20 Top 12 Lists for the Class of 2012

1. Things to eat and drink in Hyde Park
2. University of Chicago Traditions
3. Campus Events
4. Things that your parents think you should do (and are actually good ideas)
5. Freebies
6. Places to study
7. Things to see
8. Things to avoid (but which you will probably not)
9. Best kept secrets
10. Coffee shops
11. Best transportation methods to see the city
12. Ways to meet people at the University of Chicago
13. Neighborhoods to visit in Chicago
14. Things you should definitely do in Chicago during your college years
15. Places to eat or drink in Chicago
16. Places for PIZZA
17. Festivals in the city
18. Places to see a movie (on campus)
19. Books you will read before you graduate
20. Free Wireless Access Points in Chicago

Back to Top

Things to eat and drink in Hyde Park

1. Gelato under the Metra Tracks (Istria Café)
2. Chocolate Croissant at the Medici Bakery
3. Dollar Shake on Wednesdays from the C-Shop in the Reynolds Club (Einstein Bros. Bagels)
4. 10-cent wings at the pub (in a couple years)
5. Chinese Buns (any time of the year sold by any RSO on campus - in front of Cobb Hall)
6. Coffee at... Divinity School Café, Gargoyle Café (Stuart), GSB, C-Shop, Cobb Coffee Shop, Hallowed Grounds
7. When you really need grease: Original Pancake House, Valois or Salonica
8. Thai at Noodles, Thai 55, Siam, the Snail
9. Fried Chicken at Harold's
10. Free dinner at a study break in Hutch Commons
11. Samosas from Rajun Cajun also available at Cobb Coffee Shop or Hallowed Grounds
12. Middle Eastern food at Cedars or The Nile

Back to Top

University of Chicago Traditions

1. Polar Bear Run
2. Midnight Breakfast
3. Scav Hunt
4. Bagpipes!
5. Kuviasungnerk and Kangeiko
6. Fall Formal
7. New Student Orientation
8. Swim in the lake
9. Senior Week
10. Movies on the Quad
11. The University Seal
12. Shake Day!

Back to Top

Campus Events

1. O-Week!
2. Student Activities & Resources Fair
3. Blues and Ribs
4. Mardi Gras
5. Dance Marathon
6. CPO Events such as Venture to Adventure, Taking the Next Step, and Senior Week
7. Summer Breeze http://coup.uchicago.edu, http://mab1.uchicago.edu
8. RSO Cultural Shows
9. FOTA
10. MAB Concerts
11. Senior Week
12. Midnight Breakfast

Back to Top

Things that your parents think you should do (and are actually good ideas)

1. Venture to Adventure
2. Get a (campus) job
3. Join an RSO
4. Schedule an appointment at CAPS to go over your resume/interview skills
5. Taking the Next Step
6. Attend a career fair
7. Study Abroad
8. Take advantage of Campus Tutors
9. What Matters to Me and Why - faculty brown-bag lunches
10. Study!!
11. Receive college honors at CHA
12. Graduate

Back to Top

Freebies

1. Padfolio for attending Taking the Next Step
2. O-Folio to keep orientation materials in
3. T-shirts for volunteering at any number of events
4. T-shirt for completing Kuvia and Kangeiko
5. Food from study breaks at Hutch at 8:30
6. Food from Midnight Breakfast
7. Class Mug from Alumni House
8. Condoms from the SCC
9. Bouncy balls and Play-Doh from SCRS
10. Free screenings of not-yet-released movies at Doc Films
11. Orientation wallet
12. Money from the DRL (Decision Research Lab)-join the listhost at https://listhost.uchicago.edu/mailman/lists

Back to Top

Places to study

1. The Reg
2. Crerar
3. McCormick Tribune Lounge
4. Hutchinson Commons
5. On the Quads on the first day of Spring
6. Harper Library
7. While walking from your room to your final
8. At the Point
9. Echkart Library
10. In bed... while not napping
11. Coffee Shops
12. Bartlett Lounge

Back to Top

Things to See

1. Court Theater or University Theater for a show: www.courttheatre.org, http://ut.uchicago.edu
2. Movie at Doc Films
3. Cultural Shows
4. Campus Museums: Robie House, Oriental Institute, Smart Museum of Art, Renaissance Society
5. An IM game on the Midway
6. Dean Boyer ride his bike on any given day (even when it's snowing!)
7. Waves in Lake Michigan from the Point
8. Orchestra/Quartet/Musical performance
9. The Polar Bear Run
10. Athletic events
11. Off-Off Campus
12. Spring (hopefully sooner rather than later)

Back to Top

Things to avoid (but which you will probably not)

1. Procrastination
2. Getting lower grades than in high school
3. Common places to study the Sunday before finals week
4. Facebook
5. Spending hours at www.youtube.com
6. Compulsively checking e-mail
7. Eating at the Dining Halls every meal
8. Being caught with a coffee pot or halogen lamp in the dorms
9. Becoming addicted to caffeine
10. Dormcest (Get out, meet new people, have some fun!)
11. Wandering around alone at 3 am
12. O-Week Relationships

Back to Top

Best Kept Secrets

1. Largest Scavenger Hunt in the US
2. First Heisman Trophy winner, and we still have the trophy in Ratner Athletics Center
3. Longest running Collegiate Folk Festival in the country
4. Longest running Student Run Film Society in the country (Doc Films)
5. First self-sustaining nuclear reaction where the football field was, which is now where a library is
6. Founding member of the Big 10
7. original University buildings are connected via underground tunnels
8. Over 80 Nobel Laureate connections to the University—6 are current faculty members
9. Yellow was once the school's color.
10. First woman ever to serve as president of a major research university - Hannah Holborn Gray (1978-1993)
11. Largest university press in the United States
12. The largest refracting telescope ever built - Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin

Back to Top

Coffee Shops

1. Hallowed Grounds
2. Divinity School Café
3. Cobb Coffee Shop
4. Classics Café
5. Gargoyle Café (basement of Stuart)
6. C-Shop in the Reynolds Club (Einstein Bros. Bagels)
7. Ex Libris Café
8. Barnes & Noble Café
9. Third World Café
10. Border's Café
11. Argo Tea
12. Starbucks

Back to Top

Best transportation methods to see the city

1. Find a friend with a car
2. Convince your parents to buy you a car
3. Find the 173... if it ever comes and you are going downtown on a weekend after 5:30
4. Take the 6 (or the 55 to the 6)
5. Take the 55 or the 174 to the Red Line
6. Take the 55 or the 174 to the Green Line
7. Take a cab (About $20 to get to the loop)
8. Take the Metra from 55th, 56th, 57th
9. Bike/Skateboard/Rollerblade along the lake front
10. Walk/Run
11. Maroon Thunder (helicopter)...good luck!
12. The 10 & The 2

Back to Top

Ways to meet people at the University of Chicago

1. Make fun of "That Kid"
2. Join an RSO
3. Be social in your house
4. Join a study-group
5. Leave your dorm room/the library
6. Go to the library (well, the A-Level at the Reg)
7. Eat at the dining halls
8. Go to office hours
9. Speak up in class
10. Community service
11. Visit your class message boards
12. Get a job

Back to Top

Neighborhoods to Visit in Chicago

1. Oldtown
2. Belmont/Lakeview/Boystown
3. Andersonville
4. Wicker Park
5. Bronzeville
6. Wrigleyville
7. Streeterville
8. Greektown
9. Chinatown
10. Devon
11. Pilsen
12. Kenwood

Back to Top

Things you should definitely do in Chicago during your college years

1. Cubs/Sox game http://cubs.mlb.com, http://whitesox.mlb.com
2. "Sunbathe" at North Avenue Beach
3. Take in a comedy show at Second City, Improv Olympic or the Neo-Futurarium
4. Visit the Signature Lounge in the Hancock
5. See the animals at Lincoln Park Zoo, one of the last free zoos in the country
6. See a Concert at Millenium Park
7. Visit at least one museum- The Field Museum,the Shedd Aquarium, The Art Institute, the Museum of Contemporary Art
8. Eat some authentic Chicago pizza
9. Get tickets to a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show
10. Visit the Garfield Park Conservatory
11. Annual class events
12. Swim in Lake Michigan

Back to Top

Places to eat or drink in Chicago

1. Clarks on Belmont
2. Tapas at Café Ba-Ba-Reeba
3. Cheezborger at Billy Goat
4. Nuevo Leon
5. Daley's
6. Saganaki at Greek Islands, Artopolis, Pegasus, Costas- anywhere in Greektown
7. Bubble Tea at Joy Yee's in Chinatown
8. Hot Dogs at the Wiener's Circle
9. Ribs at Twin Anchors in Old Town
10. Tuscany on Taylor Street
11. Blue Elephant on Devon
12. Moonstruck Café (What? There’s nothing wrong with having chocolate for dinner occasionally...)

Back to Top

Places for Pizza

1. Gino's East
2. Giordano's
3. Piece
4. Connie's
5. Lou Malnati's
6. Home Run Inn
7. Uno's
8. Palermo's Pizza at Red Ivy
9. D'agostinos
10. Edwardo's
11. Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinders
12. Pizza Capri

Back to Top

Festivals in the City

1. Chicago Jazz Festival
2. Chicago Outdoor Film Festival
3. Magnificent Mile Lights Festival
4. State Street Thanksgiving Day Parade
5. ZooLights
6. Christkindlmarket
7. Chicago Auto Show
8. South Side St. Patrick's Day Parade
9. Printer's Row Book Fair or the Wells Street Art Fair
10. Taste of Chicago
11. Latin Music Festival
12. Independence Day fireworks at Navy Pier

Back to Top

Places to see a movie (on campus)

1. Doc Films
2. Movies on the Quad/Midway
3. Film studies center in Cobb
4. In the dorm Common Room
5. A friend's apartment
6. On your laptop while in bed
7. Jimmy's (21+ only)
8. Language Commons
9. Hallowed Grounds
10. The Pub (21+ only)
11. Museum of Science and Industry
12. Fire Escape Screenings at Max Palevsky Cinema

Back to Top

Books you will read before you graduate

1. The O-Book!
2. The Republic
3. Marx Engels Reader
4. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
5. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
6. The Interpretation of Dreams
7. The Leviathan
8. Poetics (Aristotle)
9. Nicomacheaen Ethics
10. Naked Economics
11. Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison
12. Spivak’s Calculus

Back to Top

Free Wireless Access Points in Chicago

1. Anywhere on Campus
2. All dorms
3. Any Chicago Public Library
4. Chicago Cultural Center
5. Millennium Park
6. Café Jumping Bean in Pilsen
7. Argo Tea
8. Bobtail Ice Cream Company (owned by UChicago grads)
9. Subway on 55th
10. Third World Café
11. Istria Café
12. Panera Bread

Back to Top

 

College Programming Office • The University of Chicago • Comments on this Site

1116 E. 59th Street • Chicago, IL 60637
Telephone: 773-702-8616 • college-programming@uchicago.edu
All pages on this site © 2007, The University of Chicago