<p>Private_Joker - I think the career office is great regardless of your major. I have met many UChicago grads because I lived in Hyde Park for many years, my H is a grad. and my Dad and Mom still live there, plus I have met many UChicago friends of my S. The English majors I have known coming out of UChicago either go into academics (i.e. pursue a doctorate), teaching, advertising or working at a publication. There was an article in one of the more recent Chicago Magazines (alumni magazine) that said that about 80 soon-to-be grads with unusual language (Urdu, Arabic, and others you can learn at UChicago) instruction, were getting recruited and interviewed by the CIA. There might have been a protest about this on the campus, I don't know (there certainly would have been in the 70's when I was in high school). I don't know any Computer Science majors for some reason.</p>
<p>One of my S's frat brothers was a Film major and I think also studied Humanities. I think he went on to an excellent graduate program. He has another frat brother who got into medical school, majoring, I think, in Econ. I have a friend who is a contemporary who got a graduate degree at UChicago in public policy and is working for a think tank in NYC. There are a myriad of possibilities for graduates of UChicago. Many go on to higher education, rather than employment. </p>
<p>You could probably find out much more through the career office itself.</p>
<p>Thanks, Peacemaker. It seems that the more I hear about UChicago the more I want to apply to it. Over the last year since I've heard of the University, I've had several worries about it. One was the possibility of graduating with an umarketable diploma if I didn't enter academia or a preprofessional school. Luckily, there's always those who supply valuable information and insights throughout this whole process. Thanks.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that employers that hire from elite colleges probably know the grading at U of C. Keep in mind, too, that a lot of employers don't care what your GPA was. Some (many?) don't even ask.</p>
<p>At the same time, there are no doubt some education neanderthals (just kidding) that have no idea that 90% of Harvard graduates with honors, but a much smaller % at Chicago do.</p>
<p>Just ask yourself if you really, really, really want to work at a company that doesn't even appreciate the significance and uniqueness of a Chicago degree? Especially if that company is dumb enough to ask about GPA without having the requisite smarts needed to interpret the data! :-)</p>
<p>I think the University has changed a bit over the years. I understand the worry about the "possibility of graduating with an unmarketable diploma". My H had angst over whether it was the right decision for our #1 S to attend UChicago because when my H attended ugrad, he felt it was very theoretical in its education, rather than practical. My H went on to get his MBA at the Business School and tried for a PhD but realized he was better off in the work world. He would literally wake up in the middle of the night worrying that we were spending too much on our S's education and that he would not come out getting a job, esp in light of the fact that our S was not a top student. This was the farthest thing from the truth! The Career office was awesome and we are grateful! As I said, things have changed at the school. I think the administration listened and responded to the needs of students over the years. I have to say that the alumni assoc, is great too- we are sent brochures about all kinds of activities in NYC and here in CT. I am more gung ho about all of this than my H - LOL! He sleeps better! </p>
<p>idad - yes, you want to be educated but you've got to feed yourself too!</p>
<p>OK, I love Chicago and all, but this one guy who used to work at BCG said that the kids were really strange when he interviewed them at U of C....</p>
<p>So, not all employers are...enthusiastic...about hiring U of C grads.</p>
<p>And please don't argue with me...this isn't my opinion.</p>
<p>I think that all prospective UC grads can do is just do the best we can, and try for a good job, and hope that the person who screens our app knows the value of a Chicago education. </p>
<p>to peacemaker: "I have a friend who is a contemporary who got a graduate degree at UChicago in public policy and is working for a think tank in NYC."</p>
<p>this makes me very happy. i was planning to go to public pol grad school at uchicago, and the think tank sounds great.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all of the information. I know the lady of whom you speak, and, though I have not yet spoken to her personally, I know a math major (graduated in '05, like your son) who has given me advice through consultation with her.</p>
<p>I am pleased when you wrote that the U. of C. coddles its math majors. I know math is not the easy way when trying to graduate from college, so I hope that if I decide to do math, they will keep me at it and see that I do not fall through due to difficulty. </p>
<p>By the way, I wonder if your son knows the math major I do. Her name is Amanda R___ , and she is now working on her Ph.D. in math at MIT. Evidently, Chicago prepared her well for graduate work, and she is still going strong.</p>
<p>I know someone who has a masters in computer science from the U. of C. He now works for the University as a computer programmer, and I am sure he is making decent money, but, as a recent graduate, he is just starting out in the workforce. If it matters at all (or you are interested), he did not major in computer science in college but instead majored in physics and astrophysics.</p>
<p>I don't think anyone attending Chicago has much to worry about in terms of a career or feeding themselves, and it will last a lifetime. That is why enjoying becoming (as opposed to being) an educated person is the one special thing one can do in College, and do in a very special way at Chicago. </p>
<p>From an Abbott speech:</p>
<p>There is a strong case to be made that, given who you are and where you are, there is no particular necessity for you to study anything for the next four years. First, as far as worldly success is concerned, youve already got it. That your future income will be huge and your future work prestigious can be predicted from the simple fact that you got into an elite college. About 2.8 million people graduate from high school every year; 1.8 million start college; 40,000 to 60,000 go to elite schools like Chicago. So you and your peers represent the top 2 percent of an 18-year-old cohort. Obviously youre going to do very well indeed. </p>
<p>The real work of predicting your future success is done not by prestige of college but by other factorsmainly the things for which you were admitted in the first placepersonal talents, past work, and parental resources both social and intellectual. Moreover, admission sets up a self-fulfilling prophecy; since you got in here, people in the future will assume youre good, no matter what or how you do while you are here. And, pretty certainly, having gotten in you will graduate. Colleges compete in part by having high retention rates, and so it is in the Colleges very strong interest to make sure you graduate, whether you learn anything or not. </p>
<p>All of this tells me that nearly everyone in this room will end up, 20 years from now, in the top quarter of the American income distribution. I have surveyed those who graduated from Chicago in 1975a group considerably less privileged by ancestry than yourselvesand can tell you that their median personal income is about five times the national median, and their median household income is at about the 93rd percentile of the nations income distribution. Thats where you are headed. As far as the nationwide success game is concerned, theres no reason for you to study here. The game is over. Youve already won.</p>
<p>Exactly. I don't at all worry about what my job will be. Of course, I am toying with different options, but what I want to do is emerge from the U. of C. an educated and well-rounded person. I know many students here who think the same way I do in terms of being not career-oriented, and it is refreshing in a world where everyone takes courses so one is adequately prepared for a certain job (Nursing comes to mind.). A college-student, most of the time, is too young to know what he wants to do with the rest of his life, and that is why it is necessary simply to receive a well-rounded education so one will be well prepared for just about any job.</p>
<p>The future will take care of itself. Right now, all I want is to become educated.</p>
<p>OMG - I just wrote out about four paragraphs of a response to this and I clicked something and boom it was gone - ohhh- darn it! I'll try to reconstruct it later...</p>