Dinner with Chicago Undergrads

So ,when we went to the dinner at Lou Malnati's, we met with two Chicago undergrads: Simon, who is a rising UChicago junior, as is his friend Courtney.  Simon is also an ILC alum—having attended Columbia University while with the ILC. They both supplied very good information about the school.

One of the most helpful pieces of advice supplied was from Courtney when she stated how UChicago is very helpful with their financial aid. Because she explained how she was a borderline family. A borderline family is someone just barely pushes the line for being eligible for financial aid. This is a very unfortunate position to be in because the college treats it as if you are able to pay for the college yet someone with a few thousand or few hundred less would be considered as someone that would be able to get help. And a lot of families at this cut off line are very stuck and I myself am a borderline family as well and this is something that I always worry about because most colleges have a certain cut off line. And even though I barely exceed the cut off line, I know that there is no way I would be able to pay for college. This is what happened at first with Courtney when she applied for financial aid and didn't get it. However when she went to the UChicago financial aid office they listened to her story and supplied her with financial aid so that definitely shows that UChicago is an understanding and middle class friendly school. This is one of the main factors that makes me want to apply. They also have a lot to give judging by their huge endowment of 7.55 billion dollars.

Also, Simon, who was a public policy major, was interning for the mayor thanks to UChicago, I find it very cool how UChicago was able to supply him with such a higher up internship and especially in a city in Chicago which is the third biggest city in the country, working for the person that makes the rules of the city is definitely impressive and there's no way that the experience won't get him good offers. UChicago, because of its location near the downtown, is able to offer a lot of jobs and internships for people. More than many other universities in cities that aren't as big.

Simon also explained how the school spirit at the school isn't as great as most others. Sports aren't a big deal at the school like a school like Northwestern. Also, they said that their Greek Life was existent, but not prominent. However, Courtney wanted us to remember that it is growing and has the potential to get much bigger.