(UChicago) I realize now that I misjudged this school based

How this student rated the school

Educational Quality	C	Faculty Accessibility	C-
Useful Schoolwork	B-	Excess Competition	D
Academic Success	C-	Creativity/ Innovation	C
Individual Value	C-	University Resource Use	C
Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	A	Friendliness	C-
Campus Maintenance	B+	Social Life	C-
Surrounding City	C-	Extra Curriculars	C-
Safety	C-

Describes the student body as: Afraid, Arrogant, Violent, Snooty, Closeminded Describes the faculty as: Arrogant, Self Absorbed

Female

Quite Bright

Lowest Rating Excess Competition	D

Highest Rating Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty	A

She cares more about Excess Competition than the average student.

Date: Mar 17 2011
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
I realize now that I misjudged this school based on how it describes itself. I've met a lot of other students who made the same mistake. Some were smart enough to realize quickly and transfer. Others were unfortunate and tried hard to enjoy the school though they were never going to succeed. After transferring and seeing another school, I feel compelled to share my thoughts. I'm going to try and be as fair and impartial as possible.

First, I am so much happier at my new school. I think you should know within the first few days whether you like your school or not. If you don't ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT you should transfer. This love should be involuntary. It should be impossible for you not to like it even if you tried. Happiness should jump to you. I made the mistake for two whole years of trying really hard to like UChicago (I studied more, I studied less, participated in class more, participated less, I joined different clubs, less clubs, I partied, didn't party, I tried everything). You shouldn't have to try; it should just be awesome.

Also, I didnt transfer because I couldn't handle the academics. My grades were excellent my first year (3.7+) but I started to get many more B's my second year because I was very frustrated/a social misfit. (Note: I take pride at being a misfit at UChicago).

In general, I thought a majority of UChicago students thought school was something that wasn't supposed to be any fun at all. But the people who were right for the school really liked it, so I don't know. I'm still very confused about the school. I was so happy when I was admitted, I thought it was the perfect school. And I ended up transferring…

Second, I also agree that UChicago is primarily a graduate institution. This is something that would take me too long to describe, but an undergraduate student will almost invariably be better off elsewhere - even if he or she has a good experience. If you have any thought of entering graduate school in the future, you should just go to UChicago at that point.

I think the reason why UChicago wasn't right for me was that I misjudged the school. I thought it was a school similar to Vassar, Berkeley, Bard. This sounds stupid to admit, but I thought the UChicago student body would be closer to what you expect at one of those schools. It isn't at all. If you applied to one or all of these schools and think UChicago is another similar school, please don't go to UChicago.

The school is more similar to Stanford, MIT, etc. If you're interested in attending a school like those, you might really like UChicago.

I hope this helps! Again, some people are happy at UChicago. A LOT of people are not. Way more than at practically any other school (in my opinion).

Responses

Where did you transfer to? Very curious…

I was wondering what you mean by "more similar to Stanford or MIT?" The reason I am asking is I have always viewed Stanford as a good school, but laid back and maybe a little bit of a party school. I viewed MIT as a dark school where everyone studies around the clock and barely has time to interact with one another. Thank you so much for your help!

Where do you go to school now?

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