University of Chicago Top Questions

Many people come here thinking that the academics are well worth the lack of social life. However, remember that the school is not nearly as selective as others ranked similarly. There are plenty of smart people here, but there are plenty of really unintelligent people, many of whom will dominate discussions and point them in irrelevant directions. I have heard many people voice complaints the professors seem to allow this to go on. The University really likes to play up its core, but it is important to know that not all core courses are created equal. My Core Bio class was taught by an illiterate, barely intelligible graduate student whom many of the undergrads had to correct from time to time. Humanities classes are often taught by uninterested professors who lead trivial discussions with bored students. Remember that 15 of your 42 classes will be core, and some (but not all) of these are a true waste of time and money. All that said, I'm sure there are many of you aspiring economists, businessmen, investment bankers, and young financial analysts who want the best education possible, to be in the position to vault to the top of whatever field you choose. If this is your goal in life then you're not much different from me, and if you come to UC, you WILL get the best education in the branching fields of economics … probably better than anywhere else in the world. And I am not throwing out propaganda. I came here not really knowing what the expectations were for an econ degree, but I soon learned that there are reasons why UC is considered the best place for such study. The econ that is taught here is completely different from other schools because econ is not taught as a social science, but rather as more of an extension of the mathematical and statistical sciences. If you are interested in graduate study, you'll be taking courses such as Analysis in Rn (some choose to go on to Abstract Algebra to get a specialization in Math with their Econ degree), a formal approach to Game Theory, several econometrics courses, and many excruciatingly difficult statistics courses. And all the while, remember you'll need to finish your core requirements in social science, humanities, a second language, drama and the arts, biology, and the physical sciences. Then in your last year, you had better get started on writing a BA research paper, which requires the approval of the econ department in order for you to get the "Honors" tag on your Econ degree (which helps a lot in getting into grad school). Note that you don't have to do all this. There are many, many econ students here, and obviously most of them simply can't or don't want to handle all of this. Most of them study econ just so they can have the prestige of having a degree in Economics from UC. For those students, they get an econ education much like at other schools because they study econ as though it's supposed to be an tool used in public policy. But if you really want to have best undergraduate education in the study of economics and like the idea of being able to chat with 5 different nobel laureates in the field in one day, then UC will be a good school for you. But if you're looking for a good time. Go elsewhere, and I mean it.

UChicago is a place that knows and loves it's academic/intellectual traditions. in the public consciousness, this school is associated with Friedman economics and the Chicago School. Two thoughts on this: one, this school's more lasting and estimable intellectual tradition is that of respecting the classical origins of Western Thought, to err on the side of the Greeks. secondly, the econ department is by and large the most daring and innovative thinkers that i've seen, it used to be my major. As one professor put it "the people who are most inclined to question and challenge neo-classical theory are those who are REALLY INTO neo-classical theory..."

Classes are extremely small and the ties that everyone has the opportunity to make with their professors is great. Students often have intense conversations about the subject matter outside of class.

I know all my professors personally, and they know me (and yes, they're all professors, not grad students). My Greek Thought and Literature professor (a core-requirement) had the whole class over to his house for dinner each quarter. Every school likes to brag about that kind of stuff, but most of it is exaggerated. Here, it is quite common, since so many professors live near campus. You really get to know them on a personal basis. But it is a lot of work. I know everyone knows its a lot of work at UChicago, but its more than you can really imagine, more than is really healthy even. But at the same time its a good social thing, as I've met many more people through studying and such than I have at parties or something. The Core requirements, though numerous, are great because they give everyone a common base of knowledge for your upper level classes. I mean, basically everyone upon graduation will have read The Iliad, The Wealth of Nations, The Communist Manifesto, and The Republic at the very least.

Let's put it this way: the all-night level of the library is one of the most social places on campus. We study hard, but we play hard too; studying is often a joint experience since there is so much work that it has to be combined with hanging-out time as well. Class participation is common, and particularly after first year students get over themselves, very insightful and informed. Students are competitive, but more often they are perfectionists of their own work and less interested in beating other people. There's a high personal standard throughout the school. The Core Curriculum is a bore, but once through it, there are plenty of wacky classes to be had. In the past two days I've dissected monkeys, spoken Latin and listened to a professor tell stories about his childhood in the Great Depression. The attitude is totally learning for its own sake, and it seems that most if not all students feel strongly that this is the correct attitude.

Like I said, classes are hard. It's silly, they are hard for the sake of being hard. There is no reason to make the core this intense because I feel like I'm learning more about how to handle these ridiculously hard classes in fields I'll never use than than I'm learning about the actual material.

The U of C classes are of varying importance to the student body. Some students take their academic careers extremely seriously, regard their undergraduate experience as the basis for their futures as intellectuals and absolutely spend Friday night talking about Foucault. On the other hand, there are a large number of students who enjoy class while they're there but are by no means slaves to their education, whether they prefer to spend time with extra-curricular groups of partying. There's also a reasonable population of people with practical majors--like Econ or the hard sciences--who are here for professional training and are interested in building resumes and careers.

classes are good, except there are one too many kids in every class who love to hear their own voice.

Fantastic. Like I already wrote: Great class selection. Great professors. Small classes. One other thing you need to know about academics at U of C: the Core. The Core is a bunch of required classes that run the gamut from sciences to foreign language to humanities and art. You can test out of some of them upon entrance (or with AP credit for some, I think). I think it’s a great requirement but it is time consuming. Realistically your first two years at the school will be taken up with a majority of Core classes. The Core classes (with the exception of math) are all taught by real professors. Most majors require a require a final thesis paper (which is a great and worthwhile process). U of C is on the quarter system. Which means three ten week academic quarters. A very short reading period for studying for finals and then 2 weeks for finals. The up-shot is that we take more classes than students at schools with the semester system, and our holidays are scheduled a little differently.

You'll take great classes and bad classes - most of mine have been great, but the occasional stinker is inevitable. It's a nice surprise that some of the required gen-ed stuff (the "Core") is well-taught and thought-provoking, and disappointing when an exclusive class taught by a famous academic sucks. The education is *definitely* geared towards "learning for its own sake," no question about it. This ends up being fine for most people, because the majority of jobs (outside of specific industries like medicine) are going to care what your degree is in. The point of undergrad is really to get a well-rounded education and develop skills; you worry about applicable stuff when you go to grad or enter the job market.