurate as you want to make them. If you want to hang out with nerds you can see an aspect of the college community like that. If you don't want to go to parties, by all means, there are a large number of students who hang out in the library (studying or chatting). People go to off campus parties, dorm activities are abundant and fun, people hang out in each others rooms or the dorm lounge until all hours of the night. In short, don't believe the stereotypes. You make of college what you want.

No. I guess if you wanted to spend your entire time studying in the library, you wouldn't be the only one doing it, but most people have very balanced lives between their studies and what is fun for them (besides their schoolwork). We do work hard, but we play hard, too. People on campus aren't ugly, most guys aren't jerks, and this definitely isn't the place where fun comes to die. College is really what you make out of it, and I wanted to have fun, so I do.

A lot of student body is a little weird, but lots of normal people too. Plus, weird isn't always bad.

Not generally. As with any large group of people, there will be individuals of all types, so there are people here who fit the stereotypes, but there are also many who do not.