Class of 2010

Skip to: Page Content | Important Links

Login


This feature is no longer available for the class of 2010.


Look

Return to Home

Alphabet Soup

  • A – Level: Floor below the ground-floor of the Reg where overnight study-space is available.
  • Admin: Administration Building. There are lots of offices there.
  • Adviser: Someone to go to when you’re not sure where to go. They are especially helpful in making sure you graduate on time
  • All-Nighter: As in “to pull an all-nighter.” A last, desperate attempt to get the paper in on time or cram everything you didn’t learn all quarter into your head.
  • ASU: Asian Students Union
  • Authcode: Whole bunch of numbers you will likely forget but which you must first dial before calling an off-campus phone number.
  • BS/BA:
    1. Nagging Spring Quarter worry for many fourth-years, preceded by the onset of senioritis.
    2. A really nice piece of paper you get at graduation
  • Bart Mart: (AKA Maroon Market) Convenience-style store located on the first floor Bartlett Dining Hall, also a source of late night snacks for on-campus students, and a place to spend flex-dollars.
  • Big Problems: A set of Interdisciplinary Courses dealing with matters of “global or universal” concern. One may only take these courses as a third or fourth year student.
  • BioSci/BSLC: Building hidden to the northwest of the quads where several bio classes are taught.
  • BJ: Burton Judson Court
  • Blackstone: Dormitory on campus where quite a few third-and fourth-years reside.
  • Botany Pond: Lovely body of water located on the Quads just south of Regenstein. It has fish in it.
  • Broadview: A 20’s “gentlemen’s” hotel converted into a dorm.
  • CAPS: Career Advising and Planning Services. Located in Ida Noyes Hall, it provides career-development and job-search resources.
  • C-Bench: A gift from the Class of 1903, in front of Cobb Hall. Acoustically perfect
  • Chicago (U of C) Lakeview Express: #173 bus providing convenient, safe, late-night transportation between Hyde Park and various hot spots downtown and on the North Side. That is if it ever comes or you are lucky enough to catch it.
  • CHAA: College Honors Awards Assembly
  • Chronicle: Newspaper put out by the University News Office.
  • Civ: Pronounced “Siv” Civilizations Core
  • CLR: Chicago Literary Review. A Lit paper published quarterly in the Chicago Maroon
  • Co-op:
    1. Seminary Coop Bookstore where you will buy many of the books required for Social Sciences and Humanities classes until you realize it’s cheaper to do so through other outlets.
    2. Hyde Park Cooperative Society. Two local supermarkets, one at 53rd and Woodlawn and the other at 55th and S Lake Park Ave.
  • Core: Set of classes which provide the groundings for the College’s liberal arts education. Take these if you want to graduate.
  • COUP: Council on University Programming, organizers of several annual celebrations on campus
  • CPO: College Programming Office: Organizers of Class development events in the College.
  • Crerar: Science library notorious for creating an atmosphere for hard-core studying. Also the source of a USITE where STATA is readily available.
  • Crerar Creature/Critter: Those masochistic undergrads who somehow manage to get twenty-four-hour passes to Crerar and are never seen by daylight
  • Crown: Also HC, Henry Crown, the old gym and field house.
  • C-Shop: Popular coffee shop located in the Reynolds club. Also home to an Einstein Bros. Bagels.
  • CTA: Chicago Transit Authority.
  • CTS: Chicago Theological Seminary.
  • CUSA: Chinese Undergraduate Students Association
  • CWAC: (Quack) Cochrane-Woods Art Center
  • Dean’s List: Get a 3.25 gpa or higher and you can be on the Dean’s List.
  • Div School: Divinity School
  • Doc: Documentary Film Group which shows movies at the Max-Palevsky Theater located in Ida Noyes Hall. Each day of the week has a movie theme with popular/recent movies shown on weekends.
  • Dollar Shake Day: Wednesdays at the C-shop. Shakes are a dollar.
  • El: Elevated portion of the mass-transit system run by the CTA
  • E-mail: Something you will compulsively check, especially when you don’t want to do work.
  • Extension: Something you seek when your all-nighter fails. (See All-Nighter)
  • Facebook: Student Stalker Network—online profiles of any number of students from any number of colleges.
  • FacEx: Faculty Exchange: Intra-university mailing system.
  • Flex Dollars: Almost like fake money on your UCID, except that you have to buy them and they are only accepted at limited places around campus (C-shop, Hutch, and dining halls)
  • Flying Rocks: Astrophysics I, II, III
  • Freshman: Correct term is “First-Year”
  • GMAT: Graduate Management Aptitude Test
  • God Quad: Grassy area outside the Div School
  • Grad School: Place where people go after College to put off the “real world.”
