U Michigan vs. U Chicago

I already got accepted into the University of Michigan- LSA and my plan is to get into Ross Business School by sophomore year if i decide to go there.

I also got deferred from the University of Chicago. If I happen to get in for regular decision, which school should I go to? Which school has better recruiting and gets better jobs? I know Ross is a great school but U Chicago is overall, more prestigious in general, correct?

Sorry I'm a noob right now, any help will be appreciated.

 
Best Response

If you can get into Ross, and do well there, I'd say it would be about equal, with maybe a small edge to UChicago. You are right that UChicago is more presitgious overall (UMich is mid-20's, Chicago is 4th in USNews). Plus at UChicago, you can just pick Econ as a major--one of the best, if not the best, undergrad econ degrees in the world--without any barriers to entry once you get admitted. But Ross is one of the best UG finance degrees in the country.

I know that recruiting will be good at both. I can only speak from experience about UChicago. Every major bank recruits hard there. I'd say across the street, 30-40 kids (maybe more) each year get placed across different divisions of the top firms, with a lot more getting good jobs at boutiques and stuff. And that's out of an overall graduating class of ~1,100, with maybe less than 150 of those being econ majors.

Another thing to consider though is cost. UChicago is probably $10K more per year all in than out-of-state UMich. If you are from Michigan, then it would be MUCH cheaper.

You will have more fun at Michigan though, I can tell you that much.

These are two good schools to be picking from though. My Dad went to Michigan, and I just graduated from UChicago this past June (econ major), so I like them both a lot. Feel free to PM me if you want more details on UChicago econ, or just the school in general.

I would agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong.
 

It depends on what you want out of your college experience which is definitely a touch decision/compromise for a high school senior.

I go to UChicago and I can tell you that you WILL become a much smarter person. Your critical thinking skills will reach levels that you would never have thought of and you will meet some of the smartest people in the world. School will be extremely hard, plan on spending anywhere between 6-8 hours in the library every day just to keep up with schoolwork and studying. This is what everyone does and it creates an environment where if you dont study, you'll become somewhat of an outcast. Your social life will suck. The girls here are not hot, they tend to be nice and smart but not hot - they are more pretty in the sense of skinny girl/european hipster pretty not big tit/ big butt/bonde hot. You can join one of the pseudo-frats at the school but they are objectively pretty lame.

The econ major is great. Unlike most school, you WILL come out with a great understanding of the foundation/framework of economics. Its extremely math based and good grades are hard to come by.

UMich (from what I can tell) seems to be a much more chill with a much better social life. Your education will not be on part but if you can get into Ross, you'll have more or less the same job opportunities afterwards.

 

It depends on what you want out of your college experience which is definitely a touch decision/compromise for a high school senior.

I go to UChicago and I can tell you that you WILL become a much smarter person. Your critical thinking skills will reach levels that you would never have thought of and you will meet some of the smartest people in the world. School will be extremely hard, plan on spending anywhere between 6-8 hours in the library every day just to keep up with schoolwork and studying. This is what everyone does and it creates an environment where if you dont study, you'll become somewhat of an outcast. Your social life will suck. The girls here are not hot, they tend to be nice and smart but not hot - they are more pretty in the sense of skinny girl/european hipster pretty not big tit/ big butt/bonde hot. You can join one of the pseudo-frats at the school but they are objectively pretty lame.

The econ major is great. Unlike most school, you WILL come out with a great understanding of the foundation/framework of economics. Its extremely math based and good grades are hard to come by.

UMich (from what I can tell) seems to be a much more chill with a much better social life. Your education will not be on part but if you can get into Ross, you'll have more or less the same job opportunities afterwards.

 

Chicago has one of the best economics departments in the nation, and will arguably give you a more prestigious name than Ross. However, Michigan comes with many social perks that Chiacgo can't offer (ie. D1 football) while concurrently not sacrificing academic quality.

"I get paid to be suspicious when I got nothing to be suspicious about." ~ Bill DeVasher (The Firm)
 

recruiting wise, Ross trumps UChicago. And lets face it- if you were deferred from Chicago instead of accepted- whats the chance of you beating out a bunch of nerds in hard econ courses to get a high GPA?

 

Ross recruiting is better than Chicago for banking///equal for consulting from talking with friends at both schools. if you need to apply for Ross during your freshman year you're taking a risk so keep that in mind.. Michigan recruiting without Ross isn't nearly as strong

i don't think if it would be worth the risk to take Michigan (without Ross acceptance) if you get into Chicago unless you're confident you'll get into Ross. One of my friends got in Ross through the pre-admit program, did you apply for that?

 

I would choose Michigan, assuming cost of attendance is similar between two schools.

UChicago is known to be the school where fun is non-existent. Plus, it is in a very ghetto neighborhood of south side of Chicago. It is a great school academically, no question. But, college is much more than just academics.

U Michigan OCR is probably as good as U Chicago's, so what will matter is how well you will do once you are at college: gpa, internships, etc. Also, getting a high gpa, which is critical to get a good job in finance/ consulting, at Ross is easier than getting a high gpa in U Chicago Econ. In general, at top schools, Econ is harder than generic business/ finance degree.

 

I'm a huge fan of Chicago and its quality academics but its recruiting is not as good as Ross so that's a tough pill to swallow. Most of the major consulting firms don't recruit there and only a few banks like Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan consider Chicago to be a "major target" school. I'm not sure about Ross and its Wall Street reputation but consulting recruitment is solid there.

 
eldiablo4857:
Why don't you apply to Duke, Northwestern, and Stanford so you can get the best of all worlds bro? (academics, fun, and recruiting)

Ross recruiting is definitely better than Northwestern and quite likely Duke's too, just look at who the top firms' target schools are. Non-Ross Michigan is a different story.

 

It depends on what you want to do. Finance? Booth is a no brainer. But if it's not finance, e.g., marketing, I would go to the school that's a better fit for you personally.

Also depends on location you want to work. If you want to work on one of the coasts, Booth is way stronger, but if you want to be in the Midwest, you would place well at either school.

Obviously Booth is ranked higher, but let's appreciate a bit of nuance here people.

 
wakekeboy:
btw, is Booth a top tier school for IB in NY?
Yes. Possibly less so than maybe Columbia, but it is definitely top tier. From Booth's 2011 employment report, they sent 24% of graduates to NYC vs 28% to Chicago. 19% of all Booth students took ibd jobs overall.

Disclaimer: I chose Booth over CBS

 

chicago overall is very rigorous. Its undergrad is tough, its mba is tough (compared to other top schools), its JD is tough (compared to other top schools as well). Overall, if you go to Chicago you know that you wont have as much time for partying as in other schools. And the location doesn't help either.

 

I'm always saying you need to pick whichever feels right, but all things being relatively equal, Chicago Booth has it over Michigan in terms of the MBA quality of education, which means the overall quality of students and faculty. (Actually, Chicago's faculty is amazing, but that's not the entire experience) You get a stronger international draw with Booth, which will offer a more interesting mix and better networking possibilities.

Michigan has better sports teams.

Betsy Massar Come see me at my Q&A thread http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/b-school-qa-w-betsy-massar-of-master-admissions Ask away!
 

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