I go to UChicago for undergrad. The culture here is notorious for living up to the "where fun goes to die" motto, which is only half true. But the academic culture is something I'm frankly sick of, PARTICULARLY among the pre meds. I ask "how've u been?" or "how's ur day?" to someone and I get a response that will 99% of the time mention a p-set or a paper. People use how little sleep they get as a sort of badge of honor as they compare their average for the month, or how many midterms they have on any given week. You don't have real conversations with people unless they're your friend. These kids were the top of their classes in high school, so the ego check being in an academic community where exam averages are in the 60s and kids fight to combat the grade deflation certainly makes the compensation understandable.

I say all this partially because I'm fed up with it lol, but also because as I look forward to starting med school this summer, I'm hoping this isn't the culture. I won't be attending Pritzker (not that I think the undergrad culture = the medical school culture), but just going to medical school instantly puts me among pre meds who were the top of their college class, the kids who were simply insufferable in undergrad. I have little faith that adcoms weed these people out as they drool over VERY attractive stats and pubs. But I'm hoping that the sheer variety of backgrounds and institutions my classmates come from (and the fact I won't be attending a T10 research powerhouse where my fellow applicants gunned for) will help create a more pleasant culture with some much needed camaraderie and down-to-earthness.