College of the University of Chicago

The University of Chicago
Type Private
Established 1892
Dean John W. Boyer
Students 5,134
Location Chicago, Illinois, USA
Campus Urban
Website http://college.uchicago.edu/

The College of the University of Chicago is the university's sole undergraduate institution and one of its oldest components, emerging contemporaneously with the university at large in 1892. Instruction is provided by faculty from across all graduate divisions and schools for its 5100[1] students; however, the College retains a select group of young, proprietary scholars who teach its core curriculum offerings. Unlike many major American research universities, the College is small in comparison to the University's graduate divisions, with graduate students outnumbering undergraduates at a 2:1 ratio. The College is most notable for its core curriculum pioneered by Robert Maynard Hutchins, which remains the most expansive amongst highly ranked American colleges,[2] as well as its emphasis on preparing students for continued graduate study; 85% of graduates go onto graduate study within 5 years of graduation, which is higher than any other school, and around 15-20% of graduates go on to receive PhDs.[3]

Reputation and admissions

For 2014, U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Chicago as 4th in the nation for undergraduate education, behind Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and tied with Columbia and Stanford.[4]

In 2012, Forbes magazine ranked the University of Chicago's undergraduate program 4th in the country, ahead of every Ivy League institution except Princeton; it was also ranked 1st in the Midwest, 3rd among research universities, and 4th among private colleges.[5] In 2010, Forbes also named the University of Chicago a "billionaire university," ranking the university as the 6th most successful in the country for producing billionaire alumni.[6]

In 2007 Princeton Review named the College as having the "Best Undergraduate Academic Experience" in the United States.[7] In the 2012 edition of The Best 376 Colleges, the Princeton Review ranked UChicago 7th for politically active students, 9th for students who study the most, 13th for the best college library, and named it a "best-value college"; the Princeton Review moreover finds that in general applicants to UChicago also simultaneously apply to Ivy League institutions and their associates.[8]

In 2012, Newsweek ranked UChicago 5th for having happy students, 9th for academic rigor, and 12th for being stressful.[9]

In 2012, the QS World University Rankings ranked the University of Chicago as the 4th best institution of higher learning in the United States, after MIT, Harvard, and Yale, as well as 8th in the entire world.[10]

In addition, College Crunch, an online college admissions resource, ranked the University of Chicago as 1st in the country among colleges and universities for its undergraduate college.[11]

The University also has the highest SAT ranges for admitted students of any school in the nation. For the class of 2015, the middle 50% range for combined math and reading SAT scores was 1420-1530.[12]

Up until the 2007-2008 admissions cycle the school exclusively used a self-dubbed "Uncommon Application", and did not accept the more popular, nationalized Common Application, which can be sent to multiple institutions, for collegiate admissions. However, in 2009, the school adopted the Common Application and included a supplement that kept the spirit of the Uncommon Application.[13] The cornerstone of the previously used Uncommon Application and the current supplement is a unique set of essay questions that have attracted a lot of attention for the school.[14] Prompts have ranged from the bizarre, “Write an essay somehow inspired by super-huge mustard,” to intentionally vague prompts such as "Find X" to esoteric quotes by famous individuals such as "mind that does not stick" - Zen Master Shoitsu (in this prompt, only the quote was provided; no question was asked).[15] In the 2011-2012 season, there was a question that referenced a game in which students use Wikipedia to draw connections between seemingly unrelated things: "What does Play-Doh have to do with Plato?"[16]

The school's acceptance rate fell to a record low of 7.8% for the class of 2019.[17] In comparison, the acceptance rate was 8.4% for the class of 2018.[18] The yield also hit a record-high 60.3% for the class of 2018, topping schools such as Dartmouth, Brown, and Cornell.

Academics

Many offices and classes of the College are located in the heart of the campus.

The college offers 52 majors (originally called 'concentrations,' but changed in 2004). A primary departmental or committee affiliation is denoted for those whose names differ from that of their field designation. A student is awarded either the A.B. or S.B. degree. The college notably does not offer study in preprofessional areas such as engineering or finance; however, the school contends that students going on to graduate study in these fields often can select work in related areas such as physics or economics in order to receive adequate preparation within the liberal arts tradition. The college recently introduced minors in a select numbers of fields, and also offers several joint bachelors / masters programs to high performing students.

