Thanks University of Chicago!

Because I apparently am a glutton for punishment, I felt it was a good idea to follow my 18 school Vermont tour, College Night, and ElRo Auction with accepting the invitation from the University of Chicago the same week as the Unique NYC College Fair and Admission Accomplished. Well, good news everyone, I made it back from the trip and it was worth it!

University of Chicago is a highly selective liberal arts university located in a residential neighborhood only a few miles away from downtown Chicago. They have grown in recent years and currently enroll about 5,800 undergraduate students per year (though they are also known for their outstanding graduate programs and more than one student cited access to graduate courses, graduate students, and research opportunities as reasons for picking UChicago). UChicago has made waves recently in the admissions world for simultaneously increasing their applicant pool, drastically decreasing their admit rate (I'm talking 40% to now under 9%), and drastically increasing their yield rate (from about 30% to about 60%). They also stand apart by being one of the few selective schools that still offers the chance at being awarded merit aid.

The University of Chicago has a core curriculum and runs on the quarter system - two big unique factors that set it apart when it comes to academics. By having students take 3-4 students in the fall, winter, and spring quarters, UChicago students get to take more classes in a shorter period of time. If the idea of taking more classes doesn't appeal to you, you probably aren't a good fit for this school because the overarching theme of students who thrive at this school is having a thirst for academic knowledge that cannot be quenched. Unlike a lot of other colleges with strong reputations, UChicago was described as "an elite school that isn't elitist." It was clear that the heartbeat of this school is not generations and generations of prep school graduates, big donors with heavy hitting last names, or a student's pedigree - the heartbeat of the school is intellectual curiosity. Your high school, where your parents went to college, how much money you have is all secondary to how you contribute to the classroom and how passionate you are about seeking knowledge. For all the ivy and neogothic architecture on campus, they seem to be doing a great job of upholding the ideals of a meritocracy.

First year students (what they call freshman) are all assigned both an academic adviser (who has no other job besides advising) and a career adviser from the start. In the past few years, a new initiative has started through career services to found various UCIs, University of Chicago Careers In _____ programs where students can get linked up with coursework, internships, career advising and exploration in the following fields: Business, Entrepreneurship, Public Policy, Journalism, Law, Health Professions, Education, and Science & Technology. This allows for a liberal arts college to provide the same (if not better?) career preparation than a more pre-professionally focused school.

As a University of Chicago student, you have access to internationally the renowned faculty. There are low walls between the majors and because of the core curriculum it is common to explore many different fields and change directions if a new passion is discovered. In the past, UChicago was a self selective pool, but they have since transitioned to being just plain selective. The application famously requires students to answer a supplemental essay that really does show the essence of how the applicant things (example of a past essay prompt: define x.) This is not the kind of school to just mindlessly add to your Common App.

Overall, this was a great visit and I feel like I really got a sense of who would like UChicago. We got a chance to see the new Mansueto Library (see video below - a robot retrieves the books!) and hear a student panel. Don't believe how intellectual the students are? I overhead the students on the panel discussing the equations that happened to be on the white board behind them (unrelated to the panel) before getting settled. That's a first for me.

The reputation of UChicago is that it is 'where fun goes to die.' I think i would adjust that statement to say that students at UChicago think learning is fun, and from what I observed learning is about as far from dead at UChicago as it can be. I hope they stay true to that identity and embrace the fact that they don't need to be a party school to be fun.

Thanks to UChicago for hosting me, it was a great trip!