<p>Hello, I am a high school junior looking at universities to apply to in the coming months. University of Chicago has always been one that has especially appealed to me due to its unique culture. However, I have heard hearsay that the school's focus on theory rather than practicality makes its undergrads suited for grad school but not necessarily for the workplace, and that unlike peer schools with liberal-arts a liberal-arts focus, Uchicago is relatively lacking in recruiting by major financial and consulting firms to compensate for this. </p>
<p>The intellectual focus of the Uchicago curriculum has always appealed to me and this school is perhaps my first choice once I send my applications in in a couple months. Therefore, I would like to be as informed as possible from the perspective of current and former students on this forum. Is it harder to land finance/consulting jobs as a Uchicago undergrad relative to peer schools? Perhaps some anecdotal examples from those attending or have attended the school about this? I appreciate any help from this forum!</p>
<p>See the links for internships for undergrads including the Metcalf program and the “careers in” program that helps prepare undergrads interested in working (about 8 different general fields including art, education, business, health, and journalism and others) before attempting a graduate degree. These programs have been developed to address concerns such as yours.</p>
<p><a href=“Student Opportunities | CareerAdv”>https://careeradvancement.uchicago.edu/jobs-internships-research</a>
<a href=“Jeff Metcalf Internship Program | CareerAdv”>https://careeradvancement.uchicago.edu/jobs-internships-research/metcalf-internship</a>
<a href=“Business | CareerAdv”>https://careeradvancement.uchicago.edu/uchicago-careers-in/business</a></p>
<p>Thank you for your reply. Are there any current/former students that would like to share their personal experiences on this question?</p>
<p>Almost all of the top financial and consulting firms recruit at UChicago. From my experience, it seems that the majority of students in Chicago Careers in Business (a recently developed pre-professional program for undergraduates) are able to land in roles at top firms.</p>
<p>Chicago’s stress on academics really shouldn’t be an impediment. Most of what you learn in school, wherever you go, won’t be directly applicable to the workplace. What’s important for landing top positions is graduating from a brand-name school (which UChicago obviously qualifies as, as the most prestigious school in the world for economics and finance), having top connections (which UChicago can provide you with, but which is to a large extent your responsibility to find through networking), and having key internship experience (which is also ultimately up to you, although UChicago can help with its career services).</p>
<p>Great jobs don’t have to be limited to financial or consulting firms. Many other companies do recruit at UChicago and are obviously aware of the quality of its graduates. S ('12) decided to stay in Chicago and has been financially independent since 3 weeks after graduation when he got his first paycheck… </p>