Core curriculum

The University of Chicago requires all undergraduates to fulfill the Common Core, which demands work across all areas of the liberal arts for both A.B. and B.S. concentrators, albeit in a form reduced from the Hutchins era.[19] Currently, 15 courses are required in addition to tested foreign language proficiency (one year of de novo study being expected as preparation) if no Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate examinations are used for exemption (a reduction of six credits, or two full-time quarters, may be achieved via this method). While the science curriculum has largely followed the intellectual evolution of its respective fields, the requisite humanities and social science sequences now have several variants that encompass non-Western, non-canonical, and critical theory texts. This is a departure from the school’s traditional ties to texts of the European tradition such as Plato and Locke. While in totality the core curriculum’s goal is to impart an education that is both timeless and a vehicle for interdisciplinary debate, the increasing number of options to students within its confines produces a wide variety of backgrounds amongst graduates.

Culture

The College often publishes literature that emphasizes the “life of the mind,” drawing attention to the school’s serious academic environment. Alternatively, a popular phrase with students is “where fun comes to die,” describing the school's lack of a stereotypical college party culture. Efforts in the 1990s, under President Hugo F. Sonnenschein to change some of these perceptions of the College were controversial,[20] though ultimately successful.

Although Greek life is not predominant among the undergraduate population, there are many active fraternities and sororities that have established histories with the College, including Alpha Delta Phi, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alpha Kappa Psi, Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Phi Omega, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Delta Tau Delta, Delta Upsilon, Zeta Beta Tau, Lambda Phi Epsilon, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Gamma Delta, Zeta Psi, Psi Upsilon, Sigma Chi, and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternities, as well as alpha Kappa Delta Phi, Alpha Omicron Pi, Delta Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Pi Beta Phi sororities.[21]

Traditions

Summer Breeze, the University of Chicago's annual spring concert, typically attracts thousands of students. In 2006, George Clinton (pictured) headlined Summer Breeze.

Scavenger Hunt

The annual University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt is a multi-day event in which large teams compete to obtain all of the notoriously esoteric items on a list. Held every May since 1987, it is considered to be the largest scavenger hunt in the world.[30] Established by student Chris Straus, "Scav" (as it is known among University students) has become one of the university's most popular traditions and has typically pushed the boundaries of absurdity. Each year, the list includes roughly 300 items, each with an assigned point value; the items vary widely, and often include performances, large-scale construction, technological construction, competition, and travel, as well as the traditional "find this item" listings. Most teams fall well short of completing half of the list and instead compete for total points amassed. The more difficult and time-consuming items earn more points, and teams typically devote more resources into these items.

Student organizations

Campus lights illuminate the North Campus (Bartlett) Quadrangle.

Notable extracurricular groups include the University of Chicago College Bowl Team, which has won 118 tournaments and 15 national championships, leading both categories internationally. The Chicago Debate Society has had a top four team at the American Parliamentary Debate Association's National Championship tournament four out of the past five years. The University's competitive Model United Nations team was the top ranked team in North America in 2013-14, 2014-15, and Fall 2015. Another notable organization is the Chicago Society, established in 2001. Chicago Society invites world-renowned speakers on a variety of issues and topics to campus. Recent invitees have included Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Steven Levitt, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, and Anwar Ibrahim. Their events have appeared in newspapers around the world.

The university's independent student newspaper is the Chicago Maroon. Founded in 1902, the same year as the university, the newspaper is published every Tuesday and Friday. South Side Weekly is a student-run alternative weekly covering issues and arts on the South Side of Chicago.

Undergraduates publish a number of periodicals as well, including Sliced Bread, an annual arts and literature publication and the University's largest magazine, The Chicago Shady Dealer, a humor magazine, Vita Excolatur, an erotic magazine, and Euphony, a literary journal.

