<p>Any opinions? </p>
<p>Also - is there a place where you can accept the waitlist online?</p>
<p>The Chicago economics department is superior to Duke's, in my understanding.</p>
<p>Only MIT econ is on par, prestige wise, with UChicago econ, I think. I would choose UChicago.</p>
<p>The NRC rankings in economics from a couple years ago:</p>
<p>They may have changed a bit, but shouldn't have been too much. When it comes to economics, Duke is not on par with Chicago. Only HYPSM are.</p>
<p>Don't go to Chicago just because the Economics department is better. By passing up Duke, you're passing up an AMAZING social life and an AMAZING athletics scene coupled with the #8 education in the country. Duke can give you the whole package and then some.;)</p>
<p>i mean UChicago made up it's own TYPE of Economics. what more do you need? my chicago interviewer didn't major in econ because the math was too hard. soo be warned.</p>
<p>Wow, didn't know NYU and Michigan ranked above Duke in Econ. Also, I heard that Chicago is much more academically focused. I know I definitely plan to do ibanking or some variation in the future. How's Duke if I throw it's Public Policy major in the fray?</p>
<p>Chicago has a fabulous Public Policy major--or so the students I know in the major tell me.</p>
<p>What about job placement and internship opportunities? How does Duke rate against Chicago? Somewhat equally?</p>
<p>
A couple? The survey was done in 1993! </p>
<p>With 50% of its graduates in DC and NYC, I would indeed say Duke rates "somewhat equally."</p>
<p>Maybe I'm cynical, but I wonder how popular Chicago would be without its econ program. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>About the same, I'm guessing, minus some hard core econ-ers. Most of the students at the U of C don't major in econ, and many of the econ majors weren't planning on majoring in econ when they came in.</p>
<p>Was it from that long ago? Sorry then. Those were the only undergrad rankings I could find. If anyone else has any other undergrad rankings for economics, please share.</p>
<p>A few things from a current student at Chicago:</p>
<p>. Attempting to quantify a student experiences in an individual department at any college is a completely meaningless endeavor. I have no idea what factors the NRC rankings took into account, but what does a .02 point difference between MIT and Chicago mean?! I can assure you that if you ever find out what that actually means - and do share if you do - it will become an insignificant difference when you consider the myriad of factors that go into a student's experience at any given college.</p>
<p>In terms of job placement, I do know for a fact that 3% of the graduates from the COLLEGE went on to JP Morgan last year. If you consider that somewhere around 18% of students graduate with an econ degree, that should give you a pretty nice indication of the proportion of econ majors who go into Ibanking (granted that several students who go that route have majored in other areas like math or physics). </p>
<p>By far the most significant measure of the school's committment to its undergraduate students is the access that the students have to its top faculty members (For us, that list would include Roger Myerson, Nancy Stokey, Steven Levitt, Robert Lucas Jr, Gary Becker, Robert Fogel, James Heckmann, John List, Kevin Murphy, Ronal Coase.... you get the picture). Just to illustrate the point that is also obvious, Levitt's econ of crime class can be taken by any student who has fulfilled the ECON 201 requirement (which, for the most part, is any second year). Robert Lucas Jr, in fact, teaches ECON 202, which is the third quarter of our INTRODUCTORY econ sequences. Do also note that none of these classes have had more than 50 people in them (I think Lucas' last quarter had just over 20).</p>
<p>That's all and great, but what would really be impressive is if the school ensured that its students could take advantage of the fact that they are in a major research university. This comes in two parts:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>First, a student here would expect to have options open for research assistantships. From my experience, every first-year student with whom I have talked to has gotten a research position if they were looking for one, regardless of which department they were in. Given that we have such a highly reputable business school, you'd imagine that it is a popular choice. Well, as it turns out, the Decision Research Lab hires numerous undergraduate students to help out with research, and several professors at the GSB have posted job offerings for college RAs. Plus, I know a guy here who worked in Heckmann's computation program over the summer - after his first year. So, research opportunities are plenty.</p></li>
<li><p>Secondly, a good measure of the school's committment to undergraduate teaching is if it allowed its students to take graduate level courses. Do know that at Chicago, a college student can take classes in all its professional schools (Divinity, GSB, Law, Medical, etc...), and also enroll in graduate level classes in the arts and sciences. For the professional schools, one has to go through the registrar to make it happen, but since the GSB is such a popular offering, there is even a streamlined process for it. Nonetheless, navigation through that system is pretty simply. For PhD classes, all that separates you from it is instructor consent, and I have yet to hear a case in which the professor has refused to allow an undergrad to enroll (excluding one case in which the class was exceedingly crowded).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I hope this helps...</p>
<p>how hard is the math in econ (especially chicago). i'm pullin a B in AP Calc</p>
<p>OP-</p>
<p>Is that even a legitimate question? I mean...c'mon!</p>
<p>jose--you can very easily take calc 130s and probably get an A or A-. I never took calc before, so I am taking 130s. Most of my class though is full of people who have taken AP calc (some even BC calc) who generally want to boost their GPA. You can definitely do it if you want to cover your bases.</p>
<p>For the first class in the econ major, we will be using calculus of several variables, lagrange multipliers, and the envelope theorem. So, the math is rigorous.</p>
<p>felipe, i received a 5 on the AB calc test and right now i'm taking BC calc, do you think it's important for me to try and get a 5 on the BC calc so that I can place out of Math 15200, instead of 15100? Also, if I placed out of 15200 without fully comprehending the subject do you think I'd have trouble in the next level class (I could prbly pull off a 5 without knowing the subject as well as if I took the class, aka do you think i'd manage in the next level class without having a completely thorough understanding of 15200?) Thanks for all the info, I'll be majoring in econ so your advice has been really helpful.</p>
<p>Well, regardless of how you do on the AP test, you will be given a math placement test the day after your move-in day!!! It will recommend you for a given class, but several students elect to take a class up or down - you're not stuck with your placement results. Having said that, if it so happens that your placement score is below what the AP would give you credit for, what you do is really up to you. I have heard of kids who didn't do so hot in Calculus in high school and took it upon themselves to self-study over the summer. So, that's an option as well. The nice thing about the quarter system is that it will indeed allow you to fine-tune the classes you take, since they are split into three pieces as opposed to two. Also keep in mind that if you end up coming here fully satisfied with your computational math skills, the 160s sequence can offer you the unique experience of takingly a highly rigorous proof only calc class. They go from proving the properties of binary operations up to integral calc (its quite amazing). BUUUUUT, if you really just want to get the D/L on computational stuff for econ, you can also take 130s, which will have relatively few proofs in it and is computationally-focused. So, all these options are there for you.</p>
<p>BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!!</p>
<p>If you take one of the less rigorous math classes, but then decide to try to pursue math further, just this year they started a math sequence 199, "Intro to Analysis and Linear Algebra", which is a transition course from 130s and 150 into Analysis. So, you have PLEEENTY of options. For now, just worry about studying hard in math (since i've been here i quickly realized that it was just about the only important subject that i had in HS) and see what happens after the placement test here.</p>
<ul>
<li>Felipe</li>
</ul>
<p>P.S.: To get you pumped for econ here, read Robert Axelrod's "Evolution of Cooperation." The book is about iterated Prisoner's Dilemma games and what interesting conclusions about biology and social networks can be drawn from it. Axelrod is now a professor at the University of Michigan and was, I'm proud to say, a graduate of the University of Chicago with an A.B. in Math.</p>
<p>there is no question when it comes to economics in chicago...it is the best in the world, seriously</p>
<p>and this is coming from a rejected student who has done more than enough research...</p>