<p>Chicago is expecting both my kids to kick in ~$10k/yr. towards their education, between Staffords, term-time work and summer jobs. It’s not that onerous.</p>
<p>No problem, I understand. I’m not really interested in reading random students’ papers. It was just your comments on “dissertation-level style/rigor” that got me curious.</p>
<p>I agree we sent our older daughter to a college we could afford without loans because her goal in life is to help save young women from human trafficking. We know she will most likely not make alot of money in life but she will do great things and doesn’t need debt holding her back. </p>
<p>What undergraduate degree at Chicago is best if you intend to go for a Masters in Business? I am seeing Chicago doesn’t have an undergraduate business degree. Which is fine, but what would be the best foundation for going to grad school in business.</p>
<p>Yeah Countingdown, I guess most kids fa packet have them paying around 10k a year but remember we are paying 10k a year to the school, borrowing 10k ourselves and having our son borrow 10k a year That is what I am wondering if it’s worth. </p>
<p>It shouldn’t be a problem paying it back and honestly I see most of my other kids being happy to go to a state school. This son is just particularly intellectual and ambitious.</p>
<p>Jugglingitall: Many students at Chicago who are interested in business study economics.</p>
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<p>No bias there.</p>
<p>jugglingitall,</p>
<p>First of all, top MBA programs do NOT like to admit students straight out of college. They want the candidates who spent a few years working in whatever field their original interest took them. When I was doing my Wharton MBA, there were people like me from high tech, researchers from pharma companies, military officers, advocates in non profit agencies, etc. Yes, there were a LOT from Wall Street - after all, Wharton is known to be the best MBA program for the financial type to begin with. Even so, there was a tremendous diversity of people’s background. What was important was that they all excelled at their respective field and got terrific recommendations from their companies.</p>
<p>As for the companies that hire graduates from top MBA programs, most of them do NOT like the ones who went straight from undergrad to MBA. Right or wrong, the common perception is, MBA education is wasted on somebody who did not have some real life experience before, and hence the worth of MBA education, even from top schools, was discounted. At least this was the mindset in a couple of global fortune 100 companies I worked for. </p>
<p>Second, you do NOT have to have undergrad business major at all to be admitted to top MBA programs. If anything, top MBA programs love people who did undergrad in different fields. In the world of consulting, top tech/science undergrad education + top MBA is considered a best combination. Personally, I would rather see those who aim later for the top MBA program to do some thing other than business admin at college. Going to college for business admin degree is like going to a trade school - a glorified trade school. They teach you tricks, but not how to think and learn. I feel that college education should be much more than that. </p>
<p>In summary, there is absolutely no advantage for business undergrad majors for getting admitted to top MBA programs or excelling at those programs once they are admitted. However, I did see some core humanity majors who avoided math related courses at college having a lot of difficulty in some classes. But then again, Wharton is a very quant oriented program with a heavy duty emphasis on macro economics, operations research and financial stuff. I don’t know whether they would have had an easier time at a program that is more focused on things like marketing, etc. </p>
<p>So, let your son major in anything he likes. Let him have a few years of real world experience, and he can aim for the top MBA program. I am happy to see my son majoring in economics (lately he has been toying with the idea of double majoring in economics/math). The more theoretical, the better. He will have plenty of practical stuff later. If anything, for those who don’t go to a Ph.D. program, undergrad is the only opportunity for really theoretical stuff. Practical stuff is not that hard to learn once on the job, and in fact, really hard to learn while in academia. So why waste time learning “practical stuff” at a wrong setting? Learn what universities are best at teaching, and leave the practical tricks later: if you know how to learn, you can learn all the monkey tricks later with no difficulty once you are in the real life setting.</p>
<p>I’m almost certain that I want to go to Chicago, but I’m a bit dubious about the metaphysical, talking about Hume over dinner thing. If I’m not as philosophical, will I really not like it at Chicago? Because when I visited, I didn’t hear any of these conversations, and I absolutely loved the atmosphere. But if I had to talk about Kant for fun, I’m not sure how much I would like it…</p>
<p>And I’m also going to be an econ major, possibly looking to go into Wall Street. Did your son mention if there was a lot of cut throat competition among his friend? I’m a bit surprised that everyone would be so helpful towards each other --but I do like that.</p>
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<p>Such a useless comment.</p>
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bugaboo, are you worried that your sensory perception is just an illusion?</p>
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<p>I never got the impression that there is a cut throat competition. He never alluded to anything like that. The only sort of negative sentiment he expressed was about some spoiled rich brats - even there, NOT as in “they are mean or doing harm to others” but rather not taking care of themselves responsibly. </p>
<p>Perhaps current students should answer your question about cut throat competition. In general, I have never read comments to this effect though…</p>
<p>Haven’t heard S mention it either.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen any cut-throat competition but I am in the Humanities so perhaps a math or science major would speak differently. Even in the math and science classes I took for the Core, though, I didn’t see much in the way of competition. In fact, in one of my classes I was approached by a student I only marginally knew and we worked together to study for the final. I’m very good at memorization but I definitely lack understanding of the big-picture, and he was great at the exact opposite. Although we were technically competing against each other on a curve, I know I wouldn’t have been able to do so well on that final had it not been for his help.</p>
<p>I also think the Socratic seminar style of learning facilitates student-student dialogue and reduces competition. And students really are eager to help other students out. I edit friends’ papers all the time and have received calc help in return. </p>
<p>I think the real competition present at UChicago is with our own expectations. I’m not upset when someone in my classes does better than me-- I’m upset when I know I personally could have performed better.</p>
<p>marcellad said:
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<p>That hits the nail on the head. S is in math/CS and says it’s NOT competitive. Some of his math classes have met at the Reg to work on problem sets, help each other grasp the work, and study for tests. He is a junior tutor for calc and helps folks in his house with math. Having come from a more cutthroat environment, he finds Chicago a very cooperative and collaborative place.</p>
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Are all classes taught in the Socratic seminar style? Or are there large impersonal lectures as well?</p>
<p>Depends on the major. If you’re majoring in something that doesn’t have very many students (like music, for instance), all classes will be small, but if you’re majoring in something that has a lot of students (like biology, for instance), you will have many very large classes.</p>
<p>How about for Philosophy/Political Science? And are these large classes for both intro and higher level classes, or just intro classes?</p>
<p>Well, thanks to everyone who encouraged the financial aid appeal they were very generous and my son is able to attend now without much debt at all. He is so excited!</p>
<p>Jugglingitall- how long did it take to hear about the fin aid appeal?</p>
<p>About 12 days, I just kept looking at the financial aid award letter on the Chicago Account and one day it was changed! They said it would take 10 business days.</p>