<p>How is the job placement office and the alumni network at Chicago? Are there alumni who can help current undergraduates get jobs in prestegious or Fortune 500 companies' internships? Since I'm going to major in economics, how does such a position hold with big-names such as Goldman Sachs when competing for big summer internships? And finally, can anyone working or who worked in these organizations relate how their education at Chicago is helping them so far?</p>
<p>Whew, a lot of questions, and hopefully a lot of answers. Thanks.</p>
<p>~66% of all UChig law school graduates in the first few years find jobs in the top 250 law firms (third in the nation). It isn't what you asked, but it's representative.</p>
<p>I can answer the first question-- the job placement office-- CAPS-- is absolutely wonderful. They're aggressive in a way you want a career placement office to be aggressive. Today, in fact, I just had a walk-in half-hour appointment and I got my resume bulldozed.</p>
<p>In a word...AWESOME! My S who graduated in '05 with a math degree had four job offers by Dec. '05, i.e., six months before he graduated!! He ended up at a hedge fund that has since gone under but he is now working at Goldman Sachs, doing essentially the same thing he did at the hedge fund. The CAPS office helped him with his resume, info seeking about companies and terrific help with interviewing (Do lots of interview practicing with alumni). He became very driven his senior year. His internships were through family connections. I know there is help in securing internships through their office but my son went a different direction. </p>
<p>We told our S that if we are paying full price for UChicago, be sure to make full use of all they offer. He did!</p>
<p>Pretty awesome, they give you more resources than you can work your way through actually. The alumni network is enormous and consists of Chicago grads who have indicated that they are available for questions and to connect people. CAPS, as mentioned, is great... they're also partnered with some resume-posting site (is it monster.com?). If you have the initiative, getting a great job out of Chi is an entirely manageable experience.</p>
<p>goodness, not something I want to look forward to! I was just wondering if U of C's alumni magazine is any good. I know Princeton's comes out weekly, and I have read Yale's and it's fantastic... how is chicagos?</p>
<p>How does Chicago do with IBanking placement? I was talking with a friend that goes to Stanford and he said that ibanks dominated most career fairs and a great majority of his friends were interested in finance. While one can easily go to a firms website and see if they actively recruit at Chicago, I'm wondering if the students have a general direction they go to (I think its grad school), or how popular ibanking is.</p>
<p>Wow Peacemaker, I'm so glad you replied such a beautiful post. I'm so glad to hear that Chicago career placement is so outstanding because the one thing I was consistantly worried about is the University's commitment to theory getting in the way of a practical job. Your post crushed that assumption as I too want to work at Goldman Sachs or Berkshire Hathaway through internships.</p>
<p>JM8879 - your worry was my H's worry for several years while our S was attending UChicago. My H is a '78 grad and has an MBA from UChicago and he kept worrying that UChicago was too theoretical and not practical enough. Well I think things have changed since he was there. Our S received a lot of help at the CAPS office but he had to be willing to put in time and effort. It isn't served on a platter to you. Our S wasn't a stellar student but he was decent (he had a 3.0 gpa and at least one C in one of his major classes). He did work for the math department and Statistics dept. for a couple of years as his part-time job. I think that helped. He learned how to "nail the interview" and ace the math tests (which these companies do give you - be prepared! They give you tricky oral math tests to try to wean out people I think). Our S took one or two Business school classes during his senior year. This helped I think although he tried one of the finance courses and dropped it b/c it was too difficult for him at that time. Learning has certainly been trial and error for him. But to his favor, he has a nice personality that comes across to employers I think. He took the first part in the series of CFA exams which he passed. We hope that he continues to try to pass the others but right now he has little time. He is working very long hours so what time he has, he tries to have a social life. </p>
<p>Good luck with the internships. Work any network you may have and any the UChicago offers you.</p>
<p>Ohh I love this forum... such a family!! We have current students posting, former students, parents of students, relatives of students... aww :-)</p>
<p>Anyways, regarding CAPS, they are indeed very agressive. A friend of mine wanted to interview, and therefore caps made sure he showed them a resume. THEY DESTROYED IT and are helping him write a new one. The more I hear about it the better it seems...</p>