University of Chicago Top Questions

Is the stereotype of students at your school accurate?

Melissa

cool

Josh

Otherwise, yes, it's expensive and there are a lot of geeks. Be prepared to bust your butt to get an OK GPA.

Steph

Not at all. I was worried about the same stereotypes before coming here, but after coming here as a student, I realize that these stereotypes aren't true at all. "Where fun goes to die"/"where the squirrels are cuter than the girls and more aggressive than the guys"/many other UChicago stereotypes were t-shirt slogans made up by the dorms here for fundraising purposes, but people that don't go to this school take them seriously. You will have fun if you want to have fun. The students here are amazing, really intelligent, and incredibly diverse. Of course, there are some nerdy, anti-social people here like there are at all great schools, but by no means are they the majority. In addition, classes here are rigorous, but by no means impossible or overwhelming. And despite common belief, there is a lot of time to do things other than homework at this school.

Melissa

I feel that many people are nerdy, some people are anti-social, but no one is really boring. There are plenty of nerds, but there are also jocks and hipsters. The student body is pretty diverse, but most are very intelligent and most here have an inner-nerd. The student body is shifting with the new Dean of Admissions and the introduction of the Common Application, so it's difficult to assess the accuracy of stereotypes. Generally I feel it's shifting away from the stereotypes and becoming more mainstream.

Julie

to some extent. kids tend to be very cerebral and not have very high social skills or a high need to be social. there are the kids that go out, but the crowd is relatively small.

Amy

See and ye shall find. You will find a segment of students who do little else but work, but my impression is that a) that workload is self-imposed (i.e. nobody's forcing you to take honors analysis!) and that b) sometimes work can act as a safety blanket for people who are a little afraid to socialize. I feel like on any given night, I can find people hanging out, watching TV, and playing midnight soccer, and I can also go to the Reg and find people working very hard. Which one is the "right" U of C?

David

The stereotypes are as accurate as you want to make them. If you want to hang out with nerds you can see an aspect of the college community like that. If you don't want to go to parties, by all means, there are a large number of students who hang out in the library (studying or chatting). People go to off campus parties, dorm activities are abundant and fun, people hang out in each others rooms or the dorm lounge until all hours of the night. In short, don't believe the stereotypes. You make of college what you want.

Ryan

No. I guess if you wanted to spend your entire time studying in the library, you wouldn't be the only one doing it, but most people have very balanced lives between their studies and what is fun for them (besides their schoolwork). We do work hard, but we play hard, too. People on campus aren't ugly, most guys aren't jerks, and this definitely isn't the place where fun comes to die. College is really what you make out of it, and I wanted to have fun, so I do.

Jason

A lot of student body is a little weird, but lots of normal people too. Plus, weird isn't always bad.

Harper

Not generally. As with any large group of people, there will be individuals of all types, so there are people here who fit the stereotypes, but there are also many who do not.

Casey

Yes and no. There are some truly brilliant people here, and, as truly brilliant people tend to be, they are weird. But usually they're weird in the "hey I think we should get together and make a suspension bridge out of marshmallows and then see who can eat the most of it" kind of way, not in the cower-in-the-library kind of way. While those people do go here, I wouldn't say they make up the majority of the population. It's nice to go to a school where most kids are different from each other.

Andrew

Obviously there some are nerdy, non-sociable, "fun-hating", school-obsessed people a U Chicago, but you don't see very many of them for the obvious reason: they don't aren't in on the social scene. If you come here you're most likely to meet people who are sociable, smart and funny. They will generally be very passionate in discussions and willing to talk about almost anything. Conversation is really varied. There is a lot of academic discussion and much of it is school oriented but there is not limit to what can be over-analyzed. Tabloid gossip is also fair game.

Morgan

Yes and no. Yes, everyone who goes here is for the most ridiculously smart. But they also have fun. No, binge drinking is not a huge thing at this University, although it is true that those who party often party hard, and those who don't don't really at all. We do occasionally talk about Foucault at parties and dating is difficult -- there is a contingent of socially incapable males here and as a female I've had to modify my flirting techniques so as to send the wrong signals. But everyone is not an econ major, and those that are do have souls; we have fun, but that fun doesn't involve all that much beer pong; our parties, I am happy to say, are often themed (Eurotrash anyone?) so that conversation topics are huilt in to one's clothes; we can play beer pong, there are frats and frat parties if you want them, and I for one am not rich at all and that is not all that uncommon. We do read all the time and I have spent a few Saturday nights in the library, but college is as much about if not more about academics than beer anyway.

