<p>How would you compare the undergraduate business/computer science programs at these two schools? By the way I'm planning on dual majoring or at least grabbing a minor for business.</p>
<p>The University of Chicago does not offer an undergraduate business major or minor. [Majors</a> & Minors | The College](<a href=“http://college.uchicago.edu/academics-advising/majors-minors]Majors”>http://college.uchicago.edu/academics-advising/majors-minors)</p>
<p>Ah but I heard they have other related majors to business such as Econ which I heard is one of the best.</p>
<p>You didn’t provide your stats so my comment may not be relevant.</p>
<p>Since both colleges are quite selective I assume that your stats are very strong and that you are in the range of other selective colleges. That said, neither University of Chicago nor University of Virginia have world-class Computer Science Programs. Both would serve your need for business-relevant courses, and University of Chicago is probably the better choice. But there are definitely better choices for the computer science, even among some colleges that are less selective than University of Chicago.</p>
<p>I believe my stats qualify for these schools… 
Anyways I know there are other schools but I was recommended these two schools to put for early action and I’m just trying to weed one out. My eye keeps on going to the rank that University of Chicago seems to hold… I never knew it was such a prestigious school. However I don’t want to go to a school where the major my interest is weak. </p>
<p>Just wondering, even though I probably know the schools, which would you say off the top of your head are better choices for computer science / business? (And even less selective you mentioned)</p>
<p>Btw you don’t accept PMs?</p>
<p>From what I heard UVA would be cheaper than UChicago but does that apply for OOS as well? I was assuming UChicago is private so perhaps more merit scholarships, etc. I’ve considered the location as well (I have another thread asking to sort a list of colleges from most urban to most rural; I would assume urban colleges have better connections and I can’t imagine living in a rural neighborhood for 4 years (suburbs should be fine)) but it seems to me despite the fact that UChicago is much more urban, it’s neighborhood is much less desirable than Charlottesville. </p>
<p>Don’t think I’ll be interested in engineering any time soon but I heard that if a school has a good engineering program, it’ll likely have a good CS program.</p>
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<p>University of Chicago’s economics major really is mainly about economics, rather than being a substitute for a business major. It is also heavy in math and statistics, which is good preparation for going on to a PhD program in economics, but is much more math and statistic heavy than most business majors are willing to handle (although it may be helpful for someone going into quantitative finance).</p>
<p>[Economics</a> - University of Chicago Catalog](<a href=“Economics < University of Chicago Catalog”>Economics < University of Chicago Catalog)</p>
<p>There are, however, some business-like courses in the economics department, such as 22300, 22700, 24400, 24410, 25000, 25100.</p>
<p>In reply to your question:</p>
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<p>Colleges with strong computer science programs which are less selective than University of Chicago include several publics including UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis, University of Washington (Seattle), University of Illinois (Urbana Campaign), University of Texas (Austin), University of Wisconsin (Madison). Some of these publics have excellent business programs</p>
<p>And of the privates there is Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>University of Chicago has a so-so reputation in CS. There are plenty of cheaper schools that would teach you just as well.</p>
<p>US News ranks Chicago’s graduate CS department 35th. In the ten factors ranked by the NRC, its CS program ranges from as high as 14th to as low as 98th. These are not bad rankings, really. The undergraduate CS curriculum usually is rather similar from school to school. You may not notice much difference in the CS classroom & lab experience among most top ~50 schools.</p>
<p>You can have a look at Chicago’s CS course enrollment sizes here:
[University</a> of Chicago Time Schedules](<a href=“http://timeschedules.uchicago.edu/view.php?dept=CMSC&term=454]University”>University of Chicago Time Schedules)
There are a few lectures with more than 50 students, but also many classes/labs with fewer than 25. For me, small classes would trump a somewhat higher graduate program ranking with large undergraduate classes.</p>
<p>That said, Chicago tends to be rather theoretical in its orientation to many subjects. It has a stronger reputation for pure math than for applied math or CS. And as ucbalumnus said, I don’t think you’ll find that its undergraduate econ program is a substitute for an undergraduate business degree. </p>
