The University of Chicago

Date: Apr 24 2003
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
When I decided to come to this school, I was aware of the University's reputation for having a bad social life. I couldn't imagine that any school of this caliber could really be that bad socially—I figured as long as there was an intelligent, diverse student body, I could always find my niche. But now that I am here I am miserable, cold, usually bored, annoyed by and hostile to most of the students I know, and seriously considering transferring. I never would have come here if I had known the details:

Housing setups make it difficult to meet people. In almost all dorms, first years live amongst upperclassmen, meaning that many of your neighbors already have friends and aren't really interested in knowing you at all. The high proportion of dorms with singles or suites with livingrooms and such encourage people to stay in their own rooms rather than socialize. I lived in BJ the first quarter of my first year and I had to move out because I couldn't stand the people there. BJ is mostly singles, and the people there obviously want to be by themselves. At the dinner table there was hardly any conversation. If there was, it was usually about something like the weather or what was for dinner. People were so withdrawn I felt like I didn't know anything about any of them after living with them for three months.

Because the social life in the dorms are so poor, many people choose to live of campus after their first year without feeling like they'll be missing much. I'd say a quarter of second years, half of third years, and most fourth years live off campus. This contributes to the complete lack of community.

There is no denying that Chicago is a second-rate city. It has a handful of interesting neighborhoods that consist of several blocks of interesting shops and restaurants, and then become suburban-looking residential areas. Besides China town, most of the interesting neighborhoods are not easily accessible. U. Chicago hardly seems like an urban school when you have to take a combination of at least one subway and one bus to get to wherever you're going. Public transportation is inconvenient and runs less frequently than you'd expect. During winter quarter it seems that hte only people that get out regularly have cars.

As if the inaccessibility of Chicago itself wasn't enough, from around November through April the weather is unbearable. It actually ends up hampering your social life: it becomes so cold that one would rather stay in the dorm than wait in sub-zero, windy weather on a street corner for a bus, and then wait another 10 minutes on a frozen subway platform. The incredibly long winter drains everyone, makes the atmosphere of the entire school drab and lifeless, and makes you dread getting up in the morning and going outside.

As I said before, the university is hardly an urban school. Hyde Park does not offer much in the way of activities or even restaurants. Think if it as a suburban school. Really.

Many people come here thinking that the academics are well worth the lack of social life. However, remember that the school is not nearly as selective as others ranked similarly. There are plenty of smart people here, but there are plenty of really unintelligent people, many of whom will dominate discussions and point them in irrelevant directions. I have heard many people voice complaints the professors seem to allow this to go on.

The University really likes to play up its core, but it is important to know that not all core courses are created equal. My Core Bio class was taught by an illiterate, barely intelligible graduate student whom many of the undergrads had to correct from time to time. Humanities classes are often taught by uninterested professors who lead trivial discussions with bored students. Remember that 15 of your 42 classes will be core, and some (but not all) of these are a true waste of time and money.

Finally, to try and bring the bitter reality of this school home, I'd like to mention that I personally know one first year who left first quarter, two people that are transfering, two that are taking a year off to rethink this whole place and whether they want to be here. Furthermore, I would say that most of the people that I like most here (10 or 15 people) definitely wish they had never come here. Also, look at the statistics. The University has by far the lowest retention rate among other schools of its caliber.