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I'm a UoC comp sci alumnus working at silicon valley startups since graduation in '08. Though a fantastic place in many ways, it's not one to encourage actually

I'm a UoC comp sci alumnus working at silicon valley startups since graduation in '08. Though a fantastic place in many ways, it's not one to encourage actually building stuff. If you're a hacker who loves to see code run and solve real world problems you may be frustrated at the UoC. I was :) on the other hand, if you go through with their BS degree in CS then you will have learnt a lot of fascinating theory. Best of luck my friend! And ping me at marcuswestin@gmail.com to say hi or if you have any questions. Cheers :)

superuser2 14y ago
I "prospied" last weekend and the professor I met at Hack Night said that the systems side of the department has a stronger focus in that area, though he may be in the minority there. The theory side is interesting as well, though I don't want to get too far away from reality. Thanks so much! This is why I love HN. I will definitely be in touch.
- mvzink 14y ago
  Now I regret missing hack night last week! I hope you got to meet some of our outstanding crew. Sounds like you talked to Borja. I had the good fortune to meet him when I visited and probably wouldn't have even bothered with a 4 year college if I hadn't. Here's hoping your essay does the trick! Shoot me an email if you want to discuss UChicago: mvz@mvz.so
bwaldrep 14y ago
UofC fourth-year CS major here. While the department is still heavily focused on theory, over the last three years it has greatly improved its offerings as far as practical hacking goes. In the last two years alone several new systems faculty have been hired and the student hacker rso has grown dramatically. http://hack.uchicago.edu http://hack.uchicago.edu
wdr1 14y ago
> If you're a hacker who loves to see code run and solve real world problems you may be frustrated at the UoC I graduated from the U of C in '97. Did the startup thing for a while, then went on to Yahoo & Google. In my early career, I used to lament the fact that the U of C hadn't taught me various "practical" things. I was shocked the first time I heard a coworker mentioned they had a class on just a programming language. Eventually, I grew to appreciate that those "practical" things both change & are relatively easy to learn on your own. Whereas an academic environment is a much easier place to learn things like theory. Not to say they need to be mutually exclusive, just to say there is value in the emphasis on theory. All that said, and as much as I love the U of C, I'd tell a high school kid interest in Comp Sci to go to Stanford, U of I, or CMU.
mvzink 14y ago
Indeed, the department has changed a bit recently, and the student hacker community is thriving. Theory is still strong, but I would like to add to bwaldrep's point by noting that a few classes are (now) dominated by actually building stuff: in Networks, students build an IRC server, a stripped-down TCP stack, and a rudimentary IP router from scratch; in Operating Systems, students fill in some of the interesting parts of threading, virtual memory, user programs (i.e. implementing system calls), and file system access in the Pintos educational kernel; in Databases, students build a stripped down SQLite-alike database library. That doesn't necessarily discount your point about frustration, but my impression is that the situation has 'improved' (I'm not one to make normative claims though). In any case, as a math-disinclined hacker, I've been very happy with the courses I've taken. Aside: I encourage you to drop by a hack night and see what's going on if you find yourself in Chicago on a Friday evening. We love having alums visit and talk about what they are doing!
rayiner 14y ago
I got my degree in a non-CS engineering field. As a working programmer I never regretted not having classes where I built stuff. Always did regret hitting a problem where I knew there was an applicable theoretical framework that I hadn't been exposed to in school.

superuser2 14y ago

I "prospied" last weekend and the professor I met at Hack Night said that the systems side of the department has a stronger focus in that area, though he may be in the minority there. The theory side is interesting as well, though I don't want to get too far away from reality. Thanks so much! This is why I love HN. I will definitely be in touch.

mvzink 14y ago
Now I regret missing hack night last week! I hope you got to meet some of our outstanding crew. Sounds like you talked to Borja. I had the good fortune to meet him when I visited and probably wouldn't have even bothered with a 4 year college if I hadn't. Here's hoping your essay does the trick! Shoot me an email if you want to discuss UChicago: mvz@mvz.so

bwaldrep 14y ago

UofC fourth-year CS major here. While the department is still heavily focused on theory, over the last three years it has greatly improved its offerings as far as practical hacking goes. In the last two years alone several new systems faculty have been hired and the student hacker rso has grown dramatically. http://hack.uchicago.edu http://hack.uchicago.edu

wdr1 14y ago

> If you're a hacker who loves to see code run and solve real world problems you may be frustrated at the UoC I graduated from the U of C in '97. Did the startup thing for a while, then went on to Yahoo & Google. In my early career, I used to lament the fact that the U of C hadn't taught me various "practical" things. I was shocked the first time I heard a coworker mentioned they had a class on just a programming language. Eventually, I grew to appreciate that those "practical" things both change & are relatively easy to learn on your own. Whereas an academic environment is a much easier place to learn things like theory. Not to say they need to be mutually exclusive, just to say there is value in the emphasis on theory. All that said, and as much as I love the U of C, I'd tell a high school kid interest in Comp Sci to go to Stanford, U of I, or CMU.

mvzink 14y ago

Indeed, the department has changed a bit recently, and the student hacker community is thriving. Theory is still strong, but I would like to add to bwaldrep's point by noting that a few classes are (now) dominated by actually building stuff: in Networks, students build an IRC server, a stripped-down TCP stack, and a rudimentary IP router from scratch; in Operating Systems, students fill in some of the interesting parts of threading, virtual memory, user programs (i.e. implementing system calls), and file system access in the Pintos educational kernel; in Databases, students build a stripped down SQLite-alike database library. That doesn't necessarily discount your point about frustration, but my impression is that the situation has 'improved' (I'm not one to make normative claims though). In any case, as a math-disinclined hacker, I've been very happy with the courses I've taken. Aside: I encourage you to drop by a hack night and see what's going on if you find yourself in Chicago on a Friday evening. We love having alums visit and talk about what they are doing!

rayiner 14y ago

I got my degree in a non-CS engineering field. As a working programmer I never regretted not having classes where I built stuff. Always did regret hitting a problem where I knew there was an applicable theoretical framework that I hadn't been exposed to in school.