University of Chicago Top Questions

I personally feel that dorm life is really important as an incoming student. It gives you a solid base that you can come back to after exploring your other options, a friendly face to come home to after a hard day of work, or people to keep you motivated or even stay up with you till sunrise working on their own assignments. I have since moved out of my house, but still hang out with the people that I lived with and keep in regular contact with my resident heads and resident assistant. I had a really great dorm experience, but I also recognize that it does not happen for everyone. The great thing about UC is that you can always find somewhere to live in Hyde Park that is affordable and close to campus.

Dating here gets really serious really fast. Everything people do around here is serious. Frats/sororities are not very important. Lots of people stay in on weekends.

I am a member of the Organization of Black Students and it is a popular cultural student organization on campus since they have a large presence on campus through staying very active and putting on many events throughout the year. In the dorms where there are a lot of freshmen, students tend to leave their doors open. Athletic events aren't too popular on campus, even Homecoming doesn't seem to attract the largest crowd. I would say guest speakers are more popular. OBS brought political activist Angela Davis to campus for their annual lecture and the room was full past maximum occupancy. I personally wouldn't date anyone on campus, but I do see a few couples sprinkled about. My friends and I usually joke about the lack of options on campus and say that people are together because they can't find anyone else. We tend to date people off campus. I met my closest friends during the orientation week, the week before school started freshman year. If I'm awake at 2 am I'm doing work either for school, an organization, or applying to a job or some other opportunity. There are parties on campus every weekend and during the week there's an event called Bar Night that is held at one fraternity. Last weekend I went to a club downtown and I went to a party on campus. On a Saturday night on campus you can talk to friends, watch movies, do homework, sleep early! Off campus I go to parties, clubs, my internship, movies, eat.

There is no denying that Chicago is a second-rate city. It has a handful of interesting neighborhoods that consist of several blocks of interesting shops and restaurants, and then become suburban-looking residential areas. Besides China town, most of the interesting neighborhoods are not easily accessible. U. Chicago hardly seems like an urban school when you have to take a combination of at least one subway and one bus to get to wherever you're going. Public transportation is inconvenient and runs less frequently than you'd expect. During winter quarter it seems that the only people that get out regularly have cars. As if the inaccessibility of Chicago itself wasn't enough, from around November through April the weather is unbearable. It actually ends up hampering your social life: it becomes so cold that one would rather stay in the dorm than wait in sub-zero, windy weather on a street corner for a bus, and then wait another 10 minutes on a frozen subway platform. The incredibly long winter drains everyone, makes the atmosphere of the entire school drab and lifeless, and makes you dread getting up in the morning and going outside.

For a more visceral image, I've been here 5 weeks and i've already been mugged once. A good number of my friends have as well at some point in their time here. be careful if you live off campus, invest in a bike (a good bike). And nearly 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} muggings occur after 10:00pm, though it gets dark early here. but don't get the wrong idea. I love this neighborhood. I haven't even really seen the northside and I already love chicago based on Hyde park. They will feed you some carefully-worded crap about living in an ethnic neighborhood and the impression many Southhampton-types might get is to wall themselves up in their dorms. Don't even think about it! This is the best city in the country, and i've seen them all, lived in new york. explore, and this neighborhood actually has alot to offer, it is real america.

In my dorm, doors are always open, and its very social. There are always great guest speakers. My first quarter I met Richard Dawkins and James Watson (right before the whole "racism" thing). Its awesome. As far as cultural events, there's always something. I've been to an outrageous number of concerts in the city and they bring people to campus too. This year we've had Demetri Martin and Ben Folds at campus. Chicago has great theater, but there is also Court Theater, consistently called one of the best theater groups in the country, literally 40 feet from my dorm. It's amazing. Fraternities and sororities aren't that important really. People party there, but not many pledge.

The arts are more prevalent than sports, although those do have their loyal following. The dating scene is awkward but navigable. 2 am on a Tuesday night is usually riding a sugar high trying to get a problem set done (bar night is on Wednesday though, so then you can do the problem set drunk). I met very few friends in housing; I had to find friends through dancing and getting a job. School-wide traditions are usually house-based, like the annual huge and ridiculous scavenger hunt, so those of us who don't live in housing -- a large, generally happier and better-adjusted percentage -- participate exponentially less. We don't really mind. Personal traditions and those you make with your friends tend to be more important than the big game or formal dance. Frats are frats are frats, and you can take them or leave them as you see fit. My weekends usually involve tons of running around: rehearsal to a friend's performance to homework to a sci-fi themed costume party to work to vegan food on the North Side, maybe a show downtown. Chicago is an early-to-bed city, so generally the rule of thumb is to utilize Saturday afternoon and then get drunk once all the stores close. (Be sure to stock up on snacks beforehand: very few late-open places to satisfy latenight munchies.)

When we do party, it's a sad, 'drowning our sorrows' party. Not a joke!

My social life has been greatly influenced by the fact that I lived for two years in Snell-Hitchcock (a famously tightly-knit dorm) and participate in University Theater (a famously incestuous student group). I actually lived in Snell which is supposed to be full of super-introverted study addicts. In fact, Snell people leave their doors open and hang out all the time--it's just that they only do it with each other in a fairly tightly-knit way. UT is a similar phenomenon. As a number of us wear three and four hats at this organization we have limited time to meet, hang out with or even date people who aren't in organization. On one level, we're one big family. On another, it feels a little socially limiting at times.

UT, firescape, doc,sports suck, theater is bad.