the workload involved(i.e. avg. hours of study per day)
grade inflation/deflation at each.
job/intern opportunities in finance/business both during his studying years and immediately afterwards.
Random impressions that might not fit into the above categories.
Assume that the student is smart, but not brilliant, and is taking a "Vanilla" Econ course load rather than Honors, etc..
Any observations from your experiences at some, or all of the schools above would be most welcome. A simple regurgitation of US News or other rankings is not needed. I know that U of C is ranked far higher than Mac, for example. Feel free to rank on your own, but I would like to know the whys.
D2 graduated from Carleton, with a double major in economics and math. She had good internship and post-college job opportunities and is now in a Ph.D. program.
How much does the student like math, and is the student interested in graduate study in economics?
Pre-PhD students should prefer schools with higher math prerequisites for economics courses, and should take additional advanced math and statistics courses.
Other economics students should consider how much they like math and check how much math is needed for economics courses.
For intermediate microeconomics and/or econometrics courses, there are typically three levels of math prerequisites (some colleges offer different versions with different math intensity):
Low math: calculus not required
Moderate math: single variable calculus required (Carleton, Swarthmore)
High math: multivariable calculus and/or linear algebra required (Chicago, Macalester)
In addition, consider what upper level elective economics courses are offered, since different departments may have different emphases (some may offer more “business”-type electives than others, for example).
S is competent and comfortable with math. Is completing Calculus BC this year in HS. Not gifted, but well above average.
S is probably not interested in becoming an academic. As of now, he can see himself working after his undergrad, then going back to school for an MBA at a later date. There are a ton of Profs and PHD’s in the family…I don’t see him being enamoured of the lifestyle.
He is a recruited athlete, so he is concerned about of how much time he will have to read and work after class and practice are done, especially at notorious study gulags like Swarthmore and U of C.
^ So why is he interested in those colleges? Carleton is also a “study gulag.”
Why not consider more balanced “work hard, play hard” schools where interest in sports runs a little higher? What about places like Vanderbilt, Duke, or Dartmouth at the reach end … Bucknell, Boston College, Lehigh, Colgate, etc. … or your state flagship?
S1 is a recruited athlete at the schools listed above. They showed an interest in him, and his marks/test scores have all passed muster with admissions at said schools. We also have pretty strong family ties or a fit to all but one of the schools. He had interest from coaches at many other schools, but it was not mutual, for a variety of reasons. S1 does not drink or want to drink, and while social, is not a “partier”. He’ll show up at a party for an hour or so, chat, then leave once things start to get stupid.
I don’t want to give the impression is a dummy. Far from it. He is just very practical, and wants as much info as possible before he makes a decision about where he is going to be for the next 4 years. He is far less impetuous than I was at his age, thank God.
Most of the schools tk21769 listed are D1 schools, which are out of the picture from the sports POV.
I Agree about Carleton. Underneath the pleasant “Minnesota Nice” exterior there is a lot of work going on.
UChicago is going to open more doors for finance and business than any of the other schools. Internships will be simpler and easier to get as well. Google the Metcalf internship program, which directly sets up over 2000 undergrads every year with paid internships (in addition to all of the internships the students obtain themselves or through other sources). No other college in the country has anything remotely like that, although I suspect that some other elite schools will begin to take the same approach soon. Obviously, UChicago is particularly notable for Econ - just won another Nobel yesterday.
The workload is high at all four of these schools, but slightly higher at UChicago and Swat. Sports will always take a back seat to academics at all four of them (as it should), and there will be plenty of time to do the work at any of them as long as your son isn’t a complete party maniac.
Thank you for your help, ThankYouforHelp. Just the sort of info I was looking for. S just hooked up with a HS buddy /athlete who is now at U of C and he says the work is heavy, but doable.