I could probably do Smith!squee at you, because I love love love it there, and it is exactly what I expected it to be, and awesome, but ... that is not extremely helpful.
Instead, possibly more helpfully, I have an extremely close friend who started at UChicago last year; it screwed her up bigtime, and reading what you had to say about it right there was like having second-hand deja vu. She's now temporarily commuting to a local college from her parents' house, and applying to other schools that might not beat her up quite so much. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, while I do not relate to this personally, you are very much not alone here. <3 Good luck with your applications to other places when you do them.
I am all for Smith!squee! :D Go right ahead. It's actually on my Highly Tentative List right now, since you and Courtney seem to be having so much fun-- plus I am hopefully visiting there in a couple months anyway, which is nice.
And, yeah. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who is just starting grad school, and her total weekly workload is about what undergrads at Chicago were getting per class. It's sort of scary and sort of amazing to get hit like that with the fact that UofC's workload is not normal at all.
Well, I don't actually recommend that anyone go to Barnard, because for all of their omg yay awesome women power supportive environment blah speeches, I found a real lack of actual support when I needed it, and honestly felt like I was an outcast if I wasn't some kind of super overachiever.
However, I will recommend Sarah Lawrence as it is a small liberal arts college that is five minutes from my house, and is a good college, academically, without being as snooty as Barnard or as high-stress as UChicago. And I think everyone should move to New York. :P
But I like Chicago :( And, as much as I love my parents, I also like not being within "drive up to visit on weekends" distance.
Of course, then I also complain that I never get to see any of my friends, who mostly live in New England or the tri-state area. So I guess I can't win.
Isn't Sarah Lawrence really politically charged, though? I remember when I was applying to college originally it seemed to have the reputation for being largely a school for extremist left-wing uberfeminists.
I thought that, too, but from what I can tell it's an exaggeration. I mean, the students I see around are definitely not all the superfeminist type, and one of my favorite professors EVER ended up there after Barnard decided not to give her tenure because her book was IN THE PROCESS of being published and OMG NOT ON THE SHELVES YET.
And do you like Chicago for the people or just because you're used to it? Because I think in general people tend to be happier where they've got a lot of friends.
Okay! That is good to know, and I will file it away :D Re Sarah Lawrence and Barnard both, since Barnard sounded pretty good to me a couple of years ago too.
And I do like Chicago for itself quite a bit, but . . . hmm. Like I said, I sort of love and hate the fact that I'm so isolated from everyone I know, because I'm dysfunctional like that. Though, y'know, technically I could hide from people just as well in any large city, if I wanted to, and it'd be nice to at least have the option of seeing people.
You know, you did the most sane thing you could have done by dropping out. Nothing is worth being that miserable. I think my brother's life would have been easier if he'd admitted he hated his course, dropped out and did something else.
I totally dropped out of medical school (it works differently here) and took a couple of years breathing space before going back to study to be a teacher. I'm very happy with my life these days, if that helps at all.
(Forgive me if I already told you this, I have sieve memory)
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Instead, possibly more helpfully, I have an extremely close friend who started at UChicago last year; it screwed her up bigtime, and reading what you had to say about it right there was like having second-hand deja vu. She's now temporarily commuting to a local college from her parents' house, and applying to other schools that might not beat her up quite so much. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, while I do not relate to this personally, you are very much not alone here. <3 Good luck with your applications to other places when you do them.
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And, yeah. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who is just starting grad school, and her total weekly workload is about what undergrads at Chicago were getting per class. It's sort of scary and sort of amazing to get hit like that with the fact that UofC's workload is not normal at all.
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However, I will recommend Sarah Lawrence as it is a small liberal arts college that is five minutes from my house, and is a good college, academically, without being as snooty as Barnard or as high-stress as UChicago. And I think everyone should move to New York. :P
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Of course, then I also complain that I never get to see any of my friends, who mostly live in New England or the tri-state area. So I guess I can't win.
Isn't Sarah Lawrence really politically charged, though? I remember when I was applying to college originally it seemed to have the reputation for being largely a school for extremist left-wing uberfeminists.
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And do you like Chicago for the people or just because you're used to it? Because I think in general people tend to be happier where they've got a lot of friends.
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And I do like Chicago for itself quite a bit, but . . . hmm. Like I said, I sort of love and hate the fact that I'm so isolated from everyone I know, because I'm dysfunctional like that. Though, y'know, technically I could hide from people just as well in any large city, if I wanted to, and it'd be nice to at least have the option of seeing people.
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You know, you did the most sane thing you could have done by dropping out. Nothing is worth being that miserable. I think my brother's life would have been easier if he'd admitted he hated his course, dropped out and did something else.
I totally dropped out of medical school (it works differently here) and took a couple of years breathing space before going back to study to be a teacher. I'm very happy with my life these days, if that helps at all.
(Forgive me if I already told you this, I have sieve memory)
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