The University of Chicago is a community of about 7500 undergraduates and 11,000 graduate students in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. But it doesn’t feel as urban as you’d think. There are beautiful courtyards with Gothic architecture and lots of grass and ivy, and it feels quite secluded from the bustle of the city. It's the most gorgeous campus I’ve ever been on. Students are required to live on campus for 2 years, and housing is guaranteed for 4. In fact, 60% of students live on campus all 4 years. Here’s why: there are 7 dorms which contain 48 different residential houses. Each of the dorms has its own dining hall with tables for each house marked by a banner – think Harry Potter.

People say that the University of Chicago is where fun comes to die, perpetuated by “Fiske’s Guide to Colleges.” Here’s what I think: if a student is looking for football games, a social scene ruled by Greek life, and all the cool kids from their high school, they’re not going to find those things here. Some colleges are trying to break the stereotype that has defined them, but not the University of Chicago. They know who they are and they know their target audience. Students applying self-select in. They're enormously intellectually curious with average SAT scores of 1520-1560, and ACT scores 34-36; about 70% of applicants submit. In fact, UChicago has a No Harm Testing policy. If a score can’t help you, they won’t consider it.

For supplemental essays, the university holds a contest every year, and students and alumni are invited to submit prompts. Some past questions include “What can actually be divided by zero?” and “So where is Waldo, really?” Students can take a serious or whimsical approach, but if they have no idea how to answer the question, this isn't the place for them. These essays are a great indication of the kind of intellectual inquiry students here call fun. They're proud of the fact that they’re second to last on a list somewhere of party schools; instead, the biggest event of the year is the annual 4-day scavenger hunt, in which teams track down items such as a Michelin tire signed by a Michelin chef and a biblically accurate angel food cake.

A few other nuggets: the art museum loans works of art to students to display in their dorm rooms. The line for this starts early, as it includes works by Picasso, Chagall and Joan Miro. There's an extensive core curriculum so students get a broad foundation across multiple academic areas. They run on a quarter system, and although most students take the summer off, students can to take up to 16 different courses in one academic year – ideal for the student who just loves learning for the sake of learning. Our tour guide told us that class participation is a big part of the final grade in every class, and due to the Socratic teaching style, “Every student graduates with the ability to make a well-reasoned and well-supported verbal argument on the spot.” Not a bad skill to master while in college.