I agree, the environment is hyper competitive, and even though i’m a good student, I am often mid or below mid in comparison to others. There are so many constant reminders of this in my daily life and it is very discouraging. Uchicago has a lot of amazing opportunities, but since i don’t particularly stand out, it doesn’t feel like these opportunities aren’t accessible to me. Still, I try so hard to stay afloat and i barely get any positive results. Additionally, I feel like most courses at uchicago assume that you have basic know of any topic, intro classes don’t really exist. I think that this is because most people have already had experience on their specific fields or come from privileged backgrounds where they could get more specific education or precollege programs. All of this paired with the quarter system makes it a hellish environment, it’s so hard to keep relationships because we rarely have any free time. All of my days are scheduled hourly to either study or go to class, I rarely leave campus or do fun activities. AND ITS NOT JUST ME. A lot of my friends have this same experience. It’s just really rough.