<p>See [University</a> of Chicago Department of Economics | The Economics Major](<a href=“http://economics.uchicago.edu/undergraduate/major.shtml]University”>http://economics.uchicago.edu/undergraduate/major.shtml)</p>
<p>Other possibilities?</p>
<p>MIT (USN CS #1; USNWR econ #1; Businesswk undergrad bschool #19)
Stanford (USN CS #1; USN econ #5)
Carnegie Mell (USN CS #1; USN econ #19; Bwk undergrad bschool #24)
UPenn (USN CS #17; USN econ #9; Bwk undergrad bschool #5)
Michigan (USN CS #13; USN econ #13;Bwk undergrad bschool #8 )
Illinois (USN CS #5; USN econ #32;Bwk undergrad bschool #21 )
Wisconsin (USN CS #11; USN econ #13;Bwk undergrad bschool #32 )
Columbia (USN CS #17; USN econ #10)
Maryland (USN CS #14; USN econ #22)</p>
<p>The CS and econ numbers above are graduate program rankings. The graduate program quality won’t necessarily correspond to a strong focus on undergraduates. Look up average class sizes and instructors for required courses in CS and econ/business. Some of these schools may have very large classes at the intro/intermediate levels in econ & possibly CS.</p>
<p>Something to consider is that UofC’s CS major is relatively new, and that is why it’s ranked where it is. Given the university’s reputation and resources, I don’t think anyone thinks it will be ranked 35th ten years from now. Additionally, you’ll have the basis of a Chicago liberal arts education as a foundation.</p>
<p>Others are correct that UofC does not offer an undergraduate business major, and the economics major is just that: pure social sciences (very heavy on the science component) economics. That being said, highly selective mba programs will value that major far more than they will a marketing or finance undergraduate degree.</p>
<p>Re: [University</a> of Chicago Time Schedules](<a href=“http://timeschedules.uchicago.edu/view.php?dept=CMSC&term=456]University”>University of Chicago Time Schedules)</p>
<p>That does seem to indicate that Chicago’s CS department is a rather small one, with many upper division courses offered less frequently than every quarter. The number of students in the introductory CS course for autumn 2013 is 241 (91 in each of two regular lectures, 59 in an honors lecture), so those courses are hardly small. CS in general has been growing in popularity recently, so don’t expect small classes for introductory CS courses.</p>
<p>Chicago’s CS major requirements are described here:</p>
<p>[Computer</a> Science - University of Chicago Catalog](<a href=“http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/archives/2012-2013/computerscience/]Computer”>Computer Science - University of Chicago Catalog)</p>
<p>Well I would definitely prefer smaller class sizes.
@tk21769
So do you suggest UMD over UVA or UChicago in my case?</p>
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<p>I don’t think “241” is the right way to look at it. Why add the numbers from two different sections, taught at two different times by two different instructors, to get at the class size?</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. However, if you’re approaching UChicago with the expectation of getting a big pile of merit money, and you want to major/minor in business … and you don’t understand and like some of the school’s distinctive features (such as its Core curriculum) … then I would not recommend that school for you. In that case you may be able to get something closer to what you really want, at a lower cost, from Maryland.</p>
<p>For business + CS, personally, I’d probably prefer UVa over Maryland. I think Charlottesville is a nicer place to go to college than College Park. And I’m skeptical you’d find a huge quality advantage in CS at Maryland over UVa (regardless of the graduate department rankings), especially if you are gravitating toward the business side of information technology. However, College Park appears to be better situated for internship opportunities.</p>
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<p>This is no way to pick a college. Who is this mysterious person pulling colleges out of their ass for you? You seem to be clueless about Chicago, so it would be ridiculous to apply there. It is a unique school and you may be very unhappy if you don’t understand what you are getting into. Instead of asking which school to strangers on the net, look at the list of strong CS schools with business majors/minors given and take the time to learn about them.</p>
<p>@BrownParent</p>
<p>My counselor advised me to Early Action to several places and although I have picked out a few places that I will definitely apply early to, it’s just that I heard great things about both of these schools so I was hoping to apply to at least one. </p>
<p>If you want to know my current early list right now it’s:</p>
<p>Brown University (ED)
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Villanova
Northeastern
Binghamton</p>
<p>and I’m hoping to maybe throw in Uchicago or UVA. For RD I’ll probably apply other ivies, CMU, stanford, and maybe few more colleges with highly renown CS programs.</p>
<p>A person who just graduated with a BS in comp sci at UVa says the program isn’t as strong as past years - the recession hit the department hard.</p>