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Can anyone give me any info on this school? Is it hard to get into? What kind of SAT scores should I have, GPA's etc. Can anyone recommend any similar universities? Also, is it very expensive?

By Anon on Friday, January 03, 2003 - 12:52 pm: Edit

Essentially it is like an ivy but somewhat easier to get into. The website should have all that basic info re stats & $, get it from there to ensure accuracy.

By hope dis heps on Saturday, January 04, 2003 - 07:33 am: Edit

You would probably be happier someplace where education isn't taken too seriously.

By jamu86 on Saturday, January 04, 2003 - 08:09 am: Edit

University of Chicago is a great school for a lot of different kinds of areas. Its high on the US News top 20 list(not that you should go to a school based on that list) Mid 50% ACT 28-32, Mid SAT 1340-1480. However, they don't have manual cuttoffs for scores, so you can have bad scores, but be outstanding in other parts of your application, like essays. But a lot of schools say that and so, I'd try to make my scores as good as possible. Go to http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level2.asp?id=253 for more.

By james on Sunday, January 05, 2003 - 04:59 pm: Edit

how strong is the U of C English department? should I go someplace else for that?

By anon on Monday, January 06, 2003 - 08:42 am: Edit

It's pretty strong across the board.

By oh on Tuesday, January 07, 2003 - 05:18 pm: Edit

I've heard no undergraduate has ever graduated the U of C with a 4.0 GPA. Is that true?

By nyc1000 on Wednesday, January 08, 2003 - 11:40 am: Edit

Just missed with a 3.95, some time ago!

By nyc1000 on Wednesday, January 08, 2003 - 11:41 am: Edit

Just missed with a 3.95, some time ago! I doubt that there were no 4.0s.

By Wanksta33 on Friday, January 24, 2003 - 02:03 pm: Edit

Hey nyc, can you tell us how your experience was at Chicago?

By nyc1000 on Saturday, January 25, 2003 - 12:14 am: Edit

To Wanksta33--Could you repost your message? I could only read the first few words. Thanks!

By nyc1000 on Saturday, January 25, 2003 - 02:03 pm: Edit

My impression is that it may have changed a bit since I was there. I think the intellectualism remains in places--the real commitment to the life of the mind on the part of many faculty and students was the best part. Also very good are the preponderance of smallish classes taught by regular faculty, even for Freshmen. It's better that way than most of the top universities and also has strong grad programs to draw on when you get to upper level courses. Downside is the wind and cold, but Hyde Park is very interesting. Also, students sometimes get pretty isolated and some are unhappy. I would also think twice about such a heavy core. It depends how well educated you are before you go. If you don't know much of the core, then the curriculum could be very good for you. If you have studied it already, then it's very directive and doesn't offer as much freedom as you might want or need to further your education.

By a thought on Friday, January 31, 2003 - 09:54 pm: Edit

I girl I knew went there. She was absolutely brilliant and a wonderful person as well. She passed away her freshman year though. The University of Chicago is in a bad neighborhood... BTW, they do not believe her death was related to drug consumption.

By should i go to chicago? on Friday, February 07, 2003 - 11:24 pm: Edit

more about the bad neighborhood...how bad is it? Berkeley bad? Penn bad? anyone currently going there or knowledgeable about the area please respond

By Worrymom (Worrymom) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 12:01 am: Edit

I grew up in Hyde Park. The neighborhood is upper middle class, but there are "bad neighborhood's" around it. It has double police--campus police and Chicago police. I think it's comparable to Cambridge, Columbia or any big city campus. You just have to use common sense. It definitely has an international, intellectual flavor to it with a gothic twist. Whenever I see a person walking and reading a book, I am reminded of my old neighborhood.

By Indian on Sunday, February 09, 2003 - 03:59 am: Edit

I got in by EA . I never lived in US. Heard that Chicago is very high in crime. What about racial discrimination. Are there many Indians in Chicago , City as well as university ?? I seem to have a good chance in Tufts . what is you advice??

By bump on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 02:10 am: Edit

bump

By Worrymom (Worrymom) on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 11:33 am: Edit

As an Indian you would definitely fit into Hyde Park (University of Chicago). It is an upper-middle class neighborhood, but it has a large proportion of non-white. (The only debutantes at my high school were African Americans.) The crime is no different from any big city, but slightly less if anything on campus and in the general neighborhood because of the double police protection. It is a very international community. You would not feel discriminated against there. I don't know about Tufts.

By Indian on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 08:58 am: Edit

Worrymom !!
Do you live in Chicago. Do they have many Indians there ?

By Worrymom (Worrymom) on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 07:26 pm: Edit

Here's an excerpt from my neice who is of Indian descent who went to school at U of Chicago:

Do you mean South Asian Indians? There are tons! Professors, students, etc. in
all departments. Also if he misses the food he can go to Devon Street which is
on the North side, it's the "little India" of Chicago. Devon Street is famous
among the Indian diaspora community.

