Hey guys, I am lucky enough to hold an acceptance for both Yale and UChicago for economics. I am really interested in my subject and would primarily prefer the university that will provide me the best education for economics, but other factors that are most important to me include: Strength of Student run organisations, careers (esp in finance) and the city life. Thanks in advance :).
@dubaiapplicant I am assuming you are an international student from your CC handle. Getting a job in the US on a student visa is going to be difficult, so you may land up going back to your home country. Thus you need to consider international reputation, not just how these schools stack up in the US or your student life here.
Name recognition wise, Yale has a huge lead on UChicago internationally, even though UChicago’s economics dept is top notch. For that reason alone, I would choose Yale even though, I think UChicago is ranked slightly higher in the ARWU rankings. This coming from a parent whose kid is wildly excited about UChicago.
Good luck with your choice and congrats on getting into two great schools
This comes from a student who’s going to UChi next year: choosr Yale.
Investment banks and consulting firms go crazy over the name “Yale” and you will be more appealing to those firms.
Are you serious about studying economics (and do you want to potentially go to grad school?). Or do you want to run off to wall street and become a banker? For the former, the schools are pretty close, but I would say Chicago has a slight edge. For the latter, Yale will be much better.
Unless Chicago is offering merit money, there’s rarely a reason to pick Chicago over Yale. I say this as a Chicago alum - Yale is the better choice here.
Maybe if you were REALLY interested in studying physics or mathematics, the conversation might be a little different. For economics though, at the undergrad level, Yale is the clear choice, given your aspirations.
Background is UChicago undergrad alum (not economics). I currently teach and do research in a business school (accounting, some finance). I would go with Chicago. The quality of the faculty in the areas you mention (economics and finance) is my reason. I know of the great work of faculty in these fields at both schools. I believe Chicago edges out Yale. Chicago Booth is super in finance and Chicago’s economics department is extraordinary. Also, the common core makes you a better thinker and writer whatever area you enter. Given your interests, you have been accepted at the two premier schools! Congratulations.
Chicago is right up there with MIT and Harvard as the leading place for Economics. Yale is a notch lower.
Chicago vs. Yale
Yale’s advantages:
- Greater national and international name recognition.
- More of a direct pipeline to Wall Street financial jobs.
Chicago’s advantages:
- Slightly better Econ department, probably.
- Highly intellectual learning environment (not that Yale isn’t intellectual, but Chicago is known for it)
Honestly, both are outstanding. I think you should research the housing situation at each school, the social aspects and opportunities at each school, the cities (Chicago vs. New Haven), and the overall campus vibe. Those things – the “quality of life” aspects of each school – should be important factors in your decision.
Academically, they are probably pretty even overall. Yale is better at some things, Chicago at others.
European friends say Yale is not a major signifier there. Harvard, Stanford and Oxford are – and, to a lesser (or more limited) extent, Berkeley and MIT register – but not the rest of the Ivies. This probably varies by country and field, but I wouldn’t assume Yale has an international reputation.
Investment Banks and Consulting Firms would take a U Chicago Econ graduate ANY DAY over a Yale Econ graduate. In fact, Investment Banks would take any UChicago graduate over a Yale graduate regardless of major.
I speak from a lot of experience…
@paxfobiscum Pls elaborate on this. I’m going to UChicago next year and seriously interested in investment banking.
@paxfobiscum 's statements are wildly inaccurate. But it doesn’t matter. Chicago and Yale are both highly respected, on Wall Street and in consulting firms, as places where really smart kids go and get really good educations, and thus are target-rich environments for recruiting. No one is hired solely on the basis of their college and major. Students with great grades at great colleges, including both Chicago and Yale, who have some basic quantitative skills and writing ability, and depending on the firm maybe some leadership/social network, can get a look from most firms. (Major is not that important. Skills are.) Then they are hired based on personal qualities. No one would ever “take any UChicago graduate over a Yale graduate regardless of major.” That’s just not how it works.
There’s little question that Chicago’s Economics Department slightly outranks Yale’s, but there’s also little question that any undergraduate strong enough to understand and to be affected by the difference between them is (a) one in a million, and (b) heading for a PhD, not for a high paying job doing scutwork at an investment bank or consulting firm. The other 99.999% will never know the difference.
Also, if you think the Core at Chicago is valuable for learning perspective, critical thinking, and writing ability, but you are stuck at Yale, you’re in luck! Because Yale freshmen have the option to take Directed Studies, which is very similar to the Chicago Core, probably more so than the Columbia core.
The real advantage Chicago has over Yale is the depth and breadth of its math community. Chicago is just about the mathiest college anywhere, short of the technical institutes. There just isn’t as much math in the air at Yale. Yale’s advantage over Chicago is that it’s a much richer, more privileged, happier place, where you don’t have to suffer quite so much to be an intellectual. The engagement of students in arts and culture, and the quality of the extracurricular organizations, are much greater at Yale. Its residential college system is the best college living situation anywhere.
