(UCIB) Chicago vs. Ross

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
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<p>Probably a dozen and a half threads on this, but none of them quite exactly answer my questions.</p>

<p>The real question is this basically: Which is better for a career in I. Banking, the UCIB program at UChicago or the Ross BBA Degree at UMichigan?</p>

<p>The only issue is that UCIB (from what I hear) is fairly competitive to get into. On the other hand I've been given Preffered Admission to Ross already. I won't call myself the worst of students, but certainly not the best when it comes to the Humanities. There is where my dilemma lies; I like UChicago more than Ross, but I don't know if I'll be able to get good enough grades in the Core to get into the UCIB program. Some of you may say at this point "Work harder!", but English is my third language and I do struggle with expressing myself.</p>

<p>With that in mind I would appreciate if someone is willing to entertain the following Scenario analysis:
1. I go to UChicago and get into UCIB
2. I go to UChicago and don't get into UCIB
3. I go to Ross</p>

<p>In my mind #1 is my personal choice, but the likelihood of that happening seems small to me. So my next question is: How is the UChicago Econ. or Math + Econ. Program vs. Ross BBA? (Assuming that I don't get into UCIB)</p>

<p>Onto a slightly different topic now: What's a good GPA at these 2 schools? I've heard some "horror" stories of the Grade Deflation at UChicago and am wondering if a 3.4 would be considered a good GPA? Also, What sort of GPA (from either school) would I be looking at to break into the Bulge Bracket firms? Is there a significant difference in recruitment or perception by these firms from these 2 schools?</p>

<p>On the topic of me being a poor student, if I were to place in the top third of each school, what sort of job and compensation would I be looking at? Would I even stand a chance at the BB? Is there any place I can find more detailed data on Job placement for each of these schools? Ideally something like this: <a href="http://www.bus.umich.edu/pdf/EmploymentProfile2010.pdf"&gt;http://www.bus.umich.edu/pdf/EmploymentProfile2010.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Lastly, can you please characterize the environment of each school. For example, I've heard that UChicago is really "hardcore" in terms of academics, but does that mean that everyone is constantly studying and that you'll find no parties (unless you go to Northwestern) or is this an extreme characterization? Similarly, I've heard that Michigan is a school where you can go to have tons of fun.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for the help!</p>

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<p>Here’s some job info on Ross BBA placement:</p>

<p><a href=“Which MBA Format is Right for Me? | Michigan Ross”>Which MBA Format is Right for Me? | Michigan Ross;

<p>UofC doesn’t put together these types of reports (to my knowledge), but I believe UofC places just as well without accounting for different class sizes. </p>

<p>A major pro to attending UofC is that you get access to the Booth alumni network. I managed to get my upcoming summer internship through a Booth alum. But regardless of which school you go to, you will need to hustle and do a lot of the networking and research yourself for banking jobs. </p>

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<p>3.4 would be a very decent grade if you are taking lots of honors courses (keep in mind your first qtr grades could be atrocious). Anywhere between 3.7 and 3.8 would be considered really good, and should be enough for getting internships at a BB, ofc there are other factors that the recruiters look for.</p>

<p>UCIB is not as difficult/selective as you might think. Roughly 50% of the ppl get into the program of 160 or so each year when they apply spring quarter of their freshman year. They don’t just look at your grades (although there’s a minimum gpa of 3.0 to apply), there’s an essay application, and they also interview you. In the case that you don’t get in, you can still take Booth classes after your freshman year (no freshmen can take Booth classes).</p>

<p>Also, it seems to me that the ppl i know who got placements in I-banks by the end of their junior summer would mostly likely have been able to do so regardless of UCIB or not. The greatest advantage of UCIB i think really comes down to extra opportunities for networking (which is ofc significant), but you can do that through other means too.</p>

<p>Another factor to keep in mind, although there are significant number of ppl wanting to go into I-banking, it’s not like 100% of the econ majors here want to do that. Keep in mind, there will be a lot of competition at Ross, cuz it indeed is an undergrad business program, and that usually means a lot of the ppl there are going for the consulting and banking career.</p>

