University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois · Founded 1890
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Test-optional
UChicago does not require the SAT or ACT, and it goes a step further with what it calls a No Harm policy: a score you send is only used if it helps you, and one that would count against you is left out of the review. That applies to domestic, international and transfer applicants alike. Self-reported scores are accepted unless you enroll. Source: collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu (verified September 2026).
About
UChicago is built around argument. Its Core curriculum - sequences in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, taught in discussion classes capped at 19 students and based on primary texts - takes up the first third of the degree before students specialize. The university is also the source of the Chicago Principles, the free-expression statement many other American universities have since adopted.
History
Founded in 1890 and opened two years later on Chicago's South Side, the university was laid out as an interconnected academic village of quadrangles in the English Gothic style of Oxford. Its first president, William Rainey Harper, argued in 1902 that complete freedom of speech on all subjects had been fundamental from the beginning. Scholars and alumni connected to the university have been associated with 101 Nobel Prizes.
What stands out
- A required Core curriculum that fills the first third of the degree
- Core classes are discussion-based and capped at 19 students
- A quarter calendar: three nine-week terms rather than two semesters
- 48 Houses inside seven residence halls, each with its own traditions
- The Chicago Principles on free expression, adopted by many other universities
Popular majors
Campus life
Housing is organized into 48 Houses spread across seven residence halls. A House averages about 80 students drawn from all four years, keeps its own traditions and House Council, and eats at its own table in one of the four dining commons. Traditions run to the eccentric - the annual Latke-Hamantash Debate has been running since 1946, and graduation is called Convocation rather than commencement.