<p>So, I am extremely interested in a career in investment banking (a.k.a Wall Street wannabe XD). I know that some of you by this point would be thinking "this high school student doesn't know what he wants, or he knows nothing about I-banking, etc." But please just hear me out.</p>
<p>The reason I am stuck in this dilemma is that Stern is heavily recruited by the "bulge bracket banks" (e.g. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, etc.) mainly because of its location right in NYC. I think the undergrad business component, though exceptional, is not the most important part since what you learn in undergad business is pretty much useless anyway (a lot of the stuff you learn on the job).</p>
<p>Yet UChicago has the theoretical and academic focus that's just simply on another level compared to NYU. I am not arguing UofC has bad job placements either, it's just for me that the downside is UChicago's location away from Wall Street. Granted many Chicago investment/consulting firms (e.g. McKinsey) recruit heavily from UofC, but I would like to have the opportunity to get on Wall Street. The atmosphere is just so enticing to me, I am not going to go into details about why exactly, bc that's beside the point.</p>
<p>Anyways, does anybody have some inputs? Much appreciated.</p>
<p>While fewer students from UChicago enter banking then from Stern, it’s not difficult to do. Everyone I knew that was interested in a job in financial services got what they wanted: fewer of your classmates will be doing the same thing, but if that’s what you want, you won’t have trouble getting the job. Big banks do recruit on campus.</p>
<p>Since you mentioned them specifically, it should be noted Credit Suisse’s CEO graduated from Chicago. If he can make it in IBanking, so can you.</p>
<p>I was in a similar position last year in that I was really interested in working on Wall Street.</p>
<p>Recruiting at UChicago is decent, though in all honesty Stern is more heavily recruited. Part of the reason for that may be that a large proportion of Stern kids want to go into banking in the first place. At Stern, you’ll have tons of competition. At Chicago, you’ll have less competition, but (I hope no one takes this the wrong way) UChicago kids are just generally a more elite talent. My facebook newsfeed right now is filled with people (who aren’t necessarily too bright) excited about getting into NYU Stern. It’s a great school, but in the end it’s not as big of an accomplishment as getting into UChicago. There’s a definite tradeoff in terms of opportunities and competition, but in my experience, fewer opportunities and less competition has turned out to be an awesome combination.</p>
<p>At UChicago right now, we have a recently established Investment Banking Group which brings a ton of employers in to come in and network with the undergrads. There seems to be a lot more interest in the financial services now than there was in the past. In terms of heavy recruiting from the bulge brackets, there are two that have really noticeable presences: JP Morgan and Credit Suisse. As snipersas pointed out, the CEO of Credit Suisse is a UChicago undergrad alumni. For the Careers in Business program at UChicago (this was the true drawing point for me), four students were selected to actually go personally meet and speak with CS’s CEO. The rest of the kids on the NYC trek were able to network with employees from CS and Goldman (among others). </p>
<p>I ended up not even applying to NYU Stern, as I got into UChicago early. In the end, the Careers in Business program made the difference for me, and seeing as how there are financial services internships here in Chicago (with less competition for them, since UChicago and Northwestern are really the only elite schools in the area), the decision was a no-brainer. As a first-year, I landed a summer gig at Morgan Stanley in their wealth management division. If all goes well, I’ll be able to land an IBanking internship either next year or the year after that at a BB in NYC. If you’re diligent, you’ll have many opportunities to land something on wall street by the time you graduate. I might be biased, but imo, go to UChicago as you’ll be a much more well-rounded person by the time you graduate (and this is coming from someone who had no appreciation for the liberal arts before coming here).</p>
<p>Hope this helped! Sorry if the grammar’s a bit off. I’m just typing this quickly on my way back from work.</p>
<p>Not exactly certain why OP applied to Chicago. Lots of better places than NYU for a BS in biz - like Georgetown, Cornell Dyson and, oh yeah, Wharton.</p>
<p>Empirical is correct. It’s a question of being in an environment with worse recruiting but less competition or better recruiting but where everyone is gunning for the exact same thing. I actually have a couple friends at Wharton who are a bit envious of UofC econ because everyone at Wharton is gunning for the same ibanking/consulting jobs, so competition is super tough. Whereas not every UofC econ kid is in that position. </p>
<p>UofC does have more “prestige” and that prestige may solidify in ten years or so, while NYU overall still trails by a big margin. So a UofC degree may continue to appreciate while a NYU degree may hold more or less stagnant. And as you know, banking is all about prestige <em>rolls eyes</em></p>
<p>That being said, definitely check out both places and see which location you prefer. We are comparing apples to oranges here in that we are looking at undergrad econ vs. undergrad business school. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>To everyone else, with no FA you are paying near $250k for a UofC degree. It is insane to go to college without some idea of what you are going to do after graduation to recoup that $250k investment. So I actually say kudos to the OP for having a sense of what he will do after graduation.</p>
and tbh I’d take UChicago and its UCIB program over georgetown mcdonough and cornell Dyson anyday. Wharton, though, is another story :P</p>