<p>I'm a current first-year student planning to major in chemistry (or biochemistry). </p>
<p>I did pretty well my first quarter here (3A's and 1 A-), and I'm planning on applying to med school during my fourth year at UChicago. Upon further research, I'm also interested in possibly getting a PhD in chemistry as another option. I understand that this option will require me to take some rigorous chemistry classes in order to be a competitive applicant </p>
<p>3 Questions:
1) Would med school admissions take into account the rigor of my chemistry classes and understand my GPA would be higher had I stuck to the traditional pre-med route? </p>
<p>2) I'm also interested in the financial industry (mainly investment banking and private equity) and plan on using the UChicago undergrad and Booth networks for possible internships. I'll apply to UCIB later in the year. With that said, would the fact that I'm more science-oriented (rather than econ/business-oriented) in my studies be an advantage or disadvantage? </p>
<p>3) Would taking obviously easy classes to pad my GPA (i.e. theater 101, spanish 101, art 101, etc) be a good or bad idea given my goals? </p>
<p>I’m only passingly familiar with 2, so I won’t answer 1 or 3. The simple answer is you would have an advantage, to a point. In Ibanking, your scholastic background doesn’t matter that much save for the simple ability to do the basic math required. However, more quantitative financial fields (trading, mostly), will strongly prefer your scientific orientation (especially if you take plenty of math).</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Chemistry major pre-meds are a dime a dozen, so no, they won’t take rigor into account</p></li>
<li><p>Bad, at least if you want to do med school. Med schools want to see that you can handle a tough courseload AND do well. For a chem PhD, they probably won’t care, as long as you do well in chemistry classes and have solid research experience</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If I scattered the easy classes throughout my time in college, would it not be obvious to somebody evaluating my transcript for med school admission? </p>
<p>bradybest, med school is like law school: they basically only care about your GPA. They don’t really care what school you went to, and they don’t really care how hard the non-chem classes you took are because really how would they know.</p>
<p>Take the most difficult chem classes you can that you know you can still get an A/A- in, and for the core/non-major classes do whatever you can to pad your gpa.</p>
<p>As far as finance goes, for ibanking/private equity, i.e. UCIB and not UCIB:FM, it hurts a little that you’re not an econ major. Even for UCIB:FM they want quant people who do comp sci/math/stats/econ, that type of thing.
If you want to have a good shot in UCIB, make sure you get involved with some business-related clubs on campus: blue chips, maroon capital, phoenix funds, etc to show interest. Also keep you GPA above 3.8 for a good shot. (This is coming from a comp sci/econ major currently in ucib:fm)</p>
<p>My parents told me that in medicine, the brand name of the med school doesn’t matter.
On the other hand, the undergrad/MBA brand name matters A LOT for getting a job at a top financial or consulting firm. This is where going to UChicago helps out greatly. </p>
<p>From blogs on the internet I’ve read, the second statement seems absolutely true. But I haven’t seen enough evidence about med school to be firmly convinced the first statement. What do you all think? </p>
<p>If you’re certain that you want to work in banking/consulting, I would drop the chemistry major and do economics. It is a much easier major and gives you more time to focus on internships and EC’s. Also, the requirements for the major are very light, so you see lots of people with double majors in economics and something else. </p>
<p>If you want to keep your options open, then stick with chemistry. You can still get into banking/consulting - it will be harder because of GPA reasons, and you might have to spin your story about wanting to work in a specific industry group related to your major (e.g. Healthcare, Chemicals). But it’s very possible, and your background will perhaps get a second look because it’s mostly business-related majors applying for IB/consulting. In this scenario, you still also have the option to apply for med school.</p>
<p>It seems like most students in UCIB are economics or some quantitive major. But there is major self-selection there. </p>
