<p>If Michigan, Ross no question. If UChicago, likely econ. $63k v $27k. My parents are leaving the decision up to me but I didn’t think we were THAT wealthy, so I’m approaching this pragmatically</p>
<p>If your parents can afford UChicago, I say go for it, you will easily land a 6 figure starting salary job </p>
<p>But if they can’t afford it, just stick with Michigan, it’s still an excellent school</p>
<p>Chicago is like an academic boot camp, and you will come out ready to meet any challenge. Keep in mind that at Chicago you can take Business as one of the specializations; however is it really worth the premium of $144K? I doubt it. Knowing the odds of admission to Ross, in case you are not able to get into Ross, what is your plan B, and would you be happy about it? $144K can definitely be used to pursue an MBA later, if you so decide. </p>
<p>Which would you rather, a UChicago degree or a Michigan degree + a house? </p>
<p>“you will easily land a 6 figure starting salary job” </p>
<p>not even remotely accurate…</p>
<p>I chose Michigan over Chicago, and cost was not a factor as I am not a resident of Michigan. While Chicago is indeed a little stronger academically, the difference is insignificant, and I personally preferred the feel of the Michigan campus environment and culture. When two universities are so alike in quality and reputation, it will not provide a student with an advantage in career or graduate school placement. If you look at any data, you will see that Michigan and Chicago do equally well in reputation ratings, as well as in graduate school and job placement. As such, since there is no real difference between Chicago and Michigan, I recommend going with fit…when cost is not a factor.</p>
<p>Of course, in your case, the decision is much easier to make because of cost. Even if your parents are wealthy, is worth paying $150k extra to attend Chicago over Michigan? Seems like a waste of money to me. If you were considering Harvard or Princeton or Stanford over Michigan, the $150k may have been worth it, assuming the financial burden were manageable. But very few universities are significantly better than Michigan to justify that much more spending, and Chicago is not one of them.</p>
<p>A