<p>Exactly how hard is it to get into this program? I know its around 50% admit rate but I'm wondering if the kids are really self selective. Also, are you still able to take some business classes at Booth even if you are not in this program? Finally, if you do no make it to this program, do most people who want a good business job (like finance and consulting) still manage to get one through the regular CAPS?</p>
<p>I’m afraid I don’t have anything constructive to tell you, but I do have a question:</p>
<p>What the hell are you talking about? (That is meant in the least offensive way possible).</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of half the acronyms you just used.</p>
<p>OP is asking about Chicago Careers in Business (CCiB). It’s a relatively new program, so I don’t really know about the program’s “prestige,” so to speak. What I gather from it is that it’s a chance to have a specialized career network, but that almost all of the services it offers-- advising from CAPS, classes at the business school-- are open to all undergraduate students.</p>
<p>I’d say its prestige is nonexistent because must of the CCIB kids that I know are in the below average to average range for UChicago.</p>
<p>Well I know kids in CCIB who are above average for UChicago. So there. 
Rofl</p>
<p>Supposedly it helps you with etiquette skills and maybe some other practical stuff for interviewing. It’s useful for some people but yea it’s not prestigious and I believe you can still take classes at Booth if you’re not in it (although it might not be as easy; I honestly don’t know for sure though).</p>
<p>You can still take courses at Booth without being in CCIB - up to three for general elective credit, and three more for a graded audit (as in, they show up on you transcript, but don’t help you meet any degree requirements). The negative is courses are graded on a full letter grade system (A then B) with no intermediate grades (A- or B+), so students who are gunning for banking / consulting quickly realize that taking courses at Booth is a easy way to bring down the solidly above 3.0+ GPA you need for recruiting. A lot of courses are also closed to college students or non-Booth students more broadly, in order to hold available seats for MBA students (at $5,000 a course, they don’t take kindly to being told they cannot be in the section they desire). </p>
<p>However, I think the “CCIB students only” sections of financial accounting are graded on an intermediate scale. Yet at the same time, I remember the first year they rolled the program out people threw a nutty about the class being materially dissimilar from the standard GSB offering (not sure how, perhaps more theoretical / market regulatory) and the grading harsh even by the College’s standards. </p>
<p>In general, I agree being in CCIB will help you out, especially with the notoriously simplistic employers who are look for nothing more than “hard working leaders,” i.e. consultancies that aim to hire and cultivate generalists as well as the traditional branches of investment banking such as mergers and acquisitions and debt capital markets. At the same time, there are plenty of good consulting firms that won’t care at all, because they already have solid internal systems to get you on board with the more specialized work they do, and likewise a large chunk of high finance won’t either. Indeed, for the ever hot asset management jobs you would be better off taking more statistics, macroeconomics, computer science, etc. Likewise for research or sales and trading. Really, the only GSB course I would say every pre-business type should take is financial (or introductory) accounting. Meanwhile, you can get the networking part on your own by reaching out to alumni through sites like LinkedIn or just going to recruiting events. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, it is an arms race of sorts amongst top colleges. None of them actually want to substitute bland, 101 level professional courses for the rigor of their upper division liberal arts courses. At the same time, they know if they don’t offer such programs, they will lose some students on the margin who view such iniatives as make or break.</p>
<p>thank you all for the input. I guess the opinions of the program vary, but it seems like its at least within reach for me. I’m the type that would need tips on the whole etiquette stuff so it works out.</p>