  • GRE: Graduate Record Examination
  • Hafen’s Folly: The $10,000 centennial swing hear Hitchcock Hall, which is nice but is in no way worth the exorbitant price tag.
  • Happy Half-Hour: Hollowed Grounds, a coffee shop in the Reynolds Club, offers half-priced candy and soda during every weeknight showing of The Simpsons.
  • HARC: Housing Activities Resource Council. A funding organization made up of students elected from each residence hall that promotes campus activities involving students from different dorms.
  • Harold’s: Chicago chicken chain. Several people know when to go to Harold’s the day before they change the grease to get the most flavor-full chicken.
  • Harper:
    1. Harper Memorial library, that big building with the two towers—home to your College adviser.
    2. The picturesque library on the third floor of Harper. 3) William Rainey Harper, Chicago’s first President.
  • Harper Fellow: Ph.D. hired to teach certain core courses.
  • HBC: Human Being and Citizen. Hum class.
  • Herald: Hyde Park Herald. Neighborhood newspaper
  • HIPS: History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine. A major for students studying the historical development, conceptual structure, and social role of science.
  • HKSA: Hong Kong Students Association
  • Hum: Pronounced “Hume,” Humanities Core
  • Hutch:
    1. Hutchinson Commons, a dining hall that is modeled after Christ Church Hall at Oxford and is connected to the Reynolds Club C-Shop. It houses a food court as well as many large portraits of past University Presidents.
    2. The courtyard bounded by Hutch, the Reynolds Club, and Mandel Hall.
  • Hutchins: Robert Maynard Hutchins, former President of the University of Chicago who pulled Chicago out of the Big Ten.
  • Hyde Park: Home of the University of Chicago.
  • Ida: Ida Noyes Hall
  • IHC: Inter-House Council. Group of student selected from each house within a residence hall who discuss topics pertinent to the dorms, transportation, and dining.
  • I-House: International House. Building that offers housing and activities to students as well as to visitors. International House Films shows movies in the auditorium every quarter.
  • IM: Intramural Sports.
  • Jackson Park Express: The #6 bus used to be known as the Jeffery Express, but a change in route has landed it a new name: The Jackson Park Express.
  • JELLY: Jugglers Enriching Lives Like Yours. Also including the circus group on campus.
  • Jimmy’s: (Woodlawn Tap) The off-campus student watering hole
  • KSO: Korean Students Organization
  • Kuvia: Kuviasungnerk and Kangeiko winter festival
  • LA: Laboratory Assistant
  • Labbie: University of Chicago Laboratory Schools student.
  • Loop: Chicago’s downtown area, which derives its name from the formation that the elevated train tracks make.
  • LRS: Little Red Schoolhouse. Very popular course that teaches students to write clear, unpretentious academic prose
  • MAB: Major Activities Board, in charge of bringing entertainers to campus.
  • Maclean: Dorm at 54th and Ingleside
  • Mardi Gras:
    1. A popular destination for Chicago students who are seeking the notorious experience.
    2. A yearly festival sponsored by COUP for those students who are unsuccessful in their attempts to attend the real thing.
  • Maroon:
    1. The official University of Chicago student newspaper is the Chicago Maroon. Purported to contain accurate news of current events. The Orientation issue is great.
    2. The School color
  • Maroon Thunder: Lifesaving helicopter-ambulance that drowns out class discussions when en route to Mitchell Hospital
  • Maroons: University of Chicago’s varsity athletes
  • Master:
    1. head of collegiate division.
    2. Senior member of the faculty or administration who lives in a residence hall (RM)
  • Max:
    1. The dormitory Max Mason, according to older popular usage.
    2. Max Palevsky Residential Commons, also known as Max P.
    3. Max Palevsky Cinema in Ida Noyes Hall.
  • MCAT: Medical College Admission Test
  • Metra: Formerly known as the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (IC), this is a slightly more expensive but also more comfortable way to go downtown on public transportation.
  • Midway Plaisance: Strip of garden between 59th and 60th streets once host to the World’s Fair.
  • MSA: Muslim Students Association
  • MUNUC: The Model UN at the U of C.
  • NASA: Native American Students Association
  • NCD: New Collegiate Division. An interdisciplinary division of the College, specializing in non-traditional majors—Environmental Studies; Fundamentals: Issues and Texts; Law, Letters, and Society; Religious Studies; and Tutorial Studies.
  • O-Aide: Orientation Aide. Makes sure your Orientation Week rocks.
  • OBS: Organization of Black Students
  • OLAS: Organization of Latin American Students
