University of Chicago

The University of Chicago (U of C) is a research university in the United States, widely known for its professional schools: medicine, business, law and sociology. The University of Chicago has played an important role in the development of various scientific disciplines and trends. The concepts of “Chicago School of Economics”, “Chicago School of Law”, as well as schools of literary criticism, religion, political science are inextricably linked with the U of C. The University of Chicago is focused on studying and solving long-term problems, fundamental research and deep theoretical knowledge. Within the walls of the university, revolutionary discoveries were made in the field of chemistry, physics, and biology.

Building the University of Chicago

The University of Chicago campus sits on 215 acres, seven miles south of Chicago’s main business district. On the campus there are educational buildings built in the neo-Gothic style. Nearby is a botanical garden. Residential residences are located near Hyde Park on the shores of Lake Michigan. The university has a large library, which is located in 6 buildings. The university has 250 buildings. Some of them are on the National Historic Register of Monuments.

The Chicago Press is the largest university publisher in the United States. The university has its own observatory. Students have the opportunity to conduct research in the laboratories of the University of Chicago. The University of Chicago is part of the Fermi Research Alliance, which operates the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, located in the suburbs of Chicago.

At the turn of the century, the university campus was significantly expanded, new buildings and large research institutes appeared: Milton Friedman Institute, Max Palevsky Residential Commons, Gerald Ratner Athletics Center.

Scientific achievements of the University of Chicago

  • The university has a dozen research institutes and 113 research centers, where research is carried out in a variety of areas. Economist Milton Friedman, physicist Enrico Fermi conducted their scientific research here, John T. Cacioppo, one of the founders of social neuroscience, and other world-famous scientists worked here.
  • Geneticist Janet Davison Rowley proved that cancer is hereditary.
  • Within the walls of the University of Chicago, they described the main properties of the concept of a free-market economy.
  • University researchers found that people are most happy between the ages of 65 and 85.
  • The university found that reading classical literature has a positive effect on the brain.
  • Several chemical elements were discovered at the University of Chicago, including americium.
  • University paleontologists have discovered a new species of dinosaurs.

Why You Should Apply to the University of Chicago

  • The University of Chicago is an international university with a friendly atmosphere, 20 percent of students come here from hundreds of countries around the world.
  • The university is conveniently located near the center of one of the most elegant and beautiful cities in the world, students can visit one of 200 theaters, 50 museums or 7000 restaurants in Chicago.
  • The university has more than 350 interest clubs. Among them is the oldest student film club in the United States. The theater club is the largest among the university communities of the university.
  • The University of Chicago has 19 sports teams.
  • The MBA programs at the University of Chicago are considered among the best in the world. It was in the U of C that the Executive MBA program was first launched in the middle of the 20th century.
  • The University of Chicago Library is one of the largest university libraries in the world. Students in it are served by a robot. The cost of building this library building was $81 million.

Scholarships and grants at the University of Chicago

The university has a program “Without barriers” – The No Barriers , according to which you can receive financial assistance, based on the financial situation of the student. In addition, the Odyssey Scholarships program was launched, sponsored by an anonymous University of Chicago alumnus in the amount of $100 million. The program provides enhanced academic stipends to students from low-income backgrounds, as well as guaranteed payment for a summer internship or research project (in this case, the minimum stipend is $4,000).

Academic Scholarships of the University of Chicago – CPS Scholarship – are awarded to gifted students, while the financial situation does not affect the receipt of the scholarship. The award is given to students who have distinguished themselves in their studies and social activities. The scholarship is awarded for 4 years of study at the university. The same principle is used to select students for Merit Scholarships, which provides support to gifted students during their undergraduate studies for 4 years.

The National Achievement Scholars program is open to students with high academic performance and merit in research and community service. Winners receive $4,000 per year.

The University of Chicago Collaborative Seed Grant Program annually selects promising research projects for students and scientists. The program funds research projects for collaborative research between the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, and the Fermilab accelerator laboratory. Research is allocated from 50 to 100 thousand dollars a year.

Faculties and features of admission to the University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is organized into six professional schools, as well as a school of continuing education. These are the school of divinity, the school of business, the school of law, as well as the schools of medicine, public policy, and social services. There are interdisciplinary programs that allow you to get a double diploma. The university has preparatory and language courses.

The list of documents that foreign applicants must provide for admission varies depending on the school. For admission to the main areas, you will need a standard list of papers: certificate / diploma of education , application for admission, registration fee (75 US dollars), recommendations from former teachers , TOEFL results (minimum 104, for fields in physics – at least 90) or IELTS (minimum 7). ACT or SAT scores are also required for admission . Subject SAT results are not accepted at the university.

Application for admission and documents can be submitted remotely on the Universal Application (www.universalcollegeapp.com) or Common Application (www.commonapp.org).

Documents must be provided in the original language with an official translation.

International exchange programs at the University of Chicago

In addition to cooperation with well-known US universities (Northwestern University, University of Illinois, Cornell University ), the University of Chicago has exchange and internship programs with leading universities in other countries. The joint program of Yonsei University (Seoul, Korea) involves continuing studies at Yonsei University in a number of areas. A joint program with the University of Chile (Cooperative Program University Chile) allows you to get a master’s degree at a partner university.

There are research internship programs at leading US laboratories: for example, the Marine Biological Laboratory (Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts), which conducts research on global climate change, microbial evolution, cell biology, neuroscience and regenerative biology.

Interesting facts about the University of Chicago

  • Students at the University of Chicago call their alma mater “the place where the fun ends.”
  • Billionaire David Booth donated $300 million to the university, the largest donation in the university’s history. Today, the business school is named after Booth.
  • One day, a package arrived at the University of Chicago addressed to Indiana Jones, which contained the diary of Indiana’s mentor Abner Ravenwood. University staff could not understand why the package was sent to the university.
  • Barack Obama taught at the university from 1992 to 2004. By the way, for a long time – from 2005 to 2014 – Sam Kass, who received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago, served as the chef of Barack Obama and the White House.
  • Researchers at the University of Chicago and Pennsylvania have collected statistics on the magic of numbers with zeros on the end. The project resulted in an interesting study: it turned out that the magic of numbers really exists: for example, many examinees prefer to retake an exam if they lack 1-2 points to a round value.

Notable University of Chicago Alumni

  • The creator of the theory of monetarism, an outstanding economist and Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman graduated from the University of Chicago, where he was awarded a doctorate.
  • Psychologist and deception expert Paul Ekman is a graduate of the University of Chicago. It was he who became the prototype of the protagonist in the American television series “Lie to me” (Lie to me).
  • Biologist James Dewey Watson became one of the discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Watson is a graduate of the University of Chicago.
  • American satirist Kurt Vonnegut holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago.
  • Film director, screenwriter of films about Indiana Jones Philip Kaufman is a graduate of the university.
  • Mike Nichols is an Academy Award-winning director (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), a graduate of the University of Chicago.
  • The famous astronomer Edwin Hubble graduated from the University of Chicago, then received his doctorate here. At the beginning of the 20th century, he determined that the Universe extends beyond the Milky Way, then made several more revolutionary discoveries. The Hubble Space Telescope was named after the scientist.