I am currently deciding between the two. I would be doing econ at UChicago and pre-haas at Berkeley. I am one of the lucky few to get a great FA package/scholarships, so UChicago ends up being 3k cheaper yearly than Berkeley in terms of Total Cost of Attendance. A few things I am considering:
- Job placement is very important to me.
- I am from the Bay Area and I want to end up working there. I don't mind working a few years elsewhere though (ie. Wall Street)
- I dislike bureaucracies quite a bit.
- I want to graduate in 3 years if possible.
- If I go to grad school, it would be a professional one (for business/law).
Any help with making the decision would be much appreciated. Thanks!
I’m an undergrad studying environmental science so I can’t speak to specifics about haas/economics programs in either school in detail, but what I can speak to is Berkeley. The class sizes for lower division required classes for popular majors are huge and difficult and we have major grade deflation here. If you want to get out early, hate bureaucracy, and want small class sizes, go to Chicago. If you want the real world, come to Cal.
@puzzled123 Econ and the Haas curriculum at Cal are very different. I believe Chicago only offers a quantitative econ track, which is also offered at Cal, while undergrad Business at Cal is very non-technical. When you make your decision, you should keep a few things in mind:
-What is it that you want to do upon graduation? If you want to work in the Bay Area, Cal is definitely a better choice.
-How likely is it that you would change your major? I’m not sure about Chicago, but it is very easy to switch between majors in L&S at Cal.
-In what kind of environment do you see yourself attending school (political and natural)?
Whichever you choose, as long as you maintain a respectable GPA and find acquire good internship experience, job placement will not be an issue.
Yes, Chicago economics is math-heavy; the Berkeley equivalent would be doing the economics major, choosing the more math-heavy versions of the intermediate economics courses (Economics 101A, 101B, 141 and additional math courses). Math-heavy economics could be better if you want to go on to PhD study in economics, an MFE program, or some other quantitative area.