Main campus The main campus of the University of Chicago consists of in the Chicago neighborhoods of
Hyde Park and
Woodlawn, approximately south of
downtown Chicago. The northern and southern portions of campus are separated by the
Midway Plaisance, a large, linear park created for the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition. In 2011,
Travel+Leisure listed the university as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the United States. The first buildings of the campus, which make up what are now known as the Main Quadrangles, were part of a master plan conceived by two University of Chicago trustees and plotted by Chicago architect
Henry Ives Cobb. The buildings of the Main Quadrangles were designed by Cobb,
Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge,
Holabird & Roche, and other architectural firms in a mixture of the
Victorian Gothic and
Collegiate Gothic styles, patterned on the colleges of the
University of Oxford. Mitchell Tower, for example, is modeled after Oxford's
Magdalen Tower, and the university Commons,
Hutchinson Hall, replicates
Christ Church Hall. In celebration of the 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, the University of Chicago Quadrangles were selected as one of the Illinois 200 Great Places by the
American Institute of Architects Illinois component. architecture like that of the University of Oxford. For example, Chicago's Mitchell Tower (left) was modeled after Oxford's
Magdalen Tower (right).|alt=A comparison between the similar architectures of Chicago's Mitchell Tower on the left and Oxford's Magdalen Tower on the right. After the 1940s, the campus's Gothic style began to give way to modern styles. the Keller Center, which is home of the
Harris School of Public Policy and was designed by
Edward Durrell Stone; and the
Regenstein Library, the largest building on campus, a
brutalist structure designed by
Walter Netsch. Another master plan, designed in 1999 and updated in 2004, produced the
Gerald Ratner Athletics Center (2003), and other construction, expansions, and restorations. In 2011, the university completed the glass dome-shaped
Joe and Rika Mansueto Library, which provides a grand reading room for the university library and prevents the need for an off-campus book depository. The site of
Chicago Pile-1 is a
National Historic Landmark and is marked by the
Henry Moore sculpture
Nuclear Energy.
Robie House, a
Frank Lloyd Wright building acquired by the university in 1963, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as a National Historic Landmark, as is room 405 of the
George Herbert Jones Laboratory, where
Glenn T. Seaborg and his team were the first to isolate plutonium.
Hitchcock Hall, an undergraduate dormitory, is on the
National Register of Historic Places. Adjacent to the campus in
Jackson Park is the home of the
Obama Presidential Center, the Presidential Library for the 44th president of the United States with expected completion in 2026. The Obamas settled in the university's Hyde Park neighborhood, where they raised their children and where
Barack Obama began his political career.
Michelle Obama served as an administrator at the university and founded the university's Community Service Center. File:Snell Hitchcock1.JPG|
Snell-Hitchcock, an undergraduate dormitory constructed in the early 20th century, is part of the Main Quadrangles. File:Rockefeller Chapel Entire Structure.jpg|
Rockefeller Chapel, constructed in 1928, was designed by
Bertram Goodhue in the neo-Gothic style. File:Henry Hinds Laboratory at University of Chicago5.jpg|The Henry Hinds Laboratory for Geophysical Sciences was built in 1969. File:Ratner Athletic Center.jpg|The
Gerald Ratner Athletics Center, opened in 2003 and designed by
Cesar Pelli, houses the volleyball, wrestling, swimming, and basketball teams.
Transportation The Hyde Park campus is served by the CTA
Red Line and
Green Line, as well as by the
Metra Electric District, all of which provide access to downtown Chicago. The
South Shore Line provides access to
Hegeswich and
Northwest Indiana via the
Lakeshore Corridor. The campus is also served by a network of
CTA bus routes. In 2022, the university added a Downtown Campus Connector to its shuttle program, which connects the main Hyde Park campus to the Gleacher Center and downtown UChicago Medicine clinics. In 2024, the university introduced a
Via ride-sharing program ahead of the 2024–2025 school year, which provides unlimited free rides on campus in shared vans.
Safety In November 2021, a university graduate was robbed and fatally shot on a sidewalk in a residential area in Hyde Park near campus; a total of three University of Chicago students were killed by gunfire incidents in 2021. These incidents prompted student protests and an open letter to university leadership signed by more than 300 faculty members. In response, the university introduced measures including increased foot and vehicular patrols near campus, expanded coordination between the
university police department and the
Chicago Police Department, and greater use of
security cameras and
license plate readers. The university continues to maintain one of the largest private police forces in the country.
