Sunday, November 07, 2004

Showdown: Undergrads vs. grad students [UPDATED]

By the time most college students at Chicago reach their third or fourth years, they've had classes (if not other things) with grad students. And, from what I've heard from various sources, and have confirmed with my own observations, undergrads at Chicago seem more like the school's grad students, or like grad students in general, than is the case at other universities, sharing cross-listed classes and eccentricities, not to mention a tendency to wear far too much tweed. So my friend and fellow 4th year Kate and I were shocked--shocked!--when we overheard a man telling the woman he was sitting with at a cafe this afternoon that U of C undergrads (presumably in comparison to U of C grad students) are incapable of reading and writing English.

("Like, hi!" I said quietly to Kate, twirling a strand of my hair. We then returned to our homework.)

It was later confirmed that this man was, as suspected, a grad student: as he was leaving, I told Kate how one of our friends, the previous evening, had drunkenly told me that grad students are bad news and are not to be socialized with. "That's terrible advice!" cried the man in the bakery, who'd apparently been eavesdropping on us just as we'd been eavesdropping on him.

UPDATE

Veritable grad student Daniel Moore has responded, in defense of both U of C undergrads and grad students in general.

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