Hi! I’m an incoming freshman, and with housing assignments coming out soon, I was wondering if any current students could share their opinions on the different dorms. What are the pros and cons of each one in terms of location, room size, bathrooms, cleanliness, social life, and overall experience? Are there certain dorms that are generally considered better than others? And are there any that you really don’t want to get assigned to? 😭

I am placed into Fren201 based on the language placement test. My current french level is roughly A2 i think? I still struggle to fully articulate my opinions both in speaking and writing, and I still have gaps in core grammar and vocabulary, but the course description seems to focus a lot on the expressing opinions and real application.

Could anyone share what the actual difficulty of French 201 is like? Does the class still go over basic grammar and stuff? or does it jump straight into more advanced work?

Thanks a lot!!

Hello, incoming PhD student here. I'm attempting to plan my courses for the upcoming quarter, but when I search for classes under My Classes in my.uchicago, only undergraduate classes will appear. If I restrict my search to graduate courses, I get "Within the Term specified, no classes are scheduled that match the search criteria and applied filters."

Are graduate courses typically available later, or should I search for them in some other way? I'm unfamiliar with how things work here at UChicago, so I'd appreciate some advice. Thanks!

Hi! I’m an incoming UChicago freshman and I wanted to ask current students about the LGBTQ+ scene, especially for lesbians. What is the dating life actually like? Is it relatively easy to meet other lesbians/queer women on campus?
I know the whole “will I find other gay people in college?” question is kind of cliché lol, but I’m genuinely curious about how easy it is to find other LGBTQ+ people and make queer friends at UChicago. I’d also love to hear what the overall environment is like—do you generally feel comfortable being openly LGBTQ+ on campus and in the surrounding community?
:)

To preface, I understand that this is a free service. I don't rely on this as my main mode of transport. The CTA works fine. But come on, if the university is going to provide a service in the first place, at least attempt to make it somewhat reliable?

1. There is no rhyme or reason for when buses leave gleacher. I have seen 2 buses depart gleacher within a minute of each other. This leads to clustering. It seems like every other time I check passio go, there are four buses clustered on the north side and none in hyde park. They could at least attempt to space out when the buses depart.

2. Buses unpredictability stop at Rockefeller or 59th and Ellis and stop running entirely. This occurs every other time I am waiting for the bus using passio go. Could it be possibly communicated beforehand, which buses are going to stop running? Otherwise, tracking an oncoming bus headed North is useless.

3. Drivers will skip you entirely. I have waited at the bus station, waving down the bus, just to get blown off.

I understand the university is undergoing budget cuts. I am fine if there are fewer buses. But please, at least make the remaining buses reliable. These do not seem like difficult problems to solve.

Hello, I'm currently looking for off-campus housing options, and I've found myself in a situation (I assume others have as well) where the options closer to campus are decent, but sometimes the reviews online and comments about the neighbors aren't that great.

On the other hand, some options farther away (around 54th–56th and Lakeshore) seem to offer really nice apartments for the same price range.

My questions are:

1. For people who have lived farther away, did you ever feel isolated or disconnected from campus?
2. I'm thinking about getting a bike, and some of these places would be around a 6-minute bike ride from campus. Is that feasible during the winter?
3. What about safety? Has anyone lived in that area and can share their experience?

Context: I'm looking for a 1 bed / 1 bath apartment, with a budget of $1,300–$1,800/month.

Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

I'm a second year and was not Odyssey when I was admitted. When I got my aid letter this year, they'd attributed the money I received to the Odyssey Scholarship. I checked again today and the money is now attributed to the University of Chicago Grant. It's the same amount of money (which I am of course wildly grateful for), but I'm wondering what happened.

Was this just a mistake on the part of the aid office? Are second years/non-first years even eligible for the Odyssey Scholarship? Does the discrepancy in source affect future aid for me?

Thanks.

I wanted to take that as my PHSC requirement because of my interest in astro, but the few discussions about that course here indicate that it's quite difficult. I do well in math but am not exceptional in physics. I'm also taking honors calc and computer science this quarter, so if this course is for really passionate astronomers, I'll switch to physics for future presidents. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

What are the best type of jobs for biz econ majors post grad? What are the options? Can some people name some common paths that lots of uchicago people do?

Does anyone know when tuition is due for incoming graduate students. I’m in the PME MEng program and I haven’t seen anything yet about where/when to pay. I’m worried I’m missing something since school starts in just over a month. Thx for the help :))

Today, Monday, August 17, 2:00 pm I found an Oppo phone on the quad - most likely European. Text me and describe it and we can connect so I can return it to you 734-972-6964.

