Duke vs. UChicago vs. USC Marshall (possibly Trustee) v. Emory Goizueta (scholarship)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
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<p>I guess I'm pretty lucky to have these choices haha...</p>

<p>Anyways, I got accepted to UChicago EA, got a Duke likely letter, am a Trustee scholarship (full tuition) finalist for USC Marshall, and am also an Emory Goizueta Scholars finalist (also full tuition if I interview well). After undergrad, I'm primarily interested in working in consulting, but am open to other fields of business as well - especially marketing. I'm not a big finance person, though. And I do eventually want to get an MBA.</p>

<p>So I'm just wondering what the opportunities are like at Duke as compared to the rest of these schools (if you know about these schools' programs). And I visited UChicago a couple of days ago, and I liked it enough.</p>

2

<p>Chicago and Duke are ordinarily peers but not when it comes to recruitment for Management Consulting jobs. Duke is far and away the best option here. McKinsey and Bain don’t even recruit at The University of Chicago while they consider Duke to be a major target school.</p>

<p>For instance, only Harvard, Yale, Penn and Duke students can apply for McKinsey’s Sophomore Diversity Leadership Internship.
[Sophomore</a> Diversity Leaders Internship | Careers | McKinsey & Company](<a href=“http://www.mckinsey.com/Careers/Apply/University_recruiting/Internships_at_McKinsey/SDLI]Sophomore”>http://www.mckinsey.com/Careers/Apply/University_recruiting/Internships_at_McKinsey/SDLI)
"Candidates who are currently college sophomores at Duke, Harvard, Penn and Yale universities are eligible to apply."</p>

<p>You can check out the sites for BCG, Bain, Deloitte, etc. to see how extensive their recruiting calendar is for Duke in comparison to Chicago if you want.</p>

<p>Unless Emory and USC are so much cheaper than Duke because of the full-ride that it would put a burden on your family to turn them down, I would become a Blue Devil!:)</p>

3

<p>No - U of Chicago is equal if not exceeds Duke for opportunties upon graduation, including consulting. From the 2011 Booth School grad data:</p>

<p>University of Chicago (Booth)
Students without job offers three months after graduation</p>

<p>2011: 7 percent
2010: 9 percent</p>

<p>Median starting salary</p>

<p>2011: $107,000
2010: $102,000</p>

<p>Booth was one of eight schools that reported an increase in this year’s median signing bonus. The percentage of graduates headed to consulting increased to 28 percent, from 24 percent in 2010, and the number headed to the tech industry increased to 10 percent, from 7.5 percent. Forty-one percent of the year’s class went into financial services, down from 45 percent last year.</p>

4

<p>Thats grad school. UChicagos business grad school is amazing, undergrad isn’t supposed to be anything too special. It’s still good, just not that elite.</p>

5

<p>

Um, we’re talking about undergrad recruiting for jobs here…for instance Northwestern’s b-school is a lot better than Yale’s but at the u-grad level, NU is simply not as good as Yale for breaking into IBD/consulting.</p>

6

<p>“For instance, only Harvard, Yale, Penn and Duke students can apply for McKinsey’s Sophomore Diversity Leadership Internship.”</p>

<p>That’s a random program for minorities. That’s your proof that Duke’s a better school?</p>

<p>OP should go to Chicago. It’s more prestigious than Duke, and is more well-respected as an academically rigorous institution. You can go to Chicago Careers in Business (CCIB) at Chicago, which is connected to the Booth School of Business. There’s simply nothing at Duke better than having a connection with Booth on your resume.</p>

<p>“Thats grad school. UChicagos business grad school is amazing, undergrad isn’t supposed to be anything too special. It’s still good, just not that elite.”</p>

<p>This is a myth that people tell themselves to make them feel better about themselves. Check the undergrad employment rates for 2011. It goes 1. Harvard, 2. Columbia, 3. (tie) Chicago/Stanford. Duke is pretty low, likely because it’s not as respected as the top tier institutions.</p>

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<p>As a UChicago alum, I think Phuriku is being quite harsh in his analysis of Duke’s standing and range of opportunities.</p>

<p>I don’t know how you can draw the conclusion that UChicago is “more prestigious than Duke,” and I’m not sure what overall undergrad employment rates tell us, outside of all the top schools most likely being clustered together quite tightly.</p>

<p>Goldenboy8784 mentions that Duke does very well on the consulting front, and this may be the case. It is interesting that McKinsey does not have a specific UChicago recruiting page, but it does have one for Duke, Dartmouth, etc. (This is especially interesting since founder James McKinsey taught at - you got it - the University of Chicago.) I know back in my day at UChicago, finance and investment banking were the “hot” industries, and few students went into consulting. It could be that the “consulting culture” just isn’t as big at UChicago. </p>

