<p>Duke having 15 more Chinese students than UChicago should make absolutely zero difference in regards to how difficult it is for an international student to get the proper visas, work authorization, etc. It’s not like the 35 Chinese students at Duke are competing for a single open slot at Goldman Sachs, while the 20 Chinese students at UChicago get to also compete for the exact same number of spots, making their odds better. It’s not on a per school basis. Rather, the company has a set number of slots in which they deem exceptional students can be sponsored for work purposes. If all of those happen to come from Harvard and no other school, that’s fine with them as long as they’re getting great workers. They don’t care where the students come from and there are no quotas. Thus, if there are more super qualified students at Duke applying than UChicago, then Duke will get more sponsors. And vice versa for UChicago. </p>
<p>I certainly agree with Sam Lee that the job market for internationals is rough and it’s far from a guarantee to get a top notch finance job. I would think the number of international students getting the jobs at top finance firms in the U.S. is quite small and competition is fierce - when a company has enough qualified U.S. citizens for available positions, they don’t feel the need to go through the extra legwork of hiring an international student. They are more likely to hire for their London, Hong Kong, etc. offices. I don’t see any difference between UChicago and Duke in this regard.</p>
<p>I live in Chicago as a Duke alumnus. There is quite a large Duke community in Chicago (although not as large as NYC, DC, San Fran) and many of them are in the finance industry with top firms. If you want to end up in Chicago, you shouldn’t have a problem coming from Duke.</p>