The University of Chicago's University Theater is one of the oldest student-run theatre organizations in the country, involving as many as 500 members of the university community, producing 30 to 35 shows a year, and selling on the order of 10,000 tickets. It also operates Off-Off Campus, one of the University's two improv comedy troupes, started in 1986 by Bernard Sahlins, one of the founders of The Second City.

WHPK, a student-run and University-owned radio station, broadcasts out of the Reynolds Club on the university campus. DJ "JP Chill" has had a rap and hip hop show on WHPK since 1986. It was one of the earliest rap shows in the country and the first in Chicago.

The administration has controversially worked to combat the university's reputation as a place "where fun comes to die", which some claim have discouraged top students from taking the university into serious consideration when researching colleges.

The university also hosts Doc Films, the country's oldest student-run film society.

Athletics

The school's Division III, University Athletic Association NCAA teams are not a major focus on campus today, appearing almost “minimal” in their role on campus to “non-existent” according to students.[31] However, in the early half of the twentieth century the school was power house in Big Ten Conference play, notably in football where the school won numerous national championships. Yet, President Robert Maynard Hutchins suspended sports for several years though during his tenure fearing their digressive nature from academic endeavors, ending the prominence of most athletic programs. Today the many programs aim to cultivate the “student-athlete,” the emphasis being on balance between the two.

House system

The college employs a house system whereby undergraduates living in dormitories are assigned to a block of students of usually no more than 70 which serves as a focal point for university events.[32] Some campus dormitories contain several houses, while other domiciles have only one. Each building is overseen by a resident master, and should there be more than one house, each a resident head (the exception being Broadview, which has resident heads but no resident master). An upper division undergraduate is then selected to serve in addition as a resident assistant for each house. All first years are required to live in housing, however, the availability of affordable, off campus apartments makes them a popular option with a sizable segment of the student body. Moreover, students are free to bid or request switches amid houses both between academic years and during them. As such, the house system is rather fluid, and students often have more than one affiliation during their time at the college. The current building and attendant houses of the college are:

References

  1. Office of the University Registrar. "Annual IPEDS-Equivalent Submissions to Illinois Board of Higher Education".
  2. "History of University of Chicago".
  3. "Grad School Preparation".
  4. "National Universities Rankings". U.S. News & World Report. 2013. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  5. "America's Top Colleges: University of Chicago". Forbes.
  6. "Forbes: TOP 10 Billionaire Universities by Forbes".
  7. "ABC News: Princeton Review Rankings".
  8. The Princeton Review. "University of Chicago".
  9. "College Rankings 2012".,
  10. "The top 200 QS World University Rankings 2012".
  11. "College Crunch".
  12. "Profile for the Class of 2015".
  13. "UChicago, seeking prestige, drops Uncommon Application".
  14. "Essay Questions".
  15. "Past Essay Questions".
  16. Uchicago.edu
  17. Caldwell, Tanya (2012-04-16). "NY Times: 2012 College Admissions Data". The New York Times.
  18. "College sends admission decisions in milestone year for applications".
  19. "Core Curriculum".
  20. Bronner, Ethan (1998-12-28). "Winds of Academic Change Rustle University of Chicago". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-06-01.
  21. "ORCSA: Greek Life on Campus".
  22. 1 2 "Traditions: like it or not, we’ve got plenty of them". The Chicago Maroon. 2005. Retrieved 2006-06-08.
  23. "The Insider's Guide". The University of Chicago. Retrieved 2005-06-08.
  24. "University of Chicago: New Student Orientation 2006" (PDF). The University of Chicago. 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-03.
  25. "The Social Scene". The University of Chicago. Retrieved 2006-07-11.
  26. "Students rise to call of Kuvia festival".
  27. "The Great Latke-Hamantash Debate". The University of Chicago. 2005.
  28. City Room - Metro - Secret May Day Message in U of C Sculpture?
  29. "Chicago Traditions". The University of Chicago. 2003. Retrieved 2006-04-30.
  30. "World’s largest Scavenger Hunt begins in Chicago". The University of Chicago News Office. Retrieved 2005-06-13.
  31. Princetonreview.com
  32. Residence Halls and Commons. "Housing - University of Chicago".

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