On their second night in Chicago, the students go on their first of many house trips to a restaurant in Chinatown or on the North Side. Within a week, students have attended mandatory information sessions on urban life, living in a diverse community, and safety in the city. They have each signed up for dozens of clubs familiar to them from high school and some they’ve never heard of at the Registered Student Organization (RSO) fair.

While the University of Chicago is in the third largest city in the US, its location in a residential neighborhood seven miles south of downtown gives students the impetus to create their own dynamic campus life with over 400 student organizations. As if that weren’t enough to keep students occupied, all that the city of Chicago has to offer—its music, food, art, theater, and other cultural institutions—is just a short ride away on our extensive public transit system. Chicago and Hyde Park are fascinating, diverse, international, urbane communities. Though students only spend four short years here, the experiences they gain from living in an urban environment will enrich their entire lives.

House trips to the next neighborhood over or to the Indiana Dunes, conversations with house mates at the dinner table, formal and informal gatherings in the house lounge, and events held by clubs and organizations are a big part of student life throughout the year. Though at some point they might allow some memberships to lapse in the interest of concentrating involvement in a select number of activities, and eventually favorite restaurants and clubs and city neighborhoods may become most familiar, and a set of close friends may be the mainstay of a social life, Chicago students are presented with ample opportunities to explore their community of fellow students, their neighborhood, and the city right from the start.