University of Chicago Top Questions

We are reputed the school that has grade deflation-- we'll make sure your GPA is a below a certain limit. While that is not true, we do hold all of our students to high standards, and require a depth or amount of writing that is not typical. Our classes are meant to use the Socratic method-- leading learning and discussion with questions and our own initiative. We often delve into things that people might consider ridiculous such as what an image says about the nature of images, or the views of sex by various Greek authors, or applications of calculus you'd never dream of. And yes, sometimes you'll have professors that are quite the personality, or perhaps another that treats you as a PHD student. That's the trade-off with having the most nobel laureates. Once you've come to terms with that, the fact that you will not always get an A, you'll realize that after all that you've been inspired to do and change, that it does not matter. We seek to teach you how to break down the world and it's parts, how else to think, to open your eyes. We don't want to just usher you through with a sheet a paper.

We are reputed the school that has grade deflation-- we'll make sure your GPA is a below a certain limit. While that is not true, we do hold all of our students to high standards, and require a depth or amount of writing that is not typical. Our classes are meant to use the Socratic method-- leading learning and discussion with questions and our own initiative. We often delve into things that people might consider ridiculous such as what an image says about the nature of images, or the views of sex by various Greek authors, or applications of calculus you'd never dream of. And yes, sometimes you'll have professors that are quite the personality, or perhaps another that treats you as a PHD student. That's the trade-off with having the most nobel laureates. Once you've come to terms with that, the fact that you will not always get an A, you'll realize that after all that you've been inspired to do and change, that it does not matter. We seek to teach you how to break down the world and it's parts, how else to think, to open your eyes. We don't want to just usher you through with a sheet a paper.

The academic life here is incredible, and definitely one of the best things about UChicago. Professors here are open and helpful to students. In smaller to medium sized classes, even in math classes where participation isn’t important, professors make an effort to know names. In larger introductory classes, probably not. I’m not a huge humanities or discussion person, but the humanities classes here have proven to be my favorite. They’re pretty small (capped at about 15 people) and are aimed around discussion of novels rather than pure lecture. Participation is definitely valued here, except for in the larger introductory classes. Students study here a decent amount, but it really is based on individual courseload. There are some people here that go out four nights a week or spend all of their nights playing Super Smash Bros in the lounge until 4am, but there are also some people here that study every night. It depends on the classes, but again, that’s self-selecting. UChicago students are really intelligent and diverse, and therefore, conversations are also very intelligent and diverse. We’ll have discussions about everything from our humanities readings and world events to TV shows and recent happenings on campus. Students here are also very helpful to one another – particularly upper classmen to lower classmen. I haven’t experienced any kind of fierce competition yet, even in classes where the grades of students are based on curves. Also, all UChicago students are familiar with the Core, the academic requirements for all of its students. Personally, I really like it. Many things are avoidable with AP credits (which are very useful here!) but I like how everyone has to take a humanities class or an art class or classes in different subjects. Unlike other schools, UChicago doesn’t require specific courses. Rather, they have a requirement with a wide variety of classes that fills that requirement. So even though you may have to take classes in specific subject areas, students still have choice and variety. Also, one important thing to note about UChicago academics: learning here is for learning’s sake. However, UChicago has great programs for pre-professionals, including those that won’t to go into law, medicine, business, non-profit work, etc.

The academic life is amazing here. UChicago is absolutely geared towards learning for its own sake. I know people who study 24/7, and I know people who ditch class to play Starcraft, but the latter is much more rare. Even the slackers can hold their own in intellectual discourse. I have met very few "dumb" people, and often find myself witness to an intense intellectual debate. My house's dining table was often a location for debates on free will. Students can be annoying and pretentious much of the time, so the "intellectual conversations" are often be platforms for people to show off how smart they are. I have had some graduate student teachers, but I found they were better teachers than the professors, unfortunately. No matter what class I'm in, there is always a "That Kid" that the instructor can rarely control. That Kids are people who dominant classrooms with a bunch of intellectual mumbo jumbo in order to impress the professor. Generally, if there isn't a That Kid in your class, it's probably you. This isn't to say that there aren't easy-going people, because I know many students who don't feel comfortable competing with others. The majority, however, do. The Core curriculum is amazing if you have no idea what you want to pursue, and tedious if you know exactly what you're doing.

