UChicago 2011 here as well, except actually class of 2010 because I couldn't afford to keep paying the tuition as my parents were both unemployed due to the fin

UChicago 2011 here as well, except actually class of 2010 because I couldn't afford to keep paying the tuition as my parents were both unemployed due to the financial crisis. I remember the financial aid office saying they could use the last two or three years of prior income rather than consider unemployment as a current and urgent condition. They literally said something along the lines of, "Your parents are smart, they will find a job soon, statistically speaking." They also capped my work at 20 hours a week as an employee of the University, which made it really fun for various departments to pay me via bonuses instead. I feel you, and had a very similar experience academically and socially. It's not easy to get by minimal GPA filters when math professors declared that a C would be a great grade worthy of a good recommendation to a PhD in math. There's no easy way to tell that to an HR screener! I also found to great sadness by the end of my first year that I had more online friends than classmate friends. Looking back, it seems this was the time when the university just started to realize that it needed to prepare students for practical work. And that sort of experience can be gained at a lot of different universities.