<p>I have recently added UChicago to the list of schools I'm going to apply to for the Fall of 2011. I have a couple questions about majors/tracks at Chicago. </p>
<p>1st. I am really interested in doing something in the economics/financial engineering field. I see that Chicago does offer economics. At school like Brown, they have a economics/applied math combined concentration program for people who want to study FE. Is there any way to do something similar at Chicago? I've heard Chicago has a top economics department, so would just a major in econ be enough for a good job in the future in the financial sector?</p>
<p>2nd. I also have an interest in doing pre-med. How good is the pre-med program at Chicago? I've seen from this forum that the med school acceptance rates are pretty good, but is there anything else I should know before applying?</p>
<p>I’m only gonna try to answer your first question, since I know very little about pre-meds (though I heard that at UChicago it’s tough. There are a number of previous threads here that basically seem to boil down to : DO NOT COME HERE IF YOU ARE BENT ON GOING TO MED SCHOOL. Something about putting in half the work at an ivy league and getting into twice as many good schools). </p>
<p>I’m gonna start my first year in a few weeks and what I’ve been thinking of sounds similar to what you described in question 1. There’s a major at Chicago called “Mathematics with Specialization in Economics” you should check out on in their course catalog, which is online here: <a href=“http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf/MATH.pdf[/url]”>http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf/MATH.pdf</a></p>
<p>As you may or may not know, Chicago doesn’t have an engineering school (for undergrads, at least), so if you’re wondering if Chicago has an ORFE kind of thing that Princeton has, it doesn’t. However, as you pointed out, Chicago’s economics department is world-reknowned, and its math department is as well, so you have plenty of solid options there. </p>
<p>With regards to employment prospects, what I’ve generally heard from people working in finance is that Chicago is very highly regarded. I know for a fact that all of the top investment banks actively recruit from Chicago. There’s always someone who will say that Chicago’s alumni network pales in comparison to say, Princeton’s, and while they’re probably right, I’ve been told countless times that the importance of a Chicago versus Ivy league degree is really negligible, especially compared to the importance of your own ability, grades, experience, etc. </p>
<p>Also keep in mind that even a BA in economics from Chicago is no cakewalk. Be ready to take Real Analysis if you’re going down that path, and I hear a lot of potential econ-majors end up as public policy majors because of that one course.</p>
<p>Minor correction: you don’t need to take analysis (Honors or regular) to major in economics. You will need, however, calculus and, at the very least, 19520-19620 (Multivar and Lin. Alg.). You COULD take 20300-20400/20700-20800 (analysis) instead of 19520-19620, but you don’t need to (according to <a href=“http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf/ECON.pdf[/url]”>http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf/ECON.pdf</a>, anyway).</p>
<p>Really helpful, detailed advice. Thank you. I’m not set on the whole med school thing yet, especially since I’m not even in college yet and I have to clue what to expect as a premed. I’m definitely interested in Econ and the Math with Econ Specialization. That sounds really interesting. </p>
<p>What is so bad about the Real Analysis class? Any threads that talk specifically about this? Also, you said something about not having to take Real Analysis in your second post? What was that about?</p>
<p>I’m not too concerned about details yet as Chicago is only one on my list of many colleges to apply to, but I’ll definitely take your advice into consideration.</p>