Visited April 13, 2013. This is an amazing university. It is not close to downtown Chicago. We took a cab since I had gotten terribly lost the day before on the train. It is located 7 miles south of Chicago in Hyde Park.
In 1890 John D. Rockefeller started the University of Chicago. He wanted to “rival or surpass the academic institutes of the East.” Since that time UChicago has had 87 Nobel Laureates. It has 6,300 undergraduates.
Admissions: 8.5% admit rate for Class of 2013. The first reader reads application holistically. They superscore both the SAT and ACT. They do not look at any writing scores. ACT ranges between 31-34 and SATs are 1420-1530. Subject tests are truly optional. AP and IB scores are self-reported. They pay more attention to the transcript; they do not look at class rank. Two core teachers must write recommendations. A third rec is optional. *Writing is extremely important in the application. Make sure it is a personal statement that shows self reflection. The UChicago supplement has two questions. The extended essay is “out of the box”. One example was “Where is Waldo really?” The other questions is “Why UChicago?” Students MUST do research for this essay. Be specific. Write about campus visit/refer to tour guide. There is very little merit money here; the most is $5,000.
Academics: Research is a very important element to UChicago. The applicant needs to show desire to do research. The curriculum is divided up into three parts. The first is the core classes. This is the heart and soul of the curriculum. There are 7 different areas that must be covered. All classes are capped at 19 students and taught by full professors. The focus in these courses is problem solving. The second third are the classes a student takes for his/her major. All students must declare their major first quarter of third year. The quarters are ten weeks. Most students will take 42-46 courses in four years! The last third are electives.
There is a very unique academic advising program at UChicago. There are 30 academic advisors who only advise. Freshmen are assigned an advisor. Then they will get a major advisor. Most students will eventually have 3-5 academic advisors throughout their four years at UChicage. The Metcalf Program is Chicago’s internship program. It offers students 600 different programs. Fifteen are in DC. The arts internships are in CA. Business are in Chicago and NYC. All internships are fully funded.
Campus life: This is a very “intensive atmosphere.” Freshmen are assigned to a house at the beginning of their career at UChicago. Each house contains 40-70 students. Houses are fiercely loyal and compete against each other in intramurals. Housing is guaranteed all four years. Athletics are D 111. The biggest event is the famous scavenger hunt which is the largest in the world! There are over 450 student-led clubs on campus.