<p>I am trying to make the decision between Chicago and Duke and while I am drawn to U of C's incredible academics and facilities, I am a little concerned over its career placement reputation. Could someone elaborate on why exactly UChicago doesn't do as well as its academic peers? Is this likely to change in the next few years?</p>
<p>Duke > UChicago. UChicago has traditionally been a place for students who are determined yet not as smart. Students there work hard, but at the expense of playing hard. UChicago students want investment banking jobs no less than students at Duke, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, etc., and competition is extremely fierce within UChicago. However, UChicago students fare no where near as well as students at those other schools.
Go to UChicago if you have been given a lot of merit-based aid, go to Duke if money is not an issue.</p>
<p>go look on wallstreetoasis, the majority of those guys say there’s great recruiting at Uchicago and on par with Duke/Brown/Cornell etc</p>
<p>its ridiculous how many misconceptions and self-justifications there are, and how many posts there are on a COLLEGE forum about investment banking. chicago does NOT fare worse than duke. which school you go to matters much less than how you actually apply yourself in that school (as long as they are both targets). go to whichever school you like better. go to chicago if you like intellectualism and being intense. go to duke if you want to assimilate into the old money prepster fratboy culture. college should be so much more than getting a job at goldman</p>
<p>This is a global economy. UChicago’s global reputation is fantastically amazing. Enuff said. Duke is a great school but is very regional.</p>
<p>
A few sentences later
</p>
<p>Oh the irony.</p>
<p>“This is a global economy. UChicago’s global reputation is fantastically amazing. Enuff said. Duke is a great school but is very regional.”</p>
<p>This board seems to be filled with ignorant high school students. making<em>a</em>point, I doubt you even know how recruiting works, or know undergrads from Duke or UChicago. UChicago’s graduate school of business school is great, but undergrad isn’t as good for business. If you want to do ib on Wall Street, Duke is better without doubt.</p>
<p>U Chicago is very academic and Wall Street is not academic. Go to Duke.</p>
<p>hmm are you an enlightened high school student ivypbear? because every one of your posts looks like you trying to meticulously categorize arbitrary “tiers” of investment banks while subtly (yet obviously) always trying to bash uchicago (tracing from your post history, due to some unsatisfactory college visit). We get it, you don’t like the over-intellectual atmosphere, but the deliberate spread of misinformation is a bit over the top, don’t you think?
Ironically enough, ivypbear IS right in his own way. This board does seem to be filled with ignorant high school students. If you look at a forum where people actually know what they are talking about ie. wallstreetoasis, like slapshot said. UChicago and Duke are very much comparable and you should not let the minute differences between recruitability affect your decision.
oh and to jersey13, it’s not a misconception if it’s my personal experience/ the general perception of the public. And even if I in any way misinterpreted it, its way more true than the statement “Duke>Chicago”</p>
<p>
Yet the comments made by others from their “personal experience” are all misconceptions?</p>
<p>i guess i can’t compete with an investment banker who’s not even out of high school yet</p>
<p>While I agree that Duke > UChi, </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>the OP plus any other online readers should know that this statement is incredibly, incredibly inaccurate. </p>
<p>As someone whose seen the recruiting at both schools, yes it is true that Duke does get recruited more heavily, but that in no way means that you won’t be able to break into IB from UChi. If you have a great GPA and good experience, there is no where Duke can send you to that UChi can’t. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree far more with this statement.
Although, not the “Go to Duke.”
I would hope that not being academic has become a requirement for pursuing IB.</p>
<p>trackster1992 - I just speak the truth that others don’t want to state. You obviously haven’t noticed how I’m consistently advancing the view that it matters more how you do at the school you attend (given that it’s a top school as it is the case here) than where you go to school since we are splitting hair here. If you don’t get 3.7+, you won’t make Wall Street from either school. If you get 3.9+ GPA, then you are likely to make it from either. That being said, for ib and consulting, Duke offers an easier path than UChicago. UChicago’s recruiting isn’t likely to change over the next few years; Wall Street is happy with their current favorites: Harvard, Wharton, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, and MIT.</p>
<p>OP - Why don’t you just go to the school you like. Talk to recruiters during your first and/or second year. If you don’t like what you hear, transfer to the other school (you obviously would be able to transfer if you have a high enough GPA for ib).</p>
<p>Ive talked to my brother a lot about this when I was looking at schools and was considering finance (He did banking, went to HBS, and is now at a Hedge fund). From his perspective Duke was a school that was recruited actively, Chicago was not. He recommended Northwestern and even Michigan much more than Chicago.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s is not actually correct. Most firms want minimum 3.5, but sometimes they will bend the rule, depending on your major. My daughter just barely made the minimum had 7+ interviews and 4 offers. She also double majored in math and econ, not business.</p>
<p>I have been in the business for 25+ years. Wall street is very much a people business. They want smart people and social people. They especially like jocks, and often students in Greek life. The reason is most of the time you are required to do presentations in front people who are older and probably even more knowledgeable than you. It takes a lot of “balls” to get in front people to pitch. Athletes are constantly pushed to the limit physically and mentally, and that quality is very desirable (another plus is most clients like to talk about sports). Students in Greek life tend to be very social, and if they have good grades then it shows they could multi task and have good time management. </p>
<p>One may argue that if you want to do research or more back office function then it is not as important. Who do those people interact with? Traders and salespeople. I have found with S&T people, if you couldn’t carry on a conversation or are easily intimidated then they don’t want to deal with you either. </p>
<p>Now, getting back to UChicago vs Duke. Duke’s students ten to be able to walk and talk at the same time. I am sure UChicago have students like that too. But in general, UChicago students are more interested in research and getting their PhD. When it comes to recruiting, firms like to go to where they could get most bang for their bucks. It is a reason why a school is a target school or not. Firms like to go to Cornell because they could do one stop shopping (it has 7 schools to recruit from).</p>
<p>Duke gets recruiting for NYC while UofC only gets recruited for Chicago positions. Therefore, Duke>UofC</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Is that true? If so, that’s a huge knock. Regardless, I think Duke > UC in general.</p>
<p>I’m not positive but NU only gets on-campus interviews from Chicago offices (every BB). I’d imagine if NYC offices would make a trip to UofC, they would stop by at NU as well. Of course there are quite a few students who are doing banking in NYC but they had to use other channels (we still have resume drops for NYC, alumni database etc…). I’d imagine UofC’s situation is similar.</p>
<p>Hm… I know a couple people from NU going to lower BBs in NY as SAs this summer…</p>
<p>well, i know more than a couple and not just lower-tier. NU has SAs at gs,ms,laz,cs and also a few elite boutiques this year for NYC. i was just saying NU has no on-campus interviews for NYC.</p>