At the level of Yale and Chicago, the main reasons, one or the other may have dramatically different recruiting results are
- The students self select into certain professions differently at either schools
- Recruiters find it easier to get a larger yield at one school than the other, so focus on that school as the easier path
- The core recruiting team is heavy with alums form one school or the other who prefer recruiting form their alma mater
- The career services in one or the other school is run much better operationally than the other
For example, these reasons drove why Wharton has such a lead on some of its peer schools.
Very rarely is it the “quality of the student pool”. If anything Chicago students may be at a slight disadvantage here. I-Banking firms mainly depend on the 3P’s during recruitment: Prestige of School, Performance of students within the School, The Packaging of the student (Meaning can I have a beer with this guy after work, are they good communicators, will they work hard, take good direction, have attention to detail etc).
My guess is that the average Yale student might fare slightly better on the last two fronts, but I may be wrong.
I think 1,2 and 4 are fixable more easily within a few years.
3) is going to take almost a generation to fix. While Chicago may have a slight disadvantage on the previous metrics because of student self selection and profile, it has a slight lead on Yale as far as 3 is concerned in I-Banking given Booth’s presence, so I expect Chicago will have a slightly easier time here, but it is by no means a huge insurmountable lead.
^ You don’t think Yale has the edge in prestige? Most people would argue it has a significant advantage.
“Investment Banks and Consulting Firms would take a U Chicago Econ graduate ANY DAY over a Yale Econ graduate. In fact, Investment Banks would take any UChicago graduate over a Yale graduate regardless of major.”
^ This is demonstrably untrue and verges on absurdity.
A]. Linkedin Ranking:
1). Investment Banking: Yale - 3rd , Chicago - 17th
2). Finance Professionals: Yale - 2nd, Chicago - unranked
https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/edu/rankings/us/undergraduate-investment-banking?trk=edu-rankings-flt-ctg-dd
https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/edu/rankings/us/undergraduate-finance?trk=edu-rankings-flt-ctg-dd
B]. College Scorecard salary data (obtained by the federal government):
1). Yale - $66,000
2). Chicago - $62,800
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?130794-Yale-University
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?144050-University-of-Chicago
C]. Top B-schools:
1). Yale - 4th best feeder to HBS
Chicago - unranked
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?144050-University-of-Chicago
2). Yale - 3rd best feeder to Stanford GSB
Chicago - unranked
http://poetsandquants.com/2012/05/30/top-feeder-colleges-to-stanford-b-school/2/
D]. NY Times employer survey:
Yale - 2nd
Chicago - 21st
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2012/10/25/world/asia/25iht-sreducemerging25-graphic.html
@JHS Thank you for pointing out the absurdity of @paxfobiscum’s assertions. I thought I was the only one who noticed!
For the lay person, Yale has more prestige, but these people don’t matter when it comes to i-banking recruiting. When it comes to i-banking, firms are wise enough to realize that at the level that Yale and Chicago play at, school prestige is not a factor. Both are prestigious enough to warrant recruiting at those campuses. Now it comes down to student performance and packaging. For many years banks did not bother having a huge presence at UChicago, because the kids who came there were not interested. There was no return on investment for them. That has changed now. As the student demographics has changed and become more like HYPS, you are seeing a significant uptick in recruiting from the banks. They can now come to campus and get a good number of students, unlike in the past. The rankings are not a leading indicator, they are a trailing indicator of the changes, so you will see them move only after these changes ripple through the employee pool of these banks.
Deleted all the wildly off topic posts. Get a grip, people.
@fallenchemist Thank you!
Why is the number of students (Chi vs. Yale) who enter HBS and Stanford MBA programs important?
Maybe Chicago Econ grads are more apt to enter the work force than Yale Econ grads. Or maybe most who do apply for graduate business programs don’t apply to HBS or Stanford; maybe more Chicago grads apply to Wharton, Kellogg, Columbia, Fuqua, Haas, Stern, or their own alma mater’s great MBA program at Booth.
There could be any number of things to better explain why there are more Yale grads at HBS and the Stanford equivalent than “Yale grads are more qualified or are seen as such by HBS and Stanford GSB.”
This is all beside the point: these are both great schools with top-notch Econ (and overall) curriculum and teaching. Choice should be made based on personal fit with the school.
I’m going to extricate myself from this conversation. I never intended to come out all guns blazing. I was just browsing when I noticed @paxfobiscum’s post and I had a visceral reaction to it (because his/her assertions are patently false).
@prezbucky I provided data for Wharton and Booth but it was deleted by the moderators.