<p>Assuming I can keep up 3.5+ GPA, will I be fine for investment banking and other finance jobs? From what I’ve read on the internet, it seems that GPA is more of just a way to weed out candidates and that beyond a certain point (3.5 seems to be the unofficial cutoff) work experience and leadership matter much more. I feel confident I can get all A’s in gen chem and maybe even physics since I got 5’s in the respective AP classes as a high schooler. </p>
<p>My feeling upon further research on the internet is that consulting requires a higher GPA (3.7+?) to be seriously considered. Is that accurate? Let’s focus on the big names like McKinsey, Bain, BCG. I’d consider jobs in consulting that focus on the healthcare industry. </p>
<p>As for finance recruiting, it seems that JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs are the major recruiters for UChicago students. I’ve seen other banks (like Deutsche, Bank of America, etc) hire UChicago students, but the three aforementioned seem to get the most students from this school. Is that accurate?</p>
<p>Finally, for both consulting and finance, do you apply to specific groups as an intern or do you assume a generalist/rotational role? </p>
<p>A few top consulting firms don’t recruit at UChicago undergrad level (McKinsey, Deloitte, Oliver Wyman). For consulting, your major doesn’t matter. Your GPA and how well you do on your interview and case studies are far more important. A lot of firms come to your school so you should not have a hard time landing a couple interviews. The same thing can also be said for banking if you’re coming from a target school. The unofficial cutoff seems to be a 3.5 GPA in finance. </p>
<p>AnewCrown, I was on our school’s career portal, and both McK and OW were posting for summer internships and full-time jobs. I didn’t see any from Deloitte though, which I thought was interesting. </p>
<p>Does this just mean that McK and OW hire noticeably fewer from UChicago? </p>
<p>I think that would be the general consensus for recruiting at the undergraduate level. They may higher fewer from UChicago. There are several threads on MBB recruiting on CC that say the same about UChicago. For OW, they list their “core” schools on their website and University of Chicago is not listed but other schools such as Harvard and Penn are. The same can be said for McKinsey. When you search UChicago a generic recruiting information comes up. But for other schools such as Harvard, Penn, Duke etc there is information on Round 1 interviews and more dates.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.oliverwyman.com/careers/join-us/recruiting-events.html”>http://www.oliverwyman.com/careers/join-us/recruiting-events.html</a>
<a href=“http://www.mckinsey.com/careers/your_career/mckinsey_on_campus”>http://www.mckinsey.com/careers/your_career/mckinsey_on_campus</a></p>
<p>Fortunately for us, though, I think noticeably fewer students are interested in consulting than at other schools of similar caliber. </p>
<p>Am I right on this, or am I just trying to make optimism where there is none? </p>
<p>@bradybest I’m not too familiar with UChicago but I’m willing to bet that your school still places well in consulting and banking. You’re right. Fewer students are interested in consulting which is a plus for those who are. Your school is still a top target for the majority of the firms so you’re good. </p>
<p>UChicago undergrad has a reputation of being very academia focused as opposed to preprofessional. I suspect this is what causes OW and maybe McKinsey to pass over the undergrads but all these firms fight for Booth students. A little networking can lead to an interview with these firms. </p>
<p>Also, I understand that a lot of companies really admire leadership qualities and involvement on campus when they recruit undergrads. </p>
<p>How does playing in the orchestra or wind ensemble fare in that respect? I’m really passionate about playing my instrument and made some district and all-state bands as a high-schooler and won some good awards. Would orchestra or wind ensemble show dedication and discipline in terms of practicing music and attending rehearsals for playing concerts? </p>
<p>I could be wrong, but my experience has been that once you’re in college, no one really thinks like that. Dedication is just something you’re assumed to be capable of if you’re applying for a full-time job. What matters is if you’ve dedicated yourself to industry-specific classes/extracurriculars/internships, etc.</p>
<p>By the end of freshman year, your resume should no longer have any references to high school activities/awards, other than the bottom-liner of ‘interests/hobbies.’ Do orchestra/wind ensemble if you actually enjoy doing it, but putting it on your resume, other than as filler if it’s not one page long, has effectively no impact on your career prospects.</p>