University
of Chicago
·
ABOUT
Established
in 1856, the University of Chicago is a private research university based in
the urban center of Chicago, the third most populous city in the United States.
Outside of the Ivy League, Chicago is one of America’s top universities, and
holds top-ten positions in various national and international rankings.
Beyond
the arts and sciences, Chicago has a glowing reputation for its professional
schools, including the Pritzker School of Medicine, the Booth School of
Business, and the Harris School of Public Policy Studies. University of Chicago
alumni are responsible for the development of many academic disciplines, such
as sociology, economics, law, and literary criticism.
The
college’s crest sees a phoenix rising from the ashes, a reference to the fire,
foreclosure, and demolition of the Old University of Chicago campus, with the
current University of Chicago emerging triumphantly in its place in 1890. The
old university was founded through a land endowment from the controversial
senator Stephen Douglas, a supporter of slavery who authored the
Kansas-Nebraska act. By contrast, the new University of Chicago was
co-educational and funded through donations from wealthy Chicagoans and the oil
magnet John D. Rockefeller.
Today,
the University of Chicago has approximately 16,000 students enrolled, with a
male to female ratio of 56:44. A quarter of all students hail from overseas, a
nod to the institution’s progressive credentials.
Students
run more than 400 clubs and societies, which consist of a typical mix of sports
teams, arts, cultural and religious groups, academic and political groupings,
and societies that promote eclectic common interests. Among the more famous
examples are the University of Chicago bowl team, which has won 118 tournaments
and 15 national championships, while the university's competitive Model United
Nations team was the top ranked team in North America in 2013–14 and
2014–2015.
If you
have an interest in media and film, then you’re well catered for: the
university is home to the longest continuously running student film society Doc
Films and publishes several newspapers and magazines. Budding thespians can
join renowned improvisational theater troupe Off-Off Campus, or learn how to
broadcast at the university-owned radio station WHPK.
Notable
faculty members past and present include 29 Nobel laureates and former US
president Barack Obama. Illustrious alumni come in practically every field,
including the novelists Philip Roth and Saul Bellow, political movers and
shakers such as pollster Nate Silver and Obama strategist David Axelrod,
pioneering balloonist Jeannette Piccard, and the fictional archaeologist
Indiana Jones.
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