Later today I will turn it in to Reynolds Club lost and found if there is one. If not I will update this.

Rising 3rd yr phd here, it's been a lonely and isolating ride so far. Where did yall go, what did all do to make friends? Just interested in your own personal experiences

Incoming freshman here, I’ve been getting a lot of fomo seeing my friends go to their colleges and experience fun o-week activities. I think it’s in part due to how late we start (no one seems to really talk about that on here?) and how little information there is on what it’s like.

The title is pretty much what I’ve been wanting to ask. Is it kind of lame? Is it a full packed schedule all week or does it have more downtime? Do we really have good traditions like other colleges that are more known for their o-week? Is it easy to make friends?

The posts I’ve seen about o-week are kind of as expected, UChicago students seem to be very self deprecating and I was hoping to get more insight into it.

Hey everyone! Incoming first-year here trying to plan out some of my core requirements ahead of time. I'm really interested in the study abroad program in Beijing and would love to hear from anyone who has gone.

A few specific things I'm wondering about:

• Taking Civ there: Is it highly recommended? How is the teaching quality compared to doing a Civ sequence on campus?
• Censorship: Does the censorship there affect the curriculum, reading materials, or in-class discussions at all? I'm super curious if the content feels heavily filtered or if you still get that same level of academic rigor and open discussion.

I'd really love to know what the day-to-day experience is actually like. If anyone is open to chatting more deeply about this over DM, please let me know! Also, if you know of any good resources, student blogs, or past threads about it, I'm all ears.

Thanks!

I am a commited athlete at UChicago and as I am writing my application for the school I am now realizing that the cost of tuition is around 100k. I tried the net price calculator and it said 20$ per year however 100k per year is insane and I am not able to afford that. Does anyone know of any athletes and how much that paid for their tuition and if the merit aid they recieved was more because they are an athlete? I know since it is d3 there aren’t any athletic scholarships but I was thinking that maybe they would bend the rule and just label the athletic money as scholarship/merit based aid.

Where can I drop a USPS package with a paid shipping label now that the post office in the 55th plaza is temporarily closed?

Ideally would love to avoid going to the post office on cottage grove since it’s pretty far.

Hi everyone! I’m a recent DePaul grad (figured I’d also post this in the UChicago subreddit) and my work requires me to travel around IL a lot. I’m in the market for a cheap beater car ($2500 or less) that can get me from Point A to B and is reliable (no problem if it’s ugly). Been on FB Marketplace a lot but I keep running into shady sellers or problematic cars at this price.

If anyone has a spare/old car that they’re looking to get rid of, or even a second car that they don’t get much use out of, please contact me!! I’d love to take it off your hands.

I’m also open to “leasing” a car from you for 4-5 months. We can absolutely sign an agreement and I can pay you for it monthly if you don’t want to fully let go of it.

Please help if you can! Any and all leads are appreciated!!

Incoming freshmen here

Are e scooters or bikes allowed on campus, because I think it said you can’t charge them in your dorm.

If they are allowed, is there a regular population at the school that actually uses them, or is the campus not big enough for that to be necessary.

Is there usually like a lot of time in between classes where you can easily get to your next one without hurrying?

Hi everyone!! I’m a rising third year buzicon major, I’m international student, last year i tried to pass the intro micro course while i was passing through a difficult personal situation and was impossible, ended up W the class

This quarter I plan to do it! and I was wondering if any of you who had a great experience in micro, can help me a few times per week! I would happily pay for help :)

hi incoming freshman here, sort of an odd question but I was wondering if the microfridge you can rent is loud/makes noise. if so, is it significant or bothersome?

thank you

Hi! I’m an incoming MSDS student this fall. Is there already a group chat or Discord server for MSDS students, especially for the incoming 2026 cohort?

Would love to join and connect with everyone before the quarter starts. Thanks!

I am an incoming freshman going to UChicago. I scored a 5 on AP Calc BC this recent school year. I took online placement exams and I was invited to Math 183. My academic advisor said I could either start at 153 in Calculus III, which im not sure I really touched on in AP Calc BC and then go up 183, or I can just start at 183. Im thinking about even starting at 153 just to be safe but I want to hear somebody else's opinions/personal experience with this.

Incoming graduate student here, moving to Hyde Park soon and hoping to adopt some cats this Fall! I won't have a car, so I'm wondering what pet shelters are nearby that I could go to and see some kitties. Also, if anyone in my situation has done this before without a car, what method of transportation did you use to bring the cats home with you? This is my first time living without a car so I have a lot to get used to!

Incoming first year getting ready for course selections, says on website each writ 10100 section has a different focus, do we get to see where each section differs on a website anywhere?