We are delightfully hardcore here. Be prepared to be surrounded in class by a lot of students who did the readings more carefully than you. While it can be intimidating at times to be surrounded by students who are so darn smart, it's also refreshing-- I mean, when else in life will I have the opportunity to be in this kind of environment? Part of the reason I wanted to come to a school like Chicago was to be surrounded by a group of students who really cared about what they were learning, not students who found the path of least resistance to the highest grade. This is definitely a "learn for the sake of learning" environment. There are a lot of legendary profs here, both on the research side and on the teaching side. I've been very happy with the quality of education I've gotten here-- no doubt I've been pampered throughout high school, so I came in with expectations that I think are unrealistic of most universities, but Chicago really delivers. Professors and the grad students I've had have been more than happy to slip into fuzzy roles as well-- as an English major, I've gotten plenty of advice on how to think about writing papers and how to construct good arguments. Most classes are taught by profs, and at least in English, you can avoid taking classes with grad students entirely. However, I have found my grad students just as cool as my profs.

This school is famous for its academics. This is where we excel and why you pay such a high tuition. People may gripe about the quality of their professor's teaching skills, course content, etc. But it is ENTIRELY your responsibility to utilize resources like evaluations.uchicago.edu or talk with upperclassmen about what classes are good, what professors to steer clear of. You can certainly pick well and end up very satisfied. This institution is a research institution, period. Education of undergraduates is emphasized but you will get a number of professors who are pompous and don't want to teach undergraduates. A lot of good courses are in the graduate schools (this is NOT to say that there aren't amazing courses for undergrads, however). Dorm life at UChicago is especially different from other schools as intellectual conversations do not stop in the classroom. You are not just paying tuition for the classes. You are paying for the intelligent body of students you're surrounded by and the academic life that continues into dorm life.

"As knowledge grows, thus the life is enriched." Our school motto couldn't express this place any better. People here are really passionate about learning and teaching, and it shows. Students put a lot of effort into their assignments, and professors really want to make sure you're understanding and liking the material. Discussions are frequently continued outside of class, be they between student and professor or student and student. There's so much enthusiasm for learning here, and that is one thing that makes the school so unique.

Academics are really incredible. Professors match up to any other university's in the world. Students study a lot, classes are generally quite small so professors expect lots of participation. Work is rigorous but payoff is worth it. The Core is really nice, although sometimes you feel bogged down by it. Most interesting class I've taken as a freshman was a biology/genome class where there were 7 students and every class was student led discussion on a published paper.

Class participation should be more common than it is. People have intellectual conversations outside of class, and often these informal discussions are more engaging than their in-class counterparts. I do not spend time with professors outside of class, and none of my friends are philosophy majors.

The academics here are known to be pretty hard; this is pretty much true. Professors are usually really excited about their subject, and they really REALLY want you to know about it. Still, if you're taking classes you like, which usually you are, then this is great. Pretty much, professors assume you're there to learn because you like to learn, not because you want an A. For the general education stuff, or as it is known here, the Core, there are easy classes available (even though people don't want to say it) so that if you just despise Physics from the bottom of your soul, or can't comprehend why anybody would ever write a ten-page paper, you can get out of the hard version of that class. There are three classes here that sound super sweet, that I want to take but haven't yet: A Lord of the Rings class (but it's competitive to get in, so I hear you have to draw a map of Tolkein's world to stay in the class) A Knights and Samurai class And a Big Wars class, on all the wars from the Grecian world until WWII.