Satellite campuses , located at
Mount Davis, Hong Kong|alt=A curved, glass walkway over a pavilion leading to a building The university also maintains facilities apart from its main campus. The university's
Booth School of Business maintains campuses in
Hong Kong,
London, and downtown Chicago. The Center in Paris, a campus located on the
left bank of the
Seine in Paris, hosts various undergraduate and graduate study programs. The university also maintains the Chicago House, based in
Luxor, which serves as the Egyptian headquarters for the
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures. In fall 2010, the university opened a center in
Beijing, near
Renmin University's campus in
Haidian District. The most recent additions are a center in
New Delhi, India, which opened in 2014, and a center in Hong Kong which opened in 2018. In 2024, the university opened the John W. Boyer Center in Paris, designed by architectural firm
Studio Gang and nearly tripling the size of the Center in Paris which had opened in 2003. == Academics == The academic bodies of the University of Chicago consist of the
college, four divisions of graduate research, seven professional schools, and the
Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies. The university also contains a library system, the
University of Chicago Press, and the
University of Chicago Medical Center, and oversees several laboratories, including the
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the
Argonne National Laboratory, and the
Marine Biological Laboratory. The university is accredited by the
Higher Learning Commission. It is a member of the
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the
Universities Research Association. The university runs on a
quarter system in which the academic year is divided into four terms: Summer (June–August), Autumn (September–December), Winter (January–March), and Spring (March–June). Full-time undergraduate students take three to four courses every quarter for approximately ten weeks before their quarterly academic breaks. The school year typically begins in late September and ends in early June. (since 2005 known as
majors) and 33 secondary courses of study, now known as minors. The college's academics are divided into four divisions: the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division, the Physical Sciences Collegiate Division, the Social Sciences Collegiate Division, and the Humanities Collegiate Division. Each division is affiliated with the corresponding graduate division of the university. The college introduced a now-widespread model of the liberal arts undergraduate program which featured the
Socratic method in undergraduate contexts, the
Great Books program, and the
core curriculum. Since the 1999–2000 school year, 15 courses across seven subjects and demonstrated proficiency in a foreign language are required under the core curriculum.
Graduate research divisions The university's academic departments, committees, and institutes are organized into four graduate research divisions: the Arts & Humanities Division, the Biological Sciences Division, the Physical Sciences Division, and the Social Sciences Division. In the autumn quarter of 2022, the university enrolled 10,546 graduate students on degree-seeking courses: 569 in the Biological Sciences Division, 612 in the Humanities Division, 2,103 in the Physical Sciences Division, 972 in the Social Sciences Division, and 6,290 in the professional schools (including the Graham School). The university is home to several committees for interdisciplinary scholarship, including the
Committee on Social Thought.
Research , a science research laboratory co-managed by the University of Chicago|alt=Bird's-eye view of a large circular shape inscribed into a grassy area According to the
National Science Foundation, the University of Chicago spent $423.9 million on research and development in 2018, ranking it 60th in the nation. It is
classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". It is a founding member of the
Association of American Universities, and was a member of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation between 1946 and 2016, when the group's name was changed to the
Big Ten Academic Alliance. The University of Chicago is not a member of the rebranded consortium, but continues to be a collaborator. The university operates more than 140 research centers and institutes on campus. Among these are the
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africa—a museum and research center for
Near Eastern studies owned and operated by the university—and a number of
National Resource Centers, including the
Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Chicago also operates or is affiliated with several research institutions apart from the university proper. The university manages the
Argonne National Laboratory, part of the
United States Department of Energy's national laboratory system, and co-manages the
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), a nearby particle physics laboratory. Faculty and students at the adjacent
Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago collaborate with the university. In 2013, the university formed an affiliation with the formerly independent
Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. The
National Opinion Research Center maintains an office at the Hyde Park campus and is affiliated with multiple academic centers and institutes. The University of Chicago has been the site of various experiments and academic movements. The university has played a role in shaping ideas about the
free market and is the namesake of the
Chicago school of economics, the school of economic thought supported by
Milton Friedman and other economists. The university's
sociology department was the first independent sociology department in the United States and gave birth to the
Chicago school of sociology. The university was the site of the
Chicago Pile-1 (the first controlled, self-sustaining human-made nuclear chain reaction, part of the
Manhattan Project), of
Robert Millikan's
oil-drop experiment that calculated the charge of the electron, and of the development of
radiocarbon dating by
Willard F. Libby in 1946. The chemical experiment that tested how life originated on early Earth, the
Miller–Urey experiment, was also conducted at the university.
REM sleep was discovered at the university in 1953 by
Nathaniel Kleitman and
Eugene Aserinsky. The University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics operated the
Yerkes Observatory in
Williams Bay, Wisconsin from 1897 until 2018, where the largest operating
refracting telescope in the world and other telescopes are located.
