<p>I was very fortunate to get accepted into these two great universities. In the off-chance that I get off the waitlists at Princeton or Wharton, then everything changes, but for now, it’s between UofC and Brown. My major would be economics, math, or possibly chem. I ultimately want to be a trader, HF manager or do something with quantitative finance. Here’s my view:</p>
<p>Academics: Edge to UChicago in my major areas of study, but I get the feeling that a core at UChciago (as opposed to an open curriculum @ Brown) may be restricting.</p>
<p>Career Placement: HF’s and trading are big in Chicago, from what I understand, so UChicago would be a good fit I think? How is Brown with regards to finance placement in trading, investment banking, or other areas of finance. </p>
<p>Setting: UofC has a great campus in my opinion, and the city of Chicago is awesome. However, I felt “more at home” for some reason when I visited Brown last summer, but can’t necessarily articulate why.</p>
<p>Overall Prestige/Wow Factor: roughly the same (though I suspect UofC is more respected in the business community…correct me if I’m wrong on this).</p>
<p>Any other thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>
Phenomenal. My friends who graduated 09/10 (i.e. in the height of recession) who wanted jobs at morgan, barclay’s, goldman, etc all got them.</p>
<p>With these two schools you can throw out academics and prestige as factors. The differences between them are so absurdly minuscule. Do not conflate Chicago’s business school with its undergraduate school.</p>
<p>Now the curriculum and the campus cultures, that’s a different story. I never even considered chicago - just don’t understand how someone could be interested in both their core and the open curriculum but obviously there are lots of brown+columbia/chicago cross admits so people do consider both environments. At Brown, the curriculum really sets the whole ethos of the school - it’s a place of freedom and self-empowerment. It is not a school that will sit you down and tell you how to go from point A to point B. Instead Brown gives you a bunch of tools and skills to allow you to figure out your own route from A to B.</p>
<p>With regard to the campus, Brown is very, very campus oriented. You can easily spend little to no time in Providence if you want. No idea if Chicago is the same or if you care about that. Just to use Columbia or NYU as an example (since I’m from NYC originally), many of my friends who went there talk about how the campus is always dead because NYC is simply too enticing. NYU literally has no campus and Columbia has quads but they’re just basically places for people to pass through - not major hubs of activity.</p>
<p>Does Chicago have an admitted students day? I personally think summer visits, while better than nothing, are kind of a waste. School is not in session, it’s simply not the same place. I think you’d be better off waiting until after visiting both schools again to decide.</p>
<p>Any other thoughts about Brown? If you can compare to UofC, that would be great. </p>
<p>The two schools are populated by bright, motivated young people. The one important difference at the undergrad level that you should really think about is the core vs. no-core. If you are sold on the idea of a somewhat structured approach to learning early on, maybe UChicago is the place. If you really think you would benefit from the more open approach at Brown, then go there. </p>
<p>I was most struck by your comment that you felt more at home at Brown. I’m a big proponent of paying attention to that voice that tells you that. Think hard about what is causing that feeling. </p>
<p>polar opposite schools…
okay maybe that’s a bit extreme</p>
<p>very different schools
look into what you want and ask yourself which school has it</p>
<p>Also this post, unlike your other one, you don’t mention that you are “quite conservative” and that may really affect your enjoyment if it is going to bother you that the school culture is liberal. But if it is not something you focus on when you interact with people than it may not matter. Not, like I say in your other thread, that you won’t find like minded people or organized conservatives. My daughter would have been happy at either college but she really decided Brown was the one and she was very happy she made that choice.</p>