<p>On the other hand, while McKinsey may not recruit as heavily at UChicago today, in a couple years, the situation could be quite different. From what I know, consulting firms aren’t “prestige” conscious as much as they are talent conscious. If a school can produce a steady stream of consulting-appropriate talent, the consulting firm will target the school. As UChicago has changed considerably over the past couple years, it’s forseeable that consulting firms will intensify their efforts at the school. </p>

<p>In any case, if the OP is concerned about jobs, the OP should contact career services reps at all schools, and ask for DETAILED information. As an example of a report that is quite useful, check out the Penn career surveys report for the College class of 2010:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/reports/CAS_2010cp.pdf[/url]”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/reports/CAS_2010cp.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>OP should request similar information from all schools that accepted him/her. From there, the OP can make an informed decision that is much better than the half-truths provided on these forums.</p>

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<p>Job prospects are more dependent on the individual than the school when you’re talking about schools like Duke/UChicago. Anybody who says going undergrad at UChicago over Duke is more prestigious and will give you a leg up in job prospects or vice versa doesn’t know what they are talking about. Both are more than adequate - it’s just up to the individual at that point, so between those you should choose based on fit. The main differences may be geographic in nature. UChicago grads obviously end up in Chicago in larger numbers, while Duke grads typically go to NYC/DC.</p>

<p>I would say that while UChicago economics is indisputably top notch, it is known for attracting students who are more interested in pursuing PhDs, while Duke attracts more pre-professional students by and large. But there are certainly several individuals who break this mold, so you won’t find a shortage of opportunities. </p>

<p>Of course, you have to factor in cost if you’ve been offered scholarships at USC and Emory as well, also both high quality, but perhaps not as heavily recruited. But you could certainly get a top notch consulting job coming out of Marshall/Emory. I know many who have.</p>

<p>The job prospect differences are overblown are more a result of the differences in quality of the student body than the quality of the school. Duke and UChicago have similar student bodies from a preparedness standpoint. They definitely have different feels, though, so I’d visit to get a firm impression. Living in Chicago, I never considered going there for undergrad (for various reasons), but some may feel the same about Duke. Obviously, Chicago is a great school and I respect it highly. And so is Duke. There is no significant difference in prestige/job opportunities between the two. Go where you think you’d be happiest. </p>

<p>And while this isn’t as detailed as the Penn link, here is a brief synopsis of Duke students post-graduate plans:
<a href=“Duke Student Affairs”>Duke Student Affairs;

<p>Top Job Locations:
New York, NY
Washington DC
Raleigh/Durham/Cary, NC
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Boston, MA</p>

<p>Top Employers 2010:

  1. Teach for America
  2. Goldman Sachs
  3. Morgan Stanley
  4. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch
  5. Accenture
  6. Google
  7. Deutsche Bank</p>

<p>Top Employers 2009:

  1. Teach for America
  2. Morgan Stanley
  3. Bank of America
  4. Goldman Sachs
  5. ExxonMobil
  6. The Boston Consulting Group
  7. Barclays Capital
  8. Microsoft</p>

<p>Clearly, Duke is heavily recruited by top firms (as is Chicago, I’d imagine. I haven’t seen a Chicago employment report, though, to verify). Some individual Duke departments provide more detailed information than the above, so you’ll have to examine those.</p>

<p>Marshall and Emory (especially with scholarships) are also fine choices, and I wouldn’t think it odd at all for somebody to choose a full ride to one of those schools. That’s an awesome deal. Good luck.</p>

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<p>Actually, if you look at Chicago’s stats:</p>

<p><a href=“Home | CareerAdv”>Home | CareerAdv;

<p>They are remarkably similar to Duke and Penn’s. Especially in the past couple years, consulting seems to be very popular amongst UChicago students, with 16% of students with jobs at graduation going into consulting. That’s comparable to Penn (15%), and Duke.</p>

<p>Given what stats we have, I’m not sure how Phuriku and Goldenboy are coming to different conclusions about these two schools. They seem quite similar in terms of preferred exit options.</p>

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<p>I agree with Cue7 and bluedog. After spending time at two peer institutions (Duke and Rice) for undergrad, I have come to the realization that the education at top peer institutions are more similar than they are different. Don’t think which top school you go to wil make a huge difference on consulting job opportunities. Yes, I do acknowledge some firms preferentially recruit at some universities, and Duke is a large target school. However, even if you go to Duke, you will be competing against so many pre-consulting students for those positions. At places that are less pre-professional like UChicago, you may be able to stand out more for consulting positions. So in the end, it ultimately comes down to you, not which top school you go to. Choose for fit, and that will be more beneficial to you in the long run because you will perform better and will be more likely to take advantage of opportunities at a university you are happy to be at. Good luck.</p>