The University of Chicago

Date: Dec 01 2008
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
So there are two main parts to your COLLEGE EXPERIENCE, right? Academic and Social (of course the two are never completely separate). Anyway, I think UChicago's Academic reputation is not that disputed. It's a ton of work, but it's worth it: you are surrounded by very intelligent people and thus a high level of performance is expected of you.

People make the

but all the theoretical stuff I learned didn't help me out, it was a waste of time and money

argument, though. I can't say anything conclusive about that, personally, since I haven't graduated. But I think that's one of those things where it is pretty obvious that you are not learning the most practical things here, so if you are not into that don't go. But don't whine about it having known this and still choosing to attend.

So, in lieu of this, I'll focus on the SOCIAL ASPECT, since this is up for much more debate.

I guess there are a lot of people who will tell you about all the "wonderful" opportunities hyde park/chicago/the university offers you in terms of activities, like scav hunt, or various clubs. People will tell you how it's cool that you can go downtown and see a play, or whatever.

I don't know about any of that stuff. What I do know, however, is that UChicago has been incredibly fun so far. And not because of dorm life, or even so much because of Greek life (even though the occasional frat party is always fun), or even because it's "enjoyable" to sit inside and just talk with people and discuss politics or whatever.

This place is fun because on the weekends you can go to the most absurdly awesome parties and go to them with some of the smartest people you've ever met. And then, during the week, you just study as much as you can and try and cope with the workload.

I'm convinced that people who say that they had no fun whatsoever and that no one was cool or interesting was, and this might sound a bit harsh, just not COMMITTED to FUN. Fun won't seek you out. There are a lot of un-fun kids here, and that's great for them that they like to study (seriously) but if you want to have fun you have to really go for it.

And don't worry that the "fun" you will find will be either Greek Fun (which is still fun, sometimes) or dormlife "let's watch anime and talk to only the people on our floor and maybe throw parties sometimes" fun (which I, at least, never find fun). There are people who really like to work hard and play hard, and can maintain extensive probably not so healthy habits of all sorts and have a higher GPA and more academic renown than you ever thought possible.