Carnegie Mellon vs Berkeley vs UMichigan vs UIllinois (Urbana-Champaign) vs UChicago vs Cornell

College Search & Selection
1

I have been using College Confidential as a guest for about a year and a half and decided to finally join today. Turns out, the website as a user is a lot more overwhelming than from my phone screen as a guest, so forgive me if I do something wrong. I joined today because as May 1st approaches, I need to make a commitment to one of these schools. Most of the opinions I have gotten from students, teachers, and parents have been biased because of athletics or just a personal inclination. Although I’m not too sure what to expect from an online forum, I’d appreciate the different perspective.

I plan on majoring in Statistics or Actuarial Science and pairing that with Mathematics, Economics, and/or Finance. These are the programs/schools I was admitted to:
Mellon College of Science (CMU)
College of Letters and Science (UCB)
College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (UMich)
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Actuarial Science (UIUC)
Undecided (UChicago)
Arts and Sciences (Cornell)

I’m asking for an opinion disregarding school location and tuition cost as factors. Thanks in advance x

2

CMU/UChicago/Berkely > Cornell > UMich > Illinois

If it were me personally, i would choose Cornell for the Ivy recognition

3

I would go to CMU or Cornell.

4

It’s hard to put aside tuition unless it really doesn’t matter. No loans at all?

5

@Vctory fortunately, I am the last one going off to college and there’s enough in the fund for me to not have to worry (in addition to some grants given by the schools)

6

I am surprised no one above recommended Chicago above all. You really can’t beat the connections and opportunities that the 4th best school in the US (according to USNews) offers, regardless of individual rankings. The location itself is excellent in terms of internships and co-ops for the majors you suggested.

You’re very lucky to have this opportunity. I’d choose Chicago. Hands down.

7

Chicago and CMU intermediate microeconomics course are high math – they require math more advanced than frosh calculus. Berkeley offers a high math version (multivariable calculus required) and a moderate math version (frosh calculus required). The other schools only offer moderate math versions. If you want more math in your economics, then you may want to consider how much math is emphasized in the various schools’ economics departments.

8

I’d choose UChicago or UIUC.