  • Ombudsperson: Deals with problems regarding academics, financial aid, housing, health service, etc.
  • OMSA: Office of Multicultural Student Affairs
  • ORCSA: Office of the Reynolds Club and Student Activities. Student activities office, located in the Reynolds Club with another office in Ida Noyes.
  • PE: Physical Education.
  • P/F: Taking a course but not for a quality grade (A, B, C, D, F).
  • PHE: Peer Health Educator
  • PhySci: Core physical sciences sequence, not sci-fi
  • PicBook: Booklet with self-submitted pictures of the students in a class. Best way to stalk other students before the advent of the facebook.
  • Pit:
    1. The student-run café in the basement of BJ.
    2. The scary closed-in alley that is the scenic view that some residents of the Broadview enjoy every time they look out their window.
  • Point:
    1. The Promontory Point at 55th Street and Lake Michigan.
    2. What many professors encourage you to find when writing papers
  • Pre-Med: What many entering students are and what few graduating students will be.
  • Procrastinate: Any number of activities accompanied by a nagging guilt that you should be doing something better.
  • Professor: Teaches courses.
  • PSAC: Prospective Students Advisory Committee
  • Pub: A small pub located in the basement of Ida Noyes Hall. Membership is $5 with UCID.
  • Q&A: Queers and Associates
  • Quads: Quadrangles. The central plots of land around which the campus is built.
  • Quantrell: Prize for excellence in undergraduate teaching
  • Query: Q. no grade was submitted or your taking an incomplete was not noted. Becomes a W after the 4th week of the following quarter.
  • Rat, the: Ratner, the newest gym
  • Reader: Free weekly newspaper
  • Reading Period: Thursday and Friday of tenth week. Technically, professors may not teach or have anything due on these days…
  • The Reg: The Regenstein Library: Large library where many sleepless nights may be spent.
  • Reg rat: They may emerge to go to classes, but they live in the reg
  • Reggin’ it: Spending lots of time at the reg.
  • Resident Assistant: RA. Third- and Fourth-year students etc
  • Resident Head: Graduate students and staff living in the houses and heading the houses in the housing system
  • Resident Master: Faculty members and their families living in the dorms on campus, heading the dorms of the housing system
  • Reynolds Club/RC: Building located at 57th and University, also home to many RSO’s and ORCSA.
  • Robbie House: Crazy house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and located at 58th and Woodlawn.
  • Rockefeller:
    1. the man who bankrolled the beginning of the U of C.
    2. Enormous non-denominational chapel
  • Rocks for Jocks: Affectionate name for core course usually billed as “Ice Age Earth.”
  • RSO: Recognized Student Organization
  • RSVP: Resources for Sexual Violence Prevention
  • RTA: Regional Transportation Authority
  • SAMSU: Singaporean and Malaysian Students Union
  • SASA: South Asian Students Association
  • Scav Hunt: A large annual scavenger hunt held in the spring.
  • SCC: Student Care Center
  • SCRS: Student Counseling and Resource Sources
  • Senior: Fourth-year student’s ego-boosting term.
  • SG: Student Government
  • Shoreland: Large converted hotel which serves as a dorm far from campus. Soon to be replaced by a “new dorm” south of the Midway.
  • Soc: Pronounced “Sosh,” the Social Sciences Core
  • SLS: Federal Supplemental Loans for Students
  • Socratic Method: Method of teaching employed in several courses. Involves repeatedly asking questions and hoping somebody in the class knows the answers.
  • S.S.U-Chicago: Ratner Athletics Center
  • SSA: School of Social Service Administration
  • Stacks: Seemingly never-ending shelves of books in the Reg. Site of many an embarrassing make-out session.
  • Stagg:
    1. Amos Alonzo Stagg, the University’s first athletics director.
    2. Stagg Field, located at 55th and Cottage Grove
  • Stony: Short for Stony Island
    1. Street.
    2. Apartment style dorm
  • Study Break: Break from studying. Often a source of sustenance when you are out of meal points or haven’t been to the grocery store in a long time.
  • TA: Teaching Assistant
  • Tenth Week: Last week of classes in a quarter, immediately before finals week.
  • That One/Kid: Popular epithet used to describe that really annoying boy/girl in one of your classes (mostly in core classes).
  • UCID (aka Chicago Card): Your plastic ticket to the resources on campus.
  • Ultimate: Ultimate Frisbee
  • UT: University Theater
  • (W)HPK: WHPK Radio. The University’s very own radio station that broadcasts from the top of the Reynolds Club.
  • Withdraw: W. Received when you drop a class after third week.
  • Work/Study: Federal Work/Study Program that funds campus jobs.

Back to Top