<p>Chicago is known for its econ programs i know. But as an undergrad, will i be studying under these world known professors, or not. And who exactly are these famous economists?</p>
<p>Yes, you will be studying under world famous economists, but this, in fact, is the problem. e.g. Although Myerson (2007 Nobel) is a world class economist, he is a horrible teacher. I've heard good things about Lucas & Becker (both laureates). Levitt is famous, though his data mining techniques bring more shame than fame in the academic economics world.</p>
<p>Like any other university, you won't have many (if any at all) intro classes with famous professors - but as you start taking electives and specialized econ courses you will have classes with the famous guys, the nobel laureates, etc. </p>
<p>If you check out Wikipedia or economics.uchicago.edu you can find a list of them and what courses they teach. They are among the most prominent and well-respected economists in the entire world so it shouldn't be hard to dig up some info on them.</p>
<p>i understand from a current chicago freshman that the econ major is terribly difficult...what i wanna know is what is the mean gpa and what gpa will guarantee opportunities with top ibanks/firms if im looking to go to a top b-school afterwards.</p>
<p>The economics major at UChicago is not "terribly difficult," it is just terribly irrelevant to anything of value.</p>
<p>It is watered down econ: a look at Mas-Colell (graduate Micro text) will quickly confirm that undergraduate micro is not rigorous at all. Compare this to, for example, math, where a glance at Rudin's "Real and Complex Analysis" will show a direct continuation from Math 203-205 texts.</p>
<p>Also, it is irrelevant to business (granted it makes no claims to elucidate this field) or "ibanks/firms." If you say the words "Stackelberg leader," you will be laughed out of a job.</p>
<p>That said, it is probably better than any other economics program out there, excepting MIT, etc. and (Wharton, etc.).</p>
<p>I highly suggest the math, physics and computer science majors, regardless of what you intend to do after graduation.</p>
<p>P.S. I am not just some student lashing out at the UChicago Econ dept. b/c I got bad grades; I have a 3.8+ in the major with 10/13 credits completed (3 electives left :)).</p>
<p>so what your saying is that if i want to go into ibanking or some type of trading position/top business school , the econ major wont cut it?</p>
<p>do ibanks/hedge funds/ private equity firms recruit heavily at uchicago?</p>
<p>do you think an econ major at uchicago is as attractive as a wharton grad, are the big i-banks/ high paying jobs available in the same quantities?</p>
<p>any info on internships/ post grad opps/ oncampus recruiting especially regarding econ and public policy majors is especiialy useful to me</p>
<p>I want to major in econ but I'm not really too interested in entering some sort of banking or financial career. Whenver I tell people I want to major in econ they basically think I mean business. There's no use explaining to most people the difference between majoring in business and majoring in economics.</p>
<p>CesareBorgia, I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on the department if you feel like posting them. Just a general idea of how you like it.</p>
<p>Also, I think Wharton doesn't actually have a degree in economics. I think that still falls under Penn's social sciences division. At least according to Wikipedia.</p>
<p>bumpfor econ majors</p>
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do ibanks/hedge funds/ private equity firms recruit heavily at uchicago?
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<p>oh god do they ever... from what I'm told, it's a great opportunity to watch a bunch of be-suited ibank-wannabes fellate the reps trying to get the Big Internship. as you can tell, it's not really my bag, baby, but as far as opportunities go there seem to be a lot of people who get jobs and internships so it seems like there's a lot going on. </p>
<p>CesareBorgia is much more qualified than I am to talk about the econ major as he's in the program and I am not, but from what I can tell the "irrelevance" of the program to contemporary finance/banking/etc. is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as you're aware of it. I.e., get the econ degree if you're interested in it, but don't expect it to be your instant ticket into a hedge-fund management position, even if your GPA is perfect. Firms are going to be more interested in your work/internship experience and your overall GPA than what exactly you majored in. This is purely anecdotal, but when cruising Facebook I run into people with BA's in things like English, Poli Sci and History who wound up working in finance at places like Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse. The best thing an undergrad degree can do for you is show that you are able to work hard and consistently - the reason many folks do econ, math etc. if they're going into finance is because those degrees require many of the same skills that go into making a successful finance career. </p>
<p>But yeah, just like an English degree doesn't teach you how to write modernist novels, an Econ degree won't teach you how to "do" finance. It will, as I'm told, make you attractive to all those big-name firms running around. But like I said, I don't have the first-hand take on this.</p>
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so what your saying is that if i want to go into ibanking or some type of trading position/top business school , the econ major wont cut it?
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</p>
<p>No, you will get job offers, but the econ major won't actually be applicable to anything in real life. That is to say, the fundamental assumptions of UChicago 200-203 (undergrad core) economics are false. They are, however, mostly true, and allow for interesting results.</p>
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do ibanks/hedge funds/ private equity firms recruit heavily at uchicago?
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</p>
<p>Ibanks do recruit heavily at UChicago. A recent statistic: the school where JPMorgan got the greatest number of its full-time hires for 2006 was UChicago. Also there are a lot of boutique hedge funds/private equity firms that recruit at UChicago. That said, the competition to work at a big name hedge fund/private equity firm (e.g. Citadel, D.E. Shaw, Blackstone) is fierce, and not too many UChicago undergrads are hired.</p>
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do you think an econ major at uchicago is as attractive as a wharton grad, are the big i-banks/ high paying jobs available in the same quantities?
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<p>An econ major at UChicago is not nearly attractive as a Wharton grad; anybody will tell you this. </p>
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any info on internships/ post grad opps/ oncampus recruiting especially regarding econ and public policy majors is especiialy useful to me
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</p>
<p>Public policy is not seen (nearly) as well as econ, because a lot of people in the major are just failed econ majors. </p>
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I want to major in econ but I'm not really too interested in entering some sort of banking or financial career. Whenver I tell people I want to major in econ they basically think I mean business. There's no use explaining to most people the difference between majoring in business and majoring in economics.
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<p>If you are really interested in economics, that is you want to pursue an econ phd, I strongly suggest the Math w/specialization in Econ major. Even if you don't end up getting an econ phd, it is a very strong program. </p>
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Also, I think Wharton doesn't actually have a degree in economics. I think that still falls under Penn's social sciences division. At least according to Wikipedia.
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<p>Wharton calls their undergrad degree a B.S. in Econ, which doesn't make any sense, as it includes mostly non-economics classes (i.e. accounting, marketing, etc.). </p>
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CesareBorgia, I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on the department if you feel like posting them. Just a general idea of how you like it.
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<p>As you can tell, I'm not terribly partial to the Econ core (200-203), but it has something to do with what teachers you get. I really enjoyed every math/stat course I have taken for the major, and I loved my econometrics course. Actually, my econometrics prof didn't use Blackboard, so the entire course site is freely available on the interweb:</p>
<p>P.S. Keep in mind that ~25% of my econometrics class failed. After the curve.</p>
<p>wow that seems to be an extremely math intensive course...im excited...question, do you have to be familiar with the things on the first problem set, as in preparation in hs, because im definetely not and that appears alot of material gone over in the first few months of freshman year</p>