<p>As the above poster have already said, it does come down to a lot to hustling, doing research on the banking jobs, and networking.</p>

<p>And onto the final point about social life and parties vs. academics. Don’t really plan on partying during the weekdays at UofC, you will have plenty of work to do. On the weekends there is usually things going on, frat parties are fun to go to at the beginning, and later on every now and then, but it can get old. Lots of people host apartment parties, so needless to say, try make lots of friends and chances are you will have some buddy of yours hosting a nice apartment party at one point during any given weekend.</p>

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<p>If you know at 18 that a career in business is definitively what you want - and you also know that insofar as you are going that route you want to be associated with the best institutions possible - then Ross has the best risk / reward profile. On average, 3.5+ GPA BBA from Ross / Haas / Darden tends to do better in the analyst market by my observation than any of the elite but no quite first tier liberal arts schools for straight econ (I am thinking of Chicago, Columbia, non-Wharton Penn, Cornell, Brown, etc.) HYP is a different story as there is a halo over them. MIT and Stanford also clean up, but it is hard to net out the impact of engineering majors (e.g., MIT is the most heavily recruited target school for Goldman, but surely many of those people end up in IT roles if the mix of IBD, research and S&T classes are considered). My perspective is consulting ==> BB sell side ==> elite buy side by way of Chicago for college, then elite graduate program. The only hard fact I can point to support this claim is Mich / Haas / UVA are always on college recruiting lists for good firms, and for many, almost all the hires from Mich, Berkeley, Virginia tend to be from these programs in particular. </p>

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<p>Thanks for the responses. I really appreciate the time you guys/gals put in to answering my questions.</p>

<p>@uchicagoalum2 </p>

<p>I thought the same thing about the BBA degree coming in more handy due to it giving actually applicable skills, in contrast with UChicago’s Economics degree which, despite being probably the best in the world, is still lacking the business/accounting/finance. Before you bring up the 6 courses that students are allowed at Booth, I must point out the (probably) ferocious competition for the “real” courses that will provide any actually hard skills. </p>

<p>I was wondering how the Analyst market would view a “Mathematics with a Specialization in Economics”. Is there any slant angle that I exploit to improve my image from the average grad. from a Liberal Arts school who did Econ?
A link if someone doesn’t know what I’m referring to:
<a href=“Mathematics < University of Chicago Catalog”>http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/mathematics/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>A few more questions now, and yes I am aware that UChicago does not publish some of this data, but I ask that current students who are in the Job process and those that recently graduated please assist with helping us fill some numbers:

  1. How many Econ. majors are there?
  2. How many Math majors (w/ specialization in Econ.) are there?
  3. How many kids try to enter the Finance/Business/Consulting fields?</p>

<p>I think I’ll also post my Original post in the UMichigan to get some more UMichigan views on this since it seems that I’ve only attracted people that are from UChicago or have more experience with UChicago.</p>

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<p>I respectfully and strongly disagree with the advice you are getting on the Michigan and Chicago boards. You go to college first and foremost to get the best possible education, to grow intellectually and to learn to think critically; not to attend football games, not to learn superficial business courses, and not to worry about a minor difference in a gpa. Chicago wins hands down in terms of academics and intellectual growth. Further, Wall Street is not particularly impressed with undergraduate business degrees (with the exception of Wharton). Chicago wins hands down in terms of raw prestige, particularly if you major in economics, math or both. You are obviously a very smart guy and will have no problems at Chicago-the grade deflation argument is way overplayed. You will also have no problem getting into Booth courses. Yes fit is important, but I think you are not aware of the significant changes at Chicago over the past 3 years. Kids actually have fun! I am not saying take my advice. I just feel you are not getting a balanced view. I know I am not giving statistics to back up my views, but I will tell you I am quite familiar with hiring in the industry, and know many current students in the relevant fields at both Michigan and Chicago. Please excuse my grammar and spelling but wrote this rather quickly. One last point, in the long term, 150,000 is not a alot of money, particularly in the fields you are contemplating. It is not my intention to be critical of Michigan-it is an exceptionally fine university.</p>