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This site is designed for first-year undergraduate students. Other sites for newly admitted students:
Alphabet Soup
- A - Level: Floor below the ground-floor of the Reg
- Admin: Administration Building; location of both the Registrar and Bursar
- Adviser: The person you go to when you're not sure where to go, 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:
- Nagging Spring Quarter worry for many fourth-years, preceded by the onset of senioritis
- 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; 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
- 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, 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
- Chicago Card: Faster and slightly cheaper than using cash or Transit Cards on Chicago Public Transportation; offers you touch and go speed as you get on the bus/train
- CHA: College Honors Awards
- 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:
- Seminary Co-op 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
- Hyde Park Cooperative Society, local supermarket located at 55th and South Lake Park Avenue
- Core: Set of classes which provide the groundings for the College's liberal arts education, must be taken 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; 24-hour study space; Source of a USITE where STATA is readily available
- Crown: Also HC, Henry Crown, the old gym and field house
- C-Shop: Popular coffee shop located in the Reynolds Club; Home to an Einstein Bros. Bagels and $1 Shake Day every Wednesday
- CTA: Chicago Transit Authority.
- CTS: Chicago Theological Seminary.
- CUSA: Chinese Undergraduate Students Association
- CWAC: Pronounced "Quack," Cochrane-Woods Art Center
- Dean's List: List of students with 3.25 GPA or above
- 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: Offered Wednesdays at the C-shop
- 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 near Hitchcock Hall, which is nice but is in no way worth the exorbitant price tag.
- Happy Half-Hour: Hallowed Grounds, a coffee shop in the Reynolds Club, offers half-priced candy and soda during every weeknight
- 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
- Harper:
- Harper Memorial library, that big building with the two towers, home to your College adviser
- 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; humanities 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:
- Hutchinson Commons, a dining hall that is modeled after Christ Church Hall at Oxford that is connected to the Reynolds Club C-Shop; houses a food court as well as many large portraits of past University Presidents
- 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; hosts 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
- 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:
- A popular destination for Chicago students who are seeking the notorious experience.
- A yearly festival sponsored by COUP for those students who are unsuccessful in their attempts to attend the real thing
- Maroon:
- The official University of Chicago student newspaper is the Chicago Maroon
- 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:
- head of collegiate division.
- Senior member of the faculty or administration who lives in a residence hall (RM)
- Max:
- The dormitory Max Mason, according to older popular usage.
- Max Palevsky Residential Commons, also known as Max P.
- Max Palevsky Cinema in Ida Noyes Hall.
- MCAT: Medical College Admission Test
- Metra: Formerly known as the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (IC), 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 University of Chicago.
- NASA: Native American Students Association
- NCD: New Collegiate Division; an interdisciplinary division of the College, specializing in non-traditional majors - 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
- Pit:
- The student-run café in the basement of BJ.
- 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:
- The Promontory Point at 55th Street and Lake Michigan.
- 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.
- 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.
- RA: Resident Assistant; third or fourth years in the College who assist the RH
- Rat, the: Ratner, the newest gym
- Reader: Free weekly newspaper
- Reading Period: Thursday and Friday of tenth week; professors may not technically teach or have anything due on these days
- 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 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 RSOs and ORCSA.
- RH: Resident Head; Graduate students and staff living in the houses; head of the house
- Robbie House: Crazy house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and located at 58th and Woodlawn.
- Rockefeller:
- the man who bankrolled the beginning of the University of Chicago
- 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, oon 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: Method of teaching employed in several courses, involves repeatedly asking questions and hoping somebody in the class knows the answers
- 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:
- Amos Alonzo Stagg, the University's first athletics director.
- Stagg Field, located at 55th and Cottage Grove
- Stony: Short for Stony Island
- Street.
- 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: 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.

