The University of Chicago

I was greeted this morning by the rumble of thunder against my window, I noticed flashes or lightning and got myself out of bed not wanting to leave its warmth.  Packing everything we needed to get ready for our flight later today I said goodbye to my hotel room. The Cornell cohort met Deven downstairs before we took a cab to our final sight here in The Windy City -- the University of Chicago! I made sure to have my travel umbrella in case it was to rain again since I knew we would be walking around for our tour.

We walked into Rockefeller Chapel where at the door a students handed us a UChicago folder which I was excited about, a fan that included some demographics on the back and some sunglasses which I didn’t think we would be needing. I made my cohort sit in the front row as I did yesterday because I wanted to be able to look the speaker in the eyes to let them know I was aware of their presence and that I am here because I am making an investment in myself.

A guy sitting next to me eating a sandwich complimented me on my highlight out of nowhere and it honestly made my day. We started talking and I found out his name was Brian, he had also traveled quite a bit – all the way from Arizona – he was also a rising senior visiting colleges this summer with his dad. The University of Chicago was the seventh university he would be visiting and probably wouldn’t visit anything else besides maybe Washington University in St. Louis. I told him about how this was the third university I would be visiting but there would be more to come for me, the only one I had visited prior to leaving for the ILC was UC Berkeley, which Brian had been to and was interested in their swim team since he swam for his school. I told him about EECS at Cal which is Electrical Engineering and Computer Science since he was also interested in majoring in CS with maybe a math or physics degree as I was. It was interesting talking with him about how he had covered some schools of his interest on both the west coast and east coast, and now he could add Midwest to his list.

Current students—Rafaela (from Chicago) and Jared (from Oregon) —approached us and said they could answer any of our questions before the actual session started. One of the things unique to Chicago and what actually drew them in were the houses, there are several dorms and over 30 houses, as Jared described it, it is like Hogwarts distribution but with only one lady who sees all and knows all. She strategically places a diverse group of students in the houses that fit well together. They enjoyed their housing experience because everyone quickly became best friends. They also talked about what financial aid would look like as incoming out-of-state freshmen. All freshmen applicants are considered for merit based scholarship and there are also no loans, so everything is mostly a grant.

The university organist started playing which startled me as Jim Nondorf, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid came out and gave us what he said was the most important piece of advice which was not to panic; that we would visit schools 300 miles away and step out of the car and instantly say we don’t want to attend there. That’s okay and we should just have fun because we will be fine, we will get in some places and we won’t get in others, we will get accepted into a school and explore our passions. At UChicago 30,000 apply and roughly 1600 get accepted into this highly selective university. Jim stated it is about allocating scarce resources. The professors at the University of Chicago become attached to their students and even show emotion, which shows how much they really care. Jim has been the dean for nine years, which is incredible.

Some fun facts about the University of Chicago: it was where the first controlled nuclear reaction took place, and also very well known for modern day economic theory.  The time as an academic is divided into three categories; the core faculty fight over what will be taught such as art, world civ., and classes to develop critical thinking, and writing analysis so you can get your PhD. The purpose is to develop skills to make you successful in any academic subject. You choose your major and you also have opportunities to take electives. This is the divide between what you can take and learning opportunities in graduate and professional schools committed to one thing: furthering your knowledge. 

We went on the tour where our guide was also named Brian, as he was walking backwards he tried to go into more detail about some of the information that was covered during the information session. He gave many examples of friends that he had to show how accessible all these resources really were. One of the examples he used was a freshmen basically taking PhD level math because she was just at that level, which shows nothing at this school will hold you back. Something Brian was a part of unexpectedly was Greek life, and he was actually planning to satisfy his world civ. requirements by studying abroad in Athens for a semester. Which consists of twenty-nine other UChicago students plus three faculty members, which shows the quality of the education and how impactful it can be in such a short amount of time.

There is a career in every category of interest and the moment you walk onto the University of Chicago campus you will be assigned an academic advisor as well as a career advisor to help make sure you are on track, and demonstrates the amount of support there constantly is on campus.  There are many research opportunities, as well as internship and externship opportunities to take advantage of. The benefit of this is it leverages the expertise and resources we have at the graduate programs and maximizes the value of taking advantage of your summer in such a way. Also, ninety-four percent graduate with what they wanted to do.

The environment is full of people who have the same interests as you, no matter how bizarre; there are so many ways to bond with games and study breaks and sometimes the housemasters take you to the city of Chicago to see Hamilton for example. Some houses have extracurricular activities like jumping into Lake Michigan at 6 AM and everyone just has their own unique personalities. You can join whatever clubs you want and if the club you want doesn’t exist you can gather your friends and create one with meaning.

These are the primary reasons why our tour guide as well as the panelists during the information seminar chose the University of Chicago; we ended the tour with Brian talking about his experience as a freshman with a broken leg and how much everyone helped him and how much this school has pockets for everyone, which feels like a family. 

Grabbing a veggie burrito and Mexican Coke, lunch was quick and light before we headed into the bookstore, I didn’t want to purchase anything and felt drained from the tour so we went back to the Omni Hotel where we got our bags and our shuttle picked us up. The service was amazing and everyone was so sweet, always asking me if I needed help, or water, or anything. 

Our shuttle driver was named Mike and he was half Ukrainian and Jordanian, which I found very unique. We talked a lot about Pakistan since he worked with many people from there; he told me about the different communities of Pakistanis vs. Arabs and where they lived in or out of the city, where all the different mosques were and how the prayers were led differently.  He even told me about his skills in taking iPhones from back when they were new to now and how he could repair and replace different parts, all things that he taught himself. This time I was TSA pre-checked so I got through even smoother than last time thanks to Don, but I had no idea what I was in for the rest of the night. More to come.