As students mill around the halls and settle into their fourth period classes, five seniors — Alexander Blander, Jack Colyer, Karis Lee, Krish Khanna and Max Gurinas — exit the high school and head to the University of Chicago for their Honors Calculus I class.

These are just some of the students, among other juniors and seniors who take classes at UChicago to pursue niche interests in a rigorous setting. 

While Karis originally joined Honors Calculus I — the first class in a three-quarter sequence — to take a rigorous math class, she later found an appreciation for the theoretical concepts of the class. 

Karis also gained perspective into what taking college is like. 

Karis said, “Part of me, because I’m graduating this year is like, ‘Oh is this what a college class is like?’”

Junior Ruben Hayrapetyan’s C-programming class also follows a different structure than most U-High classes. 

“It is definitely a more professional setting, and you are not as close with your professor,” Ruben said.

Ruben’s class is offered through UChicago’s master’s program of computer science and is a prerequisite for other university computer science courses Ruben wants to take. So far, the class has taken a lot of his time. 

“Generally, the homework load was like 15 hours a week, so I did not have weekends for a while,” Ruben said. “For the knowledge gain, it was worth it, but if you don’t have the time, don’t overcommit.”

Ruben took the class because of its difficulty and his experience with robotics, and he ended up learning a lot.

“I knew this was not going to be an easy experience,” Ruben said. “But now that I did it, my comfort zone has been stretched massively.”

Taking a college course also offers the opportunity to be exposed to a wide variety of ideas. Senior Raza Zaidi took a quarter-long class titled “Policing in America: Black, White and Blue” during fall 2023 and was surprised with the diversity of opinions among his classmates.

“I think at Lab, we often come from similar perspectives, but at UChicago there were so many different perspectives,” Raza said. 

Raza enrolled in the course because of his interest in public policy. He recommends other students seek UChicago classes based on their own interests.

“The classes are really fascinating, and I learned that there are so many university courses that have a niche focus,” Raza said. “You can look at topics in different lenses, which I think more people should embrace.”