The University of Chicago

Date: Jul 16 2017
Major: PreMed and Medical (This Major's Salary over time)
A good place to meet other smart, nerdy people. Kind of shitty otherwise. All the flack you read here is true: Chicago is cold, undergrads are ignored, academics are unnecessarily competitive and demanding, you're just a number to the administration, students are under so much pressure that they become suicidal.

As an 18 year old from a not-so-competitive high school in the South, it was good for me to rub elbows with my intellectual equals for a few years, a really good growing-up experience. However, it quickly became obvious that the school was not going to help me achieve my goals: it seemed that we learned no relevant job skills and only a small minority was being prepped for a bright future in graduate school: the rest of us could just fuck off already. It's really a shame because a lot of my friends were very talented and it seems like they didn't get what they needed out of their university experience.

Aside from the social factor I don't think I got much out of UChicago: I can barely remember what I learned; I don't think it was taught very well. I spent more time fighting for decent food and rest than actually applying myself to my schoolwork: the cafeteria was an hourlong round trip busride away and my room mate liked to invite various boyfriends overnight without asking for permission in advance.

If you were an alienated genius in high school you may well fit in here, then again the experience of being alienated may not lend itself well to success at an extremely competitive nationally-ranked university. I thought it sucked a lot, but I'd probably do it again, I just wouldn't care as much or try as hard.