Chicago reclaimed its 2002 top-ten standing in U.S. News & World Report’s best-colleges list, ranking ninth in the August 2006 issue. The six-place jump from last year’s No. 15 spot reflected revised University calculations of categories such as percentage of classes with fewer than 20 students, alumni giving, and per-student spending. Meanwhile, the Princeton Review’s August issue listed the University as offering the best overall undergraduate academic experience, an honor it won along with “toughest school academically”....

This year’s incoming College class hit record numbers for diversity: 80 African Americans, 97 Hispanics, and 120 international students formed 23.5 percent of the 1,260-member class. As the Chicago Sun-Times reported in October, the numbers resulted from heavy recruiting in the Chicago Public Schools, and, for the first time, admissions officials visited African countries such as Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa....

Ray Sun, ‘07, took home $30,201 as a contestant on Jeopardy! The U of C College Bowl team member spent two days on the show this past August (the shows aired in September), winning his first game and placing second in the next. Sun’s game-winning knowledge of which events began and ended the 19th century—the French Revolution and World War I—stemmed from a chance U of C encounter. Browsing the College course catalog, Sun had read the description for the political-science class “The Long 19th Century.” He plans on putting his winnings toward a first year of law school....

In late September the Regenstein Library relocated its A-level, all-night study space to the first floor of Crerar Library, as construction began to convert the A-level reading room to temporary stack space. Crerar gave College students 24-hour access to its first floor, previously reserved for faculty and graduate students, and opened the USITE/Crerar cybercafe’s computer stations for all-night use. The 24-hour study space will return to the A-level when the Regenstein’s addition, expected by June 2009, opens.