Chris

UChicago is definitely an academic power-house (torture for some) and I like it that way. it is good to be in a place where you are intellectually challenged and where knowledge and learning are the main priority of the school. As for the students, we are not all rich, though many are, but everyone is very warm and friendly though many are geniuses.

Will

No. While students here are often fascinated with cult media such as Monty Python, anime, Star Trek, etc, most are not unusually nerdy or unilaterally dedicated to their academic pursuits. Most students function quite well in social situations. Also, the workload demanded by the University is quite reasonable, and most students spend a substantial amount of time watching TV or going to parties, as opposed to working.

Andy

Not entirely. If you wanna have fun, you can.

Alex

Students here are nerdy. Some are strange and anti-social, but a lot of people are nice and relatively normal.

Dylan

Chicago is a fun place to go to school, but students applying to the college need to understand that the atmosphere at U of C is very academic. In this respect I think the stereotypes are true. The U of C is a school where learning is fun, where social life merges with the academic life.

Nico

sometimes, but not always

Rachel

In a way they are, but not in the way they seem. For example, Chicago students are very engrossed in their work and there is probably less "partying" but it really depends on your definition of fun. We might just not have the same ideas.

Angelica

YES!!!!

annie

generally... definitely a less attractive, less fun, more awkward experience than any other college campus will provide you with!

Jesse

Erm.... Well, the school is hardcore academic, and some people have no social abilities.... But there are a lot of people here that you could find at any other school. We're normal here, we just tend to debate about extra dimensions and 16th c politics a little more than other people.

Tristan

To an extent. There are plenty of people that definitely do not fit the mold, and even more people that are quirky and yet extremely social. I feel most people fit at least one the stereotypes, but in a good way; you never run out of new and interesting people to meet. Though I will admit, sometimes you catch a glance of some people and wonder how long it's been since they last saw the light of day. As for the work.. it's not as bad as you would think, and it's worse than you could imagine. It varies depending on your classes and what part of the quarter you're in.

Devin

1. Eh, somewhat. 2. False. People have a ton of diverse interests, and although its a very intellectually active school, it doesn't manifest itself into study-crazy, more like discussion-heavy 3. Very true and I was pleasantly surprised. Coming from a very non-academic background, it was a bit getting used to but I love it.

Tate

To some degree, I would say yes. I fit right into the mould of UofC students who stay in the library all night to do my gazillion-page daily readings for the Core Classes. And I generally feel that the students here are either unfriendly, or just plain dunce in communicating.

Tim

All of these are present in abundant supply, with the first group being by far the least obnoxious. Still, we have sizable populations of dumb jocks, slackers, and normal people. What's most striking, though, is that a number of us straddle all of these stereotypes or inhabit them at different times in ways one might not expect.

Robbie

Absolutely.

marybeth

UChicago really does have a rigorous program that requires a lot of studying, but people do have fun on the weekends.

David

For the most part, sadly, these stereotypes are quite true. Not completely true about everyone, of course, but there are far too many people that fit those descriptions.

Denis

Some. Academics intense in math, econ, physics, chemistry and some bio courses. otherwise, same as elsewhere (peer institutions per se)

abimbola

Yes, like I said in some capacity. I think there are those who challenge those stereotypes, but they are not noticed on campus.

Patrice

The school is focused on academics therefore it is the student's responsibility to create the type of social life he or she would like. This is a self-selective school. There are a variety of people who come here but for the most part, people here absolutely love to learn. The curriculum is very challenging.

Katherine

The students are definitely nerdy, but I find that it's rare to find anyone who is actually so socially awkward that they can't even function. Honestly, we're normal college kids who might be a little quirkier...but that makes it all the more fun. We -do- go out, we -do- party, but there's plenty of people who choose not to, and everyone has fun despite whether they drink or not. It's a pretty relaxed place socially.

Katherine

As I said, 75{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the people at this school fit right along with that quirky/weird stereotype.

Reese

To an extent. There are all types of people here, but the school does disproportionately attract the bookish and the quirky. But virtually every type of subculture is represented here--you just have to go out and find it. We have the theater types, the math-geeky types, jocks, preps, everything... but even within these subcultures, people here tend to be pretty well-read.

