u/ColdBat5414

Chose UChicago over hypsm. My neighborhood had a party where I saw a lot of classmates & their families, most of whom are frequent a2c dwellers and were competitive during the app process.

Somehow this news got out; everyone and their mom came out of the woodworks to tell me that I've given up on unspeakable aura and net worth billion dollars and the privilege to be smug about going to a "small liberal arts college". Apparently my decision is life-ruining, I've killed their puppy, I might as well have dropped out of high school and gone to live in the woods, etc.

No disrespect but I'm pretty sure I'll be fine. I spoke to people who chose hypsm, those who didn't, and made the decision that would let me thrive. One of my mentors who changed my life and is very accomplished in my field of interest was most excited about Uchi out of all the schools I told him I got into. Hypsm are great schools but this idea that nobody should or would make a different choice is extremely insular, I don't know what else to say. If you can't get a job out of UChi when you think you would've out of Princeton - dare I say skill issue?

God forbid someone wants some life of the mind out here...

hi guys, i'm an incoming freshman at uchicago. i was wondering how well uchicago students tend to fare in the quant space.

for some context, i was recommended to look into quant from a professor who knows i really enjoy and at good at math. i do not have competitive math experience however (the only actual "score" i have is a SAT 800 in math); learned up to multivariable calc & linear algebra (no proofs) in school, self studied differential and intro to real analysis (basic stuff, i'm not a whiz), self-studying probability before school starts. honestly i don't have any experience in finance or CS either besides a self-run business and using Python regularly in a research lab...

i know that everyone who applies for quant is insanely talented and my profile is not at all competitive rn, but was wondering if uchicago has a good reputation/pipeline that might help me out here?

you guys must be tired of these types of questions and i know job prospects aren't the end all of a college education (chose uchi over HYPSM because i love the culture) but would still like to get a realistic sense of where i am; and the best use of my time going forward!

for context, i took up to linear algebra and multivariable but no experience with proofs. on the math placement i got 47/50, 24/25, and 20/20.

lowkey it's been a while since i did math and i was surprised that i was struggling with some of the questions, especially the more theoretical/theorem based ones (did i realize that i had forgotten about the existence of rational functions? yes....) and i think i got lucky on some guesstimating for sure.

i'd like to take the 160s IBL course, and was wondering how much preparation you would recommend? i know it's technically still a calculus class, so would it be necessary to relearn calc BC, or a short review of basic theorems and such enough?

i'm an incoming student who worked with a few of her high school friends to advocate for a pretty niche issue; we really worked our asses off in this org and did pretty good stuff, like helping schools make programs for the issue, got on local news for our work, etc.

but to my surprise, basically all my peers ghosted and/or said they don't care about it anymore as soon as their acceptance letters arrived. i know that college admissions is a motivation for students but i genuinely didn't expect this. it's very sad.

i was 100% planning to continue and even expand the work we're doing, but am now basically the only one holding it together. it's just such a bummer because i had even been looking to apply for grants and competitions and such.

i'm hoping that at uchicago there will be motivated kids who might be interested, but wanted to ask if that's the vibe here... i really care about what we did and want to continue it. no other large nonprofits are addressing or interested in the niche issue, so it's not like i can offer to merge it with another org.

i'm looking for a set of headphones to replace my bose quietcomfort, which were great but started cutting out in sound, and the ear cushions have been ruined (the foam inside popped out lol).

i'm a uni student who is using headphones nearly every day in libraries and on the go so they have to be closed back. i want to prioritize sound quality and comfort (beats made my head hurt), longevity; noice cancelling is not important to me.

i don't mind wireless or wired, my only worry is that the headphone jack (the part of the wired headphones that plugs into the headphone jack) for my previous wired buds always ending up loosing connectivity after a while; and i'm willing to pay a higher price if it's worth it, but ideally it would be $100-400.

i'm not an experienced audiophile so hoping for any and all advice!

Edits:

Honestly not sure about sound: I listen nearly equally to folk, classical (which does include string instruments), rap, pop.

I do listen intently.

I listen through my laptop, then phone. I have an iPhone and multiple computers, one of which is a Mac though I also use my HP.

I pay for Spotify Premium mostly for no ads, tbh.

my family is trying to make winter holiday plans, and i was wondering if uchicago usually starts classes as soon as winter quarter begins (as in jan 4th)? would there be a large issue and catching up to do if i came to campus a few days later?

i hope this post doesn't come off as whiney; i was fortunate enough to get into many awesome schools this cycle, including a few t10s and ivies. out of those, i chose uchicago. i just love its culture and intellectual rigor; out of all my welcome days and tours, it really felt distinct in learning for the sake of learning. friends with similar personalities as me have had the best things to say about their time and i went into this so excited.

most of my friends are really smart and hard-working, and got into wonderful schools; nearly all of them chose an ivy, like cornell, brown, columbia, upenn (and one kid at harvard!).

they were really shocked when i said i'm choosing uchi. for a while now they've been saying that i made a huge mistake by giving up the ivy-name, sending me tiktoks of "why you need an ivy league education", and telling me that nobody even knows what uchicago is, it's gaming rankings so isn't actually t10, employers will always pick an ivy over it, etc.

i think they're just joking with me, but it's gotten to a point where i'm feeling kind of depressed; and it certainly isn't helping that my algorithm seems to have picked up on this and is constantly showing me posts about people saying uchicago is bad, or why an ivy league name is #1 above all.

i was talking about some cool programs and stuff at uchi with my parents and somehow my dad started asking about other schools, and my mom went "you aren't going to stanford or mit or harvard so shut up." it honestly hurt my feelings. i think she was just trying to jokingly say that it doesn't matter, but on top of everything else it just makes me feel bad.

it's gotten to the point where i'm wondering if they're right and i should've picked an ivy even if i didn't love it, since everyone else seems to be so in love with the name anyways. is uchicago not being an ivy going to stop me from having a good career? i'm just sad and angry that i'm sad.

i'm an incoming freshman to uchicago. all my attention in high school was towards getting here, and now that i am...i'm really trying to figure out my priorities.

my family is not high income and has debt, debt that only accumulated because my parents worked their asses off to support me. it's given me this urgency to figure out what i'm going to do, and do it quickly so i can make money and pay it off asap. it's only been exacerbated because it seems that nowadays a sophomore internship is expected, and that only works if you prep first year.

right now everyone is encouraging me to look into finance, and i'm already scared af because quant seemed interesting but everyone else is so cracked, i've barely done *anything* substantial. just math up to linear algebra, without proofs.

but there's still this idealistic part of me that wishes i could suddenly and randomly discover a field that i am just so passionate about, that i don't care about the money and could justify the decision to my family. something where i'd actually help other people.

my head is so full these days and i don't know what i should be doing, prepping IB or drilling competition-style math problems. and that fear about not being financially independent and continuing to be a burden on my family...i don't feel like i have the luxury to go back and forth. it's not like i'm an insanely talented finance prospect anyways, who could chill but still catch up if necessary. i feel so inadequate i don't know.

sorry if this comes off as a rant but i wanted to hear what other uchicago students thought, if they had any advice for me. i'm so stressed :(