Education: The Yearling

Under the University of Chicago’s self-starting, self-winding curriculum, undergraduates set their own pace: they can get their degrees as fast as they earn them. William Hamburger, 20, was not the first in Chicago’s history to get his bachelor’s degree in one year. But he was the first to do it with all A’s.

Graduation over, he settled down last week at the University of Chicago’s summer school to work on a master’s degree in economics. He expected it would take him the standard two years.