One of the things that I treasure most about my experience at UChicago is the way that the university encourages its students to explore new interests and dimensions of those interests throughout their entire four years at UChicago. When I reflect on the past four years- (four years? scary!)- I am stunned by how many new experiences I got to try out. I studied entirely new subjects academically. I got involved in RSOs (registered student organizations) that I didn't even know I was interested in when I got to college. I held several jobs and internships until I figured out what I liked. Throughout all of this, I was able to remain grounded in the creative pursuits that I know and love through the resources UChicago provides. To me, a unique thing about all of this is that many of these experiences have very little to do with my academic or career interests. I got to explore these things because I was curious, and this has allowed me to become the multi-faceted person that I am now. SO much of this was possible as a result of UChicago's quarter system and core curriculum.
This quarter is my final quarter on campus. As nostalgic as that makes me, it also leaves me in awe of the fact that I am still learning new things every single day here. Even in my academic coursework alone, all four courses are brand new subject matter for me! I am taking two introductory courses- Introduction to Art History and Introduction to Religious studies. My other two classes, Choosing Leadership at the Booth School of Business and a linguistics course called The Language of Deception and Humor, have been equally engaging for me with new content matter.
It's amazing to me that in my final courses, I can begin to learn about totally new ideas. In Introduction to Art History, I have not only read some canonical texts that help introduce me to the subject, but we also spend one class session every week visiting an art object or collection in person throughout the city. These trips have been on- and off-campus. On-campus alone, we have already visited art at the Oi (an archeological museum with a beautiful reading room!), the Smart Museum of Art (a contemporary art museum), and the special collections of historical art at our own brutalist Regenstein Library. Throughout the city, I have also had the opportunity to visit monuments and see pieces up close at the Art Institute, which the class instructors organized for us. I am starting to experience a newfound interest in art history that arose simply out of the opportunity to take this elective! In my other introductory class, Introduction to Religious Studies, I have had my worldview challenged and been opened to a variety of new perspectives on religion and the study of religion as it exists within and without academia.
While I have taken several classes at Booth – our graduate school of business here at UChicago- Choosing Leadership with Professor Linda Ginzel has been so unique in its mission to help us apply management and leadership lessons to our own lives, whatever we choose to do after graduation. And I'm sure you can imagine how fun The Language of Deception and Humor is based on name alone! I am analyzing my favorite comedic TikTok series for our midterm (shoutout Simon Hennessy) and have seen so many hilarious comedy bits through this class. It's an amazing way to finish my undergraduate academic career here at UChicago.
I've only taken you through this quarter, but imagine how much else I have been able to explore over the past four years! Now, getting back to how I was able to make this happen. UChicago operates on a quarter system, which means that you can take four courses each quarter for three quarters a year (September through December, January through March, April through June). That means you can take up to twelve completely different courses (there are very few multi-quarter sequences) each year- far more than you need to complete a major, minor, double major, study abroad, and more while graduating on time. This is intentional—UChicago wants you to explore! This is also encouraged through the core curriculum. While the core outlines certain requirements you need to meet, there are many ways to meet this requirement. For example, you might have to get outside of your comfort zone to complete your art credit if you don't consider yourself a modern Picasso, but you can choose between studying art, making physical art, performing, or even watching movies to meet this requirement. More often than not, students explore something new because of the core and then end up loving it and adding this to their major or minor curriculum. And that is super easy to do – you can change or add courses of study through your third year in the college! All in all, UChicago not only allows you to explore academically but also values and supports that in every way possible.