The University of Chicago

Date: Oct 31 2001
Major: Math (This Major's Salary over time)
The University of Chicago is only for those who love intellectual challenges and who love books and ideas. It is not a party school, although there are parties almost every weekend. There are two types of students at the University. Those who were accepted by Harvard, Yale or Princeton but decide to come to Chicago. Those are the ones who really know the University of Chicago and appreciate the quality education at the University of Chicago. Those are the people who love the University and succeed. Another type of students are those who wanted to go to top Ivy leagues but was rejected by them. They come to Chicago because of the reputation of the University. They come to the University of Chicago for wrong reasons. Some of these people come just for the sake of getting a degree or finding a job after graduation. They do not really care too much about studies and generally find course work too demanding and no time to relax. These people generally do not like the University.

The University of Chicago is noted for its demanding common core, 18 common classes that everybody has to take to fulfill the general education requirement. The curriculum is more demanding and rigorous than any other schools including Harvard, Yale and Stanford. A music major has to take two calculus classes; 3 physics classes; and 3 chemistry or 3 biology classes in addition to 3 social sciences and 3 humanity classes. A math major has to take 3 civilization classes and 3 social theory classes in a ddition to the 3 physics and 3 chem (or 3 bio) classes. As we know, math guys usually do not like social science and humanity classes, neither do history majors like math or physics classes. Because of this reason, many accepted students are acared away. The core is a challenge for most students. It is the most enlightening educational experience in one's life. I know a history major student acepted by both Yale and Stanford Medical School. I know a girl who was a music major and took mathematical statistics class with me got accepted by the Ph.D. program at MIT's computer science department. About 90% of Chicago graduates go to graduate schools within three years after graduating from college. Percentage wise, it is only after Caltech for major universities. The University of Chicago is one of the few schools without grade inflation. Many top graduate programs realize this and try to adjust Chicago students' GPA upward in evaluating their applications. UC Berlekey law aschool is an example in doing so.

University of Chicago student work hard. The main University library opens at 8:00am and close at 1:00am next morning. The University everning bus (6 routes) runs every half an hour from 6:00pm to 1:30am. It covers almost every block within Hyde Park. It is convenient, safe and free. The 203-acre University campus is very beautiful. Walking on the campus gives one a feeling of wandering on the campus of Oxford or Cambridge as a lot of buildings share silimar designs of Oxbridge style.

Classes at the University of Chicago generally are small. Most of the social science and humanity classes are held in seminar rooms that welcome discussion and free exchange or debate of ideas. Almost every program are good at the University of Chicago. Math, Statistics, astphysics are top 5 in the country; physics, chemistry, geophysics are top 10 in the country. Social sciences programs such as economics, sociology, anthropology are considered the best in the world; history, political science, english are top 10 in the country. Musics (Ph.D.) program are one of the best two in the country. The only program that is relatively weak are biology, phychology and computer sciences which do not make into top 10 in the country. Biology is between top 11 to top 15 in the country overall.

The University of Chicago is a world class research university. Its graduate program is among one of the top 5 or top 6 in the country, along with Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Princeton. Undergraduate certainly benefit from the great research done by the University.

The University of Chicago is noted for producing Nobel prize winners. Rumors say it produced more Nobel prize winners than any other university on this planet. As a matter of fact, 73 Nobel prize winners are associated with the University of Chicago as either students, faculty or researchers. In physics alone, Chicago produced more than 20 Nobel prize winners, more than Princeton. In economics, Chicago almost monopolizes Nobel prizes. Since Swedish Academy started to award economics prize in 1969, 20 Chicago professor and students have won Nobel prize, more than the summation of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT and Stanford.

In any case, the University of Chicago is one of the world great places for learning. If you love learning and intellectual challenge, the University of Chicago is the place you should go. You will never regret. It is a hidden treasure.