UChicago vs Duke vs Cornell?

College Search & Selection
1

I’ve gotten accepted into all of these schools (Pratt for Duke and CAS Cornell). Part of the indecision about making a final decision on where to go stems from my indecision about what exactly to study as an undergrad to reach a certain career path.

Initially, I would like to study physics or engineering as an undergrad, mostly because I think I would have the most fun in those areas. Physics and engineering are “ideologically attractive” to me; I like how pure physics is as a science and how applicable certain types of engineering are to entrepreneurship and startup culture, which I am interested in as well (think Elon Musk, Salman Khan, Zuck, etc.) However, I still would like to end up working in the financial services industry; management consulting, i-banking, etc. Economics and finance are my secondary interest. Workers in those fields benefit much from an undergraduate science degree and the associated quantitative skills, and besides, I’ll at the very least generate enough profit for me to retire as a physics teacher or something. To summarize my career interests, I’m looking for some vague combination of physics/engineering and econ/finance that is flexible enough to allow me to pursue some kind of graduate degree in physics or MBA while also allowing me to jump into some sort of financial services career right away if I so choose.

For UChicago, I’m mainly worried about the emphasis on theory-based classes as opposed to pre-professional styled courses. From what I’ve heard, banking jobs are much easier to come by with a degree form Duke or Cornell; those two schools have that powerful name-recognition factor on Wall Street and elsewhere in the industry. Apparently UChicago kids are often seen as “nerdy” and lack the interpersonal skills for client interaction. I’m not sure if this is actually true, but the perception of the school from employers holds some weight in itself. Moreover, the lack of engineering may limit my career options, and the severe grade deflation/competitiveness/general crappy weather and “fun aversion” are some drawbacks of questionable merit. Although I didn’t mind the social scene that much when I visited, and just going by pure rankings, Chicago is obviously great for econ and decent for physics.

Meanwhile, Duke has mediocre rankings in all of econ/engineering/physics and student culture that I might not fit in with (how fare Asian Indians in the South?) but I know that Pratt’s engineering and possibly an additional econ major at Trinity, combined with the Duke brand, is enough to land me some stellar career opportunities, especially on the East Coast and definitely Wall Street.

Finally, I think Cornell is in the middle of everything: good name recognition for career ops, reasonably high physics/econ rankings, and very diverse student culture (mostly on account of its size). Also, it offers me a chance of switching into something like engineering physics (#1 in the country apparently), or its engineering school in general. Drawbacks include: being less desirable by employees on account of high acceptance rate, being in the middle of nowhere (though I hear parties are pretty rad), and shitty weather. I feel like this is my best option at this point though; it’s a good balance.

Thoughts?

2

You would not be less “desirable” with a degree from Cornell. I’d get rid of the debate on prestige with schools of this caliber. If you think engineering may be in the mix for your future, I’d recommend Cornell. If you will be satisfied with a rigorous, highly analytical physics track for undergrad, plus formidable econ, you can’t do much better than Chicago.

As you seem uncertain, you may indeed want to choose Cornell, as it represents a strong balance of your varied interests. I would recommend Chicago if you truly see yourself being there, being fulfilled, and making a determined effort.

3

Why does this discussion make me uncomfortable? Go to Duke. In fact, please go to Duke.

"the severe grade deflation/competitiveness/general crappy weather and “fun aversion”
Do you even know what you’re talking about? Have you talked to current students, or are you just basing your conception of the school on what you’ve read on College niche?

4

If you want to go into finance (banking, management consulting) Duke is more targeted than Cornell and Chicago by a significant margin and that alone could be enough to swing things in favor of Duke if you know you want to go into finance post-grad. And absolutely do not worry about the student culture fit - even though it’s in the south, it has an east coast feel and a diverse student body with many Asians/Indians.

5

Yes. Please go to Duke. Do you not understand how unseemly this discussion is? Education is not just for the purposes of increasing earning power.

6

Considering that 21% of Duke’s undergraduates this year are Asian, I believe you would get along just fine there.

Duke has the best weather, best sports, best social life, beautiful campus, student population not too big and not too small, excellent diversity, etcetera. All those things combined with its strong academics, make Duke the best all-around choice of the three.

Of course, which one is best for you ultimately depends on what you major in.

7

Do YOU have those skills, or not?
Would those employers be hiring YOU, or your school?
If in fact they are tarring every individual Chicago applicant with a hearsay “nerdy” brush, would you really want to work for the kind of employers who are that stupid?

You’d be about right to conclude that the University of Chicago doesn’t even try to be a finishing school for investment bankers. If you believe Duke or Cornell have better internships, recruiting, or whatever it takes to help break into those circles, then pick Duke or Cornell. But it might be better to investigate specific programs than to speculate too much about employer biases.

8

Go to whichever you think you’d like better, all things considered.

Academically some main differences are:

Chicago has a (sort of?) core curriculum and has no engineering school.

You are accepted to the Arts & Sciences College at Cornell, which has a set of majors, in-college and distribution requirements. (Though you can take elective courses at any of the university’s colleges, and even minor in AEM). You can likely switch colleges there if that becomes desirable, but that shouldn’t be your primary plan going in IMO.

You are accepted to the Engineering school at Duke, which I imagine has its own different set of requirements and courses.

Suggest don’t base you entire decision on what some teeny pool of hypothetical future employers may possibly prefer. That’s speculative, and possibly irrelevant. For all you know now, your first semester you could get turned on by psychology and decide you want to be a shrink! I’ve said this elsewhere, but a HS classmate of mine went into college intending to be a physics major, and wound up getting a doctorate in Art History.

You should have a better handle on what YOU want. What you may want to study, what you want to learn, courses you do or do not want to be forced to take, etc,.
And also where you want to spend the next four years.

Most people would not have a hard time deciding whether they’d rather attend an Arts & Sciences college or an Engineering college.

9

Chicago is definitely not devoid of pre-professionalism, and I’m skeptical the career goals of its students are at all different from those at peer schools. Econ is by far Chicago’s most popular major (a whopping 784 declared majors as of this quarter), trailed distantly by the usual suspects – biology (359), math (303), political science (292), and public policy (234). The number of students pursuing graduate degrees in economics is virtually negliglible. (If memory serves, I once calculated that about 1 out of every 75 Chicago econ majors earns a PhD.)

I’m not entirely sure what a finishing school for investment bankers looks like, but I suspect an awful lot like Chicago’s Careers in Business.

https://careeradvancement.uchicago.edu/uchicago-careers-in/business