Hi! Sorry if this post seemed redundant, given that someone else has already posted one about brown v uchicago, but I wanted y’all’s opinion particularly around the areas that mattered to me. I am an international student, thinking of going into business. I’ve also gotten into NYU Stern, but given that I am not yet 100% on going into business, I decided against going to a business school. I know that Brown and UChicago are very different, but I’d love your input on more of the specifics about the two schools. Here are some things that I’ve alr thought about:
Brown (Business Econ Track maybe?):
love the ppl!!
small city (love that it’s in the middle of a city, but are there enough opportunities given its size?)
love that it’s somewhat laid back/collaborative (and the inflated grades)
They offer the business econ track which could be interesting!
love the flexibility
not so great housing (?)
with the “laid back” reputation, would finding jobs be more difficult than uchicago?
not a lot of school spirit from what I’ve heard
not the best advising?
not the best w math (which I don’t mind too much)
UChicago (thinking of Econ and Psych):
love that Booth classes are available!
Competition could be motivating
I’ve seen some NICE dorms
Chicago brings so many opportunities
beautiful libraries
bubble tea nearby?? (yum yum)
abt the same as brown financially
seems a little preppy which I don’t love (lmk if this is completely wrong! j a speculation atm)
Core takes up a lot of the time we have
too competitive? (my high school is alr super competitive/stressful, so kinda wanna get away from that a bit)
harsh curves in certain classes from what I’ve heard
not the safest neighborhood (?)
Sorry this post is super long… Please feel free to point out where I am wrong about either of the schools, and to type away any insights you have on these particular points. I also would like to just add that when I said I’m interested in business, I was thinking of marketing and social entrepreneurship (both are really appealing to me), so if you knew anything about how I could go about exploring those at either school, I’d also really appreciate it! Thank you so so much!
Is it that Brown isn’t a good math school or that you’re not good at math? If it’s the former, you are wrong. The applied math program is rigorous and has an excellent reputation.
I disagree with your other points as well. I didn’t go to Chicago so can’t compare, but the dorms I lived in at Brown ranged from gorgeous to adequate (like at many other colleges- if you have a good lottery number you will likely live in nice places after freshman year, if you end up with terrible lottery numbers you might live in a beautiful dorm with a far walk to campus, or a terrible dorm right in the heart of things). The advising is- like everything else- student dependent. Your advisor won’t know you if you don’t show up. I had a fantastic advisor in my major who I met with at least once a week by senior year. He died a few years ago and I still choke up when I think about him.
School spirit? You won’t find the campus empty on a football day. Some students go, some don’t, and prefer other activities. But there is plenty going on.
I don’t either schools are a good choice if you are looking for an undergrad business education. That’s not what they do. They are both academic institutions that will give you a grounding in econ (if that’s what you choose to study) or psychology (about as close to marketing as you can get at a college without a business degree) or anything else- but you won’t get a BBA with an intense focus on business.
Social entrepreneurship- study sociology, study poli sci, study history.
Thank you so much for your response. This is exactly why I posted, so I could get to know what it’s actually like vs my current views on these schools. I’m not sure if you know too much about it, but I’m also interested to hear also about the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship––would you say that it provides great resources for those with entrepreneurial inclinations/lots of people take advantage of it?
Hi! I definitely like the lack of core at brown, since I’m very much looking to explore a lot more during college;) As for the quarter vs semester, I like that semester system gives us more time to immerse ourselves in the material, but i guess that also comes with less courses i can take. But I think at the same time, even though uchicago has quarter system, some of the credits will be dedicated to the core… So I’m not entirely sure which I prefer haha
and for intended major and course offerings, I think UChicago has great offerings in terms of Econ, and I love that I can take courses at Booth! but I also love that Brown has the Business track with pretty business-specific courses within the track. So I’ll get to try that while also exploring my other interests…? I’m just word vomiting atm, but I feel like both schools have great offerings in terms of what I might want to explore;)
Thank you for your prompt though these are some great things I’ll definitely take into consideration!
Ohh I see I see! I’d say I’m a fairly math-y person, so I can manage quite a bit of math;) But I definitely wasn’t paying attention to this difference, so that’s really helpful! Thank you sm!
However, Chicago economics … has nothing to do with business.
It’s very theoretical, it’s essentially all math, think optimization optimization optimization.
Look up Sun-Spot Equilibrium theory - that’s the type of econ Chicago is awesome in.
And I say that without slighting it at all - many people are into it!
Dimkin has posted a profound point. At some colleges, majoring in econ is path of least resistance to a business career. That is not the case at Chicago, which spawns Nobel prize winners with great regularity, who have created a rigorous and mathematical approach to econ. It is not an easy path, and it is not a shortcut to a corporate career.
It appears that Chicago now has a business economics version of the major which has no math requirements (although choosing a calculus sequence for core requirements is recommended but not required): Economics < University of Chicago Catalog
I asked my DS, a first year at UChicago, two of your questions. Would you agree or disagree with the following two statements about UChicago. 1) too competitive? 2) seams a little preppy?
This was his answer
I would probably disagree with both. It’s not really “preppy” at all, at least in the way that a New England Ivy League is preppy. Like there are a lot of kids of coastal private schools but I would never describe them as preppy. In terms of being competitive I would say that really major or career specific. Like if you want to do finance, consulting, or certain stem fields then perhaps a little. Otherwise, not really
I have a child at UChicago who is going from an economics degree to a finance career, which is a very common path there. But of course that is a very specific subset of business.
UChicago undergraduate economics is definitely rigorous, but was actually not the recommended path towards getting a PhD in economics. They instead recommended a math undergraduate degree. Note that this was before UChicago’s business economics degree, so it may have recently changed.
Economics < University of Chicago Catalog does not specifically recommend a math major as pre-PhD-in-economics preparation, but does recommend additional upper-level math and statistics courses.
This is why my first comment - who’s a better actor - Pacino or DeNiro - while not informative - I was trying to be humorous - was meant to say - whichever you prefer will be outstaning.