Professional schools The university contains seven professional schools, as well as the
Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies. • The
University of Chicago Divinity School was the first professional school at the University of Chicago, chartered in 1865 and incorporated into the university in 1890. It offers four graduate degree programs as well as undergraduate course offerings. It has been accredited by the
Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada since 1938. • The
Booth School of Business was founded in 1898 as the College of Commerce and Politics and received business school accreditation in 1916. In 2008, the then-called Graduate School of Business was renamed following a $300 million donation from alumnus David Booth. It was ranked fourth out of 133 American business schools by U.S. News in 2025. • The
University of Chicago Law School was established in 1902, twelve years after the founding of the university. It has been accredited by the
American Bar Association since 1923 and was ranked third out of 195 American law schools by U.S. News in 2025. • The
Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice was first established in 1908 as the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy and received its first dean,
Edith Abbott, who became the first female dean of any graduate school in the United States in 1924. It was renamed in 2021 in recognition of a $75 million donation from
James and Paula Crown and the Crown family. • The
Pritzker School of Medicine matriculated its first class of medical students in 1927 and was renamed to the Pritzker School of Medicine in 1968 in recognition of support from the
Pritzker family. It has been accredited by the
Liaison Committee on Medical Education since 1942. • The
Harris School of Public Policy was established in 1988 as the Graduate School of Public Policy Studies. In 1990, it was renamed in recognition of
Irving Harris' financial support of the program during its inception. The school offers six graduate degree programs as well as joint degree and non-degree programs. • The
Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering was founded in 2019 following an expansion of the Institute of Molecular Engineering, which was established in 2011. The Pritzker Foundation provided a $75 million donation to help establish the school, which occupies the William Eckhardt Research Center. • The
Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies, originally known as the university-Extension program, was established in 1892. The school offers various non-degree courses and certificates as well as degree programs. In 1997, it was renamed to the William B. and Catherine V. Graham School of General Studies in honor of a $10 million donation from William and Catherine Graham made in the same year. Until 1989, the
University of Chicago Graduate Library School was the graduate-level librarianship school at the University of Chicago. It was established in 1928 to develop a program for the graduate education of librarians with a focus on research. Housed for a time in the
Joseph Regenstein Library, the Graduate Library School closed in 1989 when the University of Chicago decided to promote information studies instead of professional education.
Associated institutions The university runs a number of academic institutions and programs apart from its undergraduate and postgraduate schools. It operates the
University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (a private
day school for
K-12 students and
day care), and a public
charter school with three campuses on the
South Side of Chicago administered by the university's Urban Education Institute. In addition, the Hyde Park Day School, a school for students with learning disabilities, and the
Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, a residential treatment program for those with behavioral and emotional problems, maintains a location on the University of Chicago campus. Since 1983, the University of Chicago has maintained the
University of Chicago School Mathematics Project, a mathematics program used in urban primary and secondary schools. The university runs a program called the Council on Advanced Studies, which administers interdisciplinary workshops to provide a forum for graduate students, faculty, and visiting scholars to present scholarly work in progress. The university also operates the
University of Chicago Press, the largest
university press in North America.
Library system The
University of Chicago Library system encompasses six libraries that contain a total of 11 million volumes, the 9th most among library systems in the United States. The university's primary library is the
Regenstein Library, which contains over 4.5 million print volumes on a variety of subjects and is the largest on campus. The
Joe and Rika Mansueto Library, built in 2011, houses a large study space and an automated book storage and retrieval system. The
John Crerar Library contains more than 1.4 million volumes in the biological, medical and physical sciences and collections in general science and the philosophy and history of science, medicine, and technology. The university also operates a number of special libraries, including the D'Angelo Law Library, the Social Service Administration Library, and the Eckhart Library for mathematics and computer science. The Harper Memorial Library, the first library of the university, is now a reading and study room.
Arts The University of Chicago Arts program joins academic departments in the Division of the Arts & Humanities and the undergraduate College, student art programs, and professional organizations including the
Court Theatre, the
Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, the
Smart Museum of Art, and the
Renaissance Society. The university offers graduate degrees in music, cinema and media studies, visual arts, and the humanities, among other subjects. It also offers bachelor's degree programs in visual arts, music, art history, cinema and media studies, and theater and performance studies. Several thousand major and non-major undergraduates enroll annually in creative and performing arts classes. The university was home to the improvisational
Compass Players student comedy troupe, which evolved into
The Second City in 1959. The university has an artist-in-residence program, which has supported over 32 individual artists as of May 2025. The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts opened in 2012. It was financed by a $35 million gift from alumnus David Logan and his wife Reva, the single largest cash gift to the arts in the city of Chicago as of 2025. The center includes spaces for exhibitions, performances, classes, and media production.
Reputation and rankings The University of Chicago is considered one of the most prestigious research universities in the United States.{{#tag:ref| Characterizations of the reputation of the University of Chicago: • • • • • In 2026, Chicago was ranked 5th in the world universities ranking by
Time magazine and
Statista. The university's
law and
business schools consistently rank among the top three professional schools in the United States. In 2025, the business school was placed in second out of 77 American schools by
Bloomberg, fourth in the US by
US News & World Report, and second by
Fortune. In the same year, it was placed fifteenth in the world by
QS World University Rankings and seventeenth by the
Financial Times. In 2025, the law school was ranked third in the United States by
US News & World Report and second by
Above the Law. In the same year, it was ranked 11th globally by
QS World University Rankings. == Administration and finance ==