Student Profile
Amanda
- Class: Sophomore
- Major: English
- Gender: F
- High School: Benet Academy
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
UChicago runs on coffee. There are caffeine shops in literally the basement of every building (or the occasional second floor) and this is where the "life of the mind" UChicago is so proud of really flourishes. It's also where people catch up on their reading or their sleep while snagging some sugar-rich snack. As for the school's rep, it's really kind of funny: those who know about it, respect it, but half my family still thinks I attend UIC-University of Illinois at Chicago. They're always so impressed when I start quoting Marx...who you will read, along with Weber, Smith, Durkheim, Freud, Nietzsche, and other "greats". And the scary part is, you'll understand them. And probably agree, in some cases. This school enables you never to lose an argument again. Ever. Except possibly against other graduates ;^)
Academic Life
What kind of class do you want to take? Because it's here. It's not guaranteed to be practical, or even useful, but when else can you take a class called "Staging Terror" and get credit for it? I watched monster movies for class, and then wrote an academic paper on them, the same quarter I took a class in Catalan that was taught by comparing it to the other romance languages. The Core is both the most loved and most hated thing on campus. Roughly speaking, it's a set of required classes that will take up about a third of your time here. It's great because it saves first-years (what we call freshman) from actually having to decide what classes they want to take. It sucks because second year everyone is over having their decisions made for them. That being said, Core is a common experience for all undergrads-something you can talk about with whoever you meet. Not necessarily the case for advanced class discussion between a Chem major and an English major. The classes are hard. They demand your attention an respect. They will teach you how to prioritize and condense your work, or you will never sleep. That being said, you still won't sleep as much as you like. But the 3am conversations when everyone's trying to finish a 7pg paper before 8 in the morning are worth it. And the papers normally turn out okay, too.
Student Body
People don't really talk about money here, other than to say a. how they can't afford dinner and b. how much debt they'll be in after they graduate. Yet many wouldn't trade it for the world, because they're getting a college experience only possible at the U of C. Sitting down at dinner always yields interesting conversations, since houses (dorm divisions) typically sit with one another. This leads to a mixture of your typical labels, with jocks, frat boys, geeks, musicians, and raving lunatics all sharing the same breathing space, which makes the conversation rather frenetic, to say the least. For example: tonight, the concept of the turducken was expanded past all logical rational, and the mathematical and logistical implications of cooking it were analyzed, along with the proper side dishes. Let's just say that eating the sheep layer might not be the best bet. As for feeling out of place, it's hard, because everyone here is utterly bizarre in one regard or another-you just have to find it.
The Best Things
The whole experience.
The Worst Things
The stress.
