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College Prowler

Academics

My math teacher was a sixth-year grad student who recently accepted a prestigious fellowship for next year (after he gets his PhD). He often went off on interesting tangents, sometimes talking about things totally unrelated to math (his experience with skydiving or the Cricket World Championship). He also taught us how to solve Rubik’s cubes. I have had just about every kind of teacher imaginable—young, old, Indian, Hispanic, pale, Bulgarian poets, grad students, full professors, men, women—but nearly all shared a great ability to communicate and teach.

Athletics

Varsity sports are not big on campus at all. Most people don’t even know we have a football team, but we do. The U of C is Division III so you can imagine. There are a lot of IM sports though, and the dorms organize sporting events as well.

Campus Dining

The food in the dining halls isn’t bad, but it gets monotonous after a while. There is variety, but eventually it’s just the same thing over and over again. The coffee shops are okay, although some are a lot more expensive than others. (Classics coffee shop sells a can of soda for 75 cents, versus Cobb for 50 cents.) Many of the coffee shops offer selections from neighborhood restaurants. Avoid Hutchinson Commons.

Campus Housing

The dorms vary widely. However, because of the Residential College system (students are organized in houses within dorms), I think the general system works better than most dorm systems. If you want a close-knit, insular (and quirky) house, you can have that. If you want privacy, you can have that, too. If you want a high-schoolish type living environment, that is available. I’d have to recommend Hitchcock, simply because the people there are very interesting, and the rooms are pretty nice. However, if you want more modern living arrangements, Max would be the way to go—that is, if you don’t mind some occasionally immature neighbors.

Campus Strictness

I’ve never heard of them being particularly strict, and I have heard anecdotes of campus police turning a blind eye to some instances of public drunkeness or illegal parties—not that that should be surprising. The University’s policy, by the way, seems to be a hinted encouragement that students should drink on occasion, which I take to be part of a larger campaign to make students do something other than study all the time.

Computers

My first year roommate actually went through the whole year without a computer. Then again, she wasn’t a computer nerd like I was. If you want to download music and play games, then obviously you should bring a computer. If all you’re going to be doing is checking e-mail and writing essays, you don’t actually need a computer—the computer labs and e-mail stations are fine. I don’t know what other dorms’ computer labs are like, but the one in Pierce is definitely sub-par; there are not enough computers. Reg USITE is open 24 hours, though. Crerar USITE is good. Both places often run out of available PC’s though, especially during finals week.

Diversity

Chicago’s about as diverse as you can get. My group of friends was from India, China, Italy, NY, PA, and Wyoming. I think the school has around 10 percent international students, so you get to learn a lot about other cultures.

Drug Scene

There are drugs—primarily alcohol and pot—but I have heard comments about certain dorms (such as Maclean) having somewhat widespread cocaine usage. Not too many students are habitual drug users.

Facilities

Although the school isn't big on sports, it has a top-notch athletic facility with an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The four-story student center is gorgeously built in a Gothic style (like most buildings on campus) and has great food and lounge areas. UChicago has about nine libraries, all of which are fantastic, and huge.

Greek Life

There are some real freaks here. It’s getting a lot better—I’ve only seen one kid wandering around campus with a Star Wars cape on so far this year, but even so, going Greek really helps to weed out the kids who came here just to read Immanuel Kant.

Guys & Girls

Well, people here don’t care too much about their appearances. Not many people wear makeup, hair products, accessories, and/or form-fitting clothing, and they sometimes exhibit less hygiene—which is fine. But then, when you go back to your hometown or visit another college, you’ll just look at all the people who don’t actually have more attractive faces (but they put more effort into their looks) and you just say, ‘Look what I’m missing out on.’ Aside from looks, people at the University of Chicago seem to be less socially skilled on average than the rest of college-aged America. People can be nice and friendly and everything, but guys don’t know how or when to ask a girl out, and girls aren’t really good at flirting either.

Local Atmosphere

Chicago is, of course, Chicago. There sure is a lot to do. I could list all the neighborhoods I enjoy, and all the things I like to visit, but I think it could be summed up by the flat statement that, ‘whatever you want to find, you will find it somewhere in Chicago.’ That is, if you look for it hard enough.

Nightlife

The thing that sucks the most about Chicago is the lack of 18-and-over clubs. Most of those are out in the suburbs, so you need a car to get to them. The 21-and-over clubs can compete with NY and LA.

Off-Campus Dining

For some reason we have a lot of Thai places; some are pretty decent. The Snail is quite popular, but I prefer Thai 55. There is also a great diner, Salonica, but unfortunately, they close early.

Off-Campus Housing

Moving off campus is very convenient; a lot of people do it after their second year, if not after their first. Apartments are pretty cheap and definitely a lot cheaper than college housing. It is definitely worth it, although it is better if you can find an apartment pretty close to campus, since in some directions, the further you get from campus, the more dangerous the neighborhood gets.

Overall Experience

If I could do it over, I would come here again. Sure this school is perhaps among the most academically rigorous in the nation, but that’s what I came here for, so I can’t complain. Bring it on! If you like studying, being constantly challenged, and learning new stuff, then U of C is for you. I’m not going to lie to you; the atmosphere is a little socially hostile. Students here prefer to study rather than socialize. The school starts you off reading Marx, Nietzsche, Adam Smith, and Plato. It’s good though, they break you in your first year and things get easier. I have no regrets!

Parking

While I don’t have a car, I know that parking on campus is not that hard. You just need to know what to look for. U of C is located in a residential neighborhood, and so it is relatively easy to find parking, I believe.

Safety & Security

We have buses that drive all around campus until around 1 a.m. on weekdays and until 2:30 a.m. on weekends. There is the Drunk Van (officially known as ‘Late Night Van Service,’ but no one calls it that), and it runs all week until 4 a.m., although the drivers are known to be grouchy and take their time. The security situation really isn’t as bad as people say it is. However, if you don’t know your way around, you could easily find yourself in a very unsafe location.

Transportation

Public transportation is very good. There are tons of ways to get downtown and around the city. Trains and buses run on a regular basis. I know like six different ways to get downtown from my apartment, so it’s not bad for me at all. You get the hang of things after a while.

Weather

In summer it gets very warm in Chicago. In the winter, it can get ridiculously cold. You definitely want at least one very thick coat, a lot of sweaters, warm pants, and some of the more sensitive types have been known to bring long underwear. Hat and gloves are a must. It usually doesn’t rain too much, but raincoat and waterproof shoes are a good idea.