The University of Chicago

Date: Feb 17 2003
Major: History/Histories (art history/etc.) (This Major's Salary over time)
The U of C is a wonderful place. It's full of dorks and nerds, or in other words, people passionate about what they do and interested in just about everything. Plus, whatever we're interested in, we obsessively do well. This leads to an environment constantly running at 110%, usually fuelled by coffee and adrenaline, not to mention that weird clarity that comes at 4am when you haven't slept in a couple days. Sure, it's a tought school, and classwork will take up most of your time, but why else would you go to college? The point is to get an education, right? There are those seem to think otherwise, and they are the people who spend four years complaining about the work, the people, the weather, the fact that Chicago isn't "fun enough" or is out for its "institutional aims." Meanwhile, they're paying $45,000 a year for the priviledge of not learning anything and hating their time here. What losers. And really, they couldn't be more wrong. Chicago profs care deeply about their students - and anybody else's students for that matter. They are perfectly willing to sit down with you and talk for hours about whatever is bothering you, so long as it's a legitimate concern, and not just "this is too hard, make it go away!" Of course there are the ones who are a little nuts or slightly less coherent than the average bear, but in general they're still willing to help you work things out if you go talk to them. Hey, this is what happens when you spend your life as a nerd - you get a little left of the middle, in a brilliant sort of way.

Bottom line? We're quirky, we work obscenely hard, and we love it. The professors are just grown-up versions of the same thing. Result: an incredibly rich environment - for those with the passion and drive to dive right in.