Corey

some of them: people are very intelligent. A lot of people are indeed intellectuals and snobbery is not unheard of. However because everyone is really smart, it's kind of cool: even the jock in your core class probably has some really intensely esoteric interest in war history or performativity or physics. People are very passionate about learning and ideas. People take pride in their work and many enjoy talking about their studies in a nonacademic setting. apolitical: no, this is changing; activists have a substantial presence on campus. uc dems and republicans are both very active rsos. don't have fun: inaccurate. it would be more accurate to say "some uc students view doing work as fun." normative defintions of fun don't fly here. there is something going on every day of the week for anyone: there are plays every weekend, the few frats on campus throw parties (and "bar night" thursday night), there are great apartment parties and lots of very active student organizations. many people are, or profess to be, quite antisocial, but the "fun" on campus caters to them as well without excluding other types of fun-seekers. theory-oriented: true. esoteric: i would describe study at the uc as "all-encompassing"--nothing is too small, no detail unworthy of notice. there are a lot of communities on campus but it can be pretty isolating. it's pretty easy to meet people but more difficult to get to know them. there's a sense that uchicago is a "different school" to different communities--it is large enough that you can get out of it whatever you intend to.

Stephen

Yes and no. There are, no doubt, some socially inept nerdy people here who have no lives. And the "college fun" of frat parties and football are a very small part of the average UChicago student's experience. So if that's what you want, we aren't what you want. But the vast majority of us are pretty normal (but, we'd hope, relatively smart) people who have a lot more varied ways to have fun than just frats and football. As to the second one I mentioned, I sure hope it's not true...

Madeline

It depends on one's definition of fun. There aren't parties every night, but you can still go out for a good time on the weekends. I actually find a lot of my assignments fun (that testifies to the truth of the nerd stereotype). Work does take up a big chunk of time, but, hey, I had time to do this survey. I might have to skip my weekly shower though...

Tate

For some students, but less than half.

Charlie

they can be. Studying does take up a good portion of your time, sometimes all of it and then some, but there are a lot of opportunities to get out and take a break from all that. If you want to go out you can and if you don’t then you can always find people in the library with you. This applies to the students as well. Some people here spend a majority of their time in the library or in their dorms doing work while others tend to spend more time going out and then still there are people on every level between those. You can find people that want to do the same things as you, you simply have to look for them.

Mary

Pretty much.

Cela

To a certain extent these stereotypes are accurate. It depends on the people you meet, but I wouldn't generalize the student population one way or the other. Also, this school is very intense, but there's always ways to have fun! Plus, Chicago is a huge city - there's always something to get into.

Michael

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.

Rachael

Partially - we are generally pretty nerdy kids and some people don't have too many social skills. But there are also lots of people who are fun and have fun and we live in Chicago - there are three million ways to have a good time, you just have to leave Hyde Park sometimes. I've had some of the most fun of my life sitting around the dining hall being a dork with my friends! The quarter system is more work because we have more midterms and more finals, but the classes are also shorter which can be good or bad depending on the class. Hyde Park is not the ghetto and it isn't scary. Other parts of the South Side aren't as nice but you don't have to go there. It's a city, be smart.

Quinn

Yes. Oh god yes.

Conor

To a certain degree they are true. It is a pretty nerdy student population, but not in a bad way necessarily. I mean, everyone in your classes is there because they want to, which makes for a great dynamic. There are some downsides. I'll never forget one of the first parties I went to where a fist fight almost broke out that was started by "Tolstoy's Christianity is anti-fundamentalist! Read War and Peace asshole!" So you get some really pretentious people, and a lot of "That-Kid"s, but overall we aren't as bad as we're made out to be.

Lee

As far as a stereotype goes, yes.

Amelia

Pretty much, yes. However, the good stereotypes have downsides (brilliance can bring with it the pain of pretentions) and the bad ones have upsides (awkward people are hilarious, and there's collectivity in the pain). Actually UChicago kids are all just regular kids: often smart, often friendly, often socially confused, often partying, often studying, usually a little odd.

Brett

Yes. But it's an annoying self-fulfilling prophecy. Half the time I think these creeps act this way because they know they should. It's weird for the sake of being weird, not interesting or sincerely thoughtful.