There is a South Asian Civilization class that is part of the core (which I
took) and there are lots of language classes - Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, and others.
The South Asian studies department is very well respected internationally, and
they have (or used to have) a weekly tea where you can go & chat in Hindi.

The U of C is a great place for someone who wants to be respected based on what
they like to do & think about.

That said, I think there is a bunch of "town & gown" stuff with the surrounding
black neighborhoods, and black students have felt pretty conflicted about that.

By Drusba (Drusba) on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 - 08:57 pm: Edit

Covering some of the above. The U of C is one of our most respected schools here in Chicago. In fact, in this part of the country, U of C, Northwestern and others, are considered to be above any of the Ivies (and that includes in the minds of a huge number of employers). U of C is difficult to get into as noted above and it is expensive (comparable to ivy league school costs) absent financial aid. It has students of all races and nationalities although the majority will be white Americans. The campus is very nice and it is also the location of a major medical center/hospital. Hyde Park is a very nice neighborhood with a lot of expensive condos, homes and apartments. It is also ecletic as it is mixed in races and nationalities (including Indians); many of the teachers from U of C live there. Nearby is Lake Michigan and the Museum of Natural Sciences.

Hyde Park's problem is that it borders neighborhoods that are not so good (and some are only 8 blocks away from the U of C campus). It is in the south side of Chicago and there are many higher crime neighborhoods there. Nevertheless, you are not likely to have any serious problems in the campus area and local neighborhood.

The city as a whole cannot be considered high crime when compared to NYC, Los Angeles and other cities close in size. Al Capone does not live here anymore. Moreover, the city is generally kept clean of debris, has excelent city services, and is a mixture of many races and nationalities. There is as noted above a little India area (although it is on north side), with some good restaurants (in fact there are a huge number of ethnic restaurants in Chicago and many neighborhoods occupied heavily by one particular group).

The huge nightlife area of Chicago is, unfortunately for U of C students, in the downtown and near north areas (meaning just north of the downtown area) of the city, and that area is about 10 miles from Hyde park but there is a train that goes between the areas and it is an easy drive for those who have cars.

The biggest shock that many have coming to Chicago from far away places has nothing to do with crime, people, or quality of the city. It has to do with winter. Our winter starts to set in in November and then does not go away until April. December through February are often the worst months. It gets cold here, real cold, the God-I-wish-I-never-chose-to-come-here cold. For example in the last month we have had many repeated days where the high was less than 20 and the low just above zero (Fahrenheit)and the wind very often blows strongly making those temperatures feel about 10 degrees less than they are. We can also get lots of snow and often in mid winter you have nothing but clouds with no sun for days on end. Nevertheless, if you can tolerate the winter weather, Chicago and U of C are great places to be.

By Indian on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 01:53 am: Edit

Worrymom / Drusba
Thank you both very much for your help.

By Indian on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 09:18 am: Edit

To the Top Cop here
Thanks for delating the nasty postings

By bump on Saturday, February 22, 2003 - 02:11 am: Edit

Bump

By viv on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 12:33 pm: Edit

what? u of c has a 44% acceptance rate...that's one of the easiest competitive colleges to get into (relative to almost all of the ivy league schools)...

i have a question though...does u of chicago have a good pre-business program? i'd like to major in economics, and then probably go into investment banking. with that work experience i'd want to go to a top 5 graduate business school. is this feasible coming from u of chicago??? thanks.

By Cameron on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 12:35 pm: Edit

What's a "manual cutoff" for admissions officers reviewing test scores? The phrase was used earlier in this thread.

By sad, huh? on Monday, February 24, 2003 - 12:14 am: Edit

they used to sell t-shirts that said "UChicago: Where Fun Goes To Die"

By Justin9660 (Justin9660) on Sunday, March 30, 2003 - 03:47 pm: Edit

i just went to university of chicago on a visit and was pretty discouraged by the neighborhood. I am from a city of about 80,000 and I've never been in a neighborhood that scary before. The campus itself is pretty nice, but goning a block or more away from the campus becomes scary.

By Theuofcgirl (Theuofcgirl) on Thursday, June 26, 2003 - 02:02 am: Edit

To answer your question, Viv, the University of Chicago does not have any pre-anything programs - yup, no pre-law, pre-med, pre-business, pre-vet.. None. At the U of C it's all liberal arts and a thorough education, because, if you choose the right courses, you can turn any concentration (major) into a pre-something-or-other. There is no manual cuttoff for the U of C; test scores aren't as important as you think they are. Yah, they do sell Where Fun Comes to Die and The Level of Hell that Dante Forgot t-shirts, but college, anywhere, is what you make of it. The neighborhood is not that scary; anyone with some common sense and some direction sense can get to and from places across campus, across the city, even through the "not so nice neighborhoods" that they don't really have where I live. Security is amazing; I've never walked more than a block without seeing a police car (U of C PD, or Chicago PD). Saying that a block from campus is scary is stretching it - to find a really "scary" neighborhood, you'd have to at least walk six or eight blocks. Overall, the U of C is a great place.. but it isn't for everyone.