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Post by sader1970 on Oct 29, 2023 21:43:05 GMT -5
Reading David Brooks’ new book, “How to Know A Person” and he says of his alma mater: “My favorite saying about Chicago is this one: It’s a Baptist school where atheist professors teach Jewish students Saint Thomas Aquinas.”
“The students there still wear T-shirts that read, ‘Sure it works in practice, but does it work in theory?’”
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Post by princetoncrusader on Oct 30, 2023 8:58:21 GMT -5
My wife, an immigrant from Argentina, went to Univ. of Chicago on a Ford foundational fellowship to pursue a doctorate in economics in the late 1980's. She left after earning her Master's. A high school classmate went there for his undergraduate studies starting in the fall of 1975. He transferred to Wisconsin after his sophomore year. Even though they were there in different decades and in different programs they had a remarkably similar description of the institution--"a dreary, high stress university where fun goes to die."
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Post by sader1970 on Oct 30, 2023 9:00:41 GMT -5
Guess why Brooks felt like he fit right in.  |
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Oct 30, 2023 9:51:38 GMT -5
My wife, an immigrant from Argentina, went to Univ. of Chicago on a Ford foundational fellowship to pursue a doctorate in economics in the late 1980's. She left after earning her Master's. A high school classmate went there for his undergraduate studies starting in the fall of 1975. He transferred to Wisconsin after his sophomore year. Even though they were there in different decades and in different programs they had a remarkably similar description of the institution--"a dreary, high stress university where fun goes to die." This calls to mind my younger daughter's visit to Washington University in St. Louis, a school with many similarities to U of Chicago. She went there with a high school friend and her parents as both girls were exploring what colleges to consider. They spent quite some time on campus. Daughter Liz concluded it was not the place for here because "I didn't see a single kid smiling the entire time I was there". |
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Post by newfieguy74 on Oct 30, 2023 10:28:11 GMT -5
We had the same experience when we toured Swarthmore with our daughter. Our tour guide was hard pressed to describe what students did for fun, and made sure to point out that "everyone studies a lot." No thanks.
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Post by Crucis#1 on Oct 30, 2023 12:22:09 GMT -5
A school without a football team is not one I would recommend….
No fun Saturday afternoons…
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Post by mm67 on Oct 30, 2023 12:58:19 GMT -5
A few years ago we were driving around the country & visited schools along the way as we often did. At one point we were in Hamilton NY. The Colgate students were quite serious, tense and most were rushing to wherever. A few weeks later we were in Gainesville, U of Florida campus. Students were relaxed, smiling wearing shorts. Mingling. The difference between the two could not have been more stark. In my day HC was a serious place as was Columbia, my late wife's alma mater. At HC the mantra was study like hell during the week but party on weekends. It did not hold true for all. My wife thought Columbia was an academic"candy store" & loved the academic life. I belonged in Gainesville. HA!
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Oct 30, 2023 13:00:34 GMT -5
A school without a football team is not one I would recommend…. No fun Saturday afternoons… Agreed. Wash U and U Chicago both have football but Swarthmore, as noted, does not |
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Post by mm67 on Oct 30, 2023 13:56:52 GMT -5
One of the deciding factors for me in choosing HC over Georgetown was football. Georgetown did not have a football team at that time. The school might have had a football club. Crisp Autumn afternoons watching HC play football was & is wonderful.
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Post by Crucis#1 on Oct 30, 2023 17:09:38 GMT -5
Even sitting in the rain at Fitton last year and this year has been an enjoyable experience with the exception of one afternoon recently…..
I still feel drenched from the experience of 10/21/23.
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Post by drjack on Oct 30, 2023 17:21:58 GMT -5
At HC the mantra was study like hell during the week but party on weekends. This was very much the case when I graduated in '11. As you said, obviously not for everyone, but is say a good majority. |
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Post by sader1970 on Oct 30, 2023 19:22:04 GMT -5
HC was hard but the friendships made were and are forever.
Being all-male at the time, save co-ed week, we lived for football and basketball and the occasional mixer. Exam week meant movies in Kimball theatre like “King Kong vs. Godzilla” and still the longest, most boring movie that I have ever seen, “The Leopard” with, from memory, Burt Lancaster and the draw for the guys, Claudia Cardinale, and even she couldn’t save that flick.
But my 57 year personal association with the school remains strong of which only 4 were spent living on the hill. Holy Cross must be doing something right!
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Post by hc87 on Oct 30, 2023 20:59:03 GMT -5
HC was very much a "work hard, play hard" school in the '80s....and maybe even moreso in the 70s.....we didn't make the Top 10 Drinking Schools in the nation in The Preppy Handbook (released in 1980) for nothing.  The friendships and connections I've made at/through HC have really been life-altering....I doubt you see too many other tightly connected alumni bases socially/professionally etc, particularly at a school our size, around the country. |
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Post by timholycross on Oct 31, 2023 16:09:04 GMT -5
A school without a football team is not one I would recommend…. No fun Saturday afternoons… quotes from UC's most famous president, Robert Maynard Hutchins: "When I feel like exercising I just lie down until the feeling goes away." "Football, fraternities, and fun have no place in the university. They were introduced only to entertain those who shouldn’t be in the university." "College football: I do not see the relationship of those highly industrialized affairs on Saturday afternoons to higher learning in America." |
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Post by Ignutz on Nov 9, 2023 13:53:31 GMT -5
HC was very much a "work hard, play hard" school in the '80s....and maybe even moreso in the 70s.....we didn't make the Top 10 Drinking Schools in the nation in The Preppy Handbook (released in 1980) for nothing. The friendships and connections I've made at/through HC have really been life-altering....I doubt you see too many other tightly connected alumni bases socially/professionally etc, particularly at a school our size, around the country. I probably should have paid more attention to the “work hard” part in the mid- to late-seventies, but, with good health and great 45+ year friendships, I really have nothing to complain about. If I had it to do over again, I likely wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you, Holy Cross. 💜 |
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Post by longsuffering on Nov 9, 2023 16:52:28 GMT -5
A school without a football team is not one I would recommend…. No fun Saturday afternoons… Agreed. Wash U and U Chicago both have football but Swarthmore, as noted, does not That's why Mama Cass changed her mind and didn't go to Swarthmore. The football revival at Holy Cross has been magical. I'm glad we have a President who is supportive and a fan. |
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Post by WCHC Sports on Nov 9, 2023 16:53:26 GMT -5
Austin Powers taught me Mama Cass died of a ham sandwich.
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Post by timholycross on Nov 9, 2023 17:09:50 GMT -5
The Maroons (the color, not the noun Bugs Bunny used to use to insult someone), went 7-37 in their final Big 10 decade.
Their coaches? First, the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg. His successor? Clark Shaughnessy, another legend who invented the T formation. Couple of stiffs.
Chicago was the alma mater of Jay Berwanger, the first Heisman Trophy winner; who won despite UChicago's 4-4 record.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Nov 9, 2023 18:27:49 GMT -5
Berwanger’s sn (or was it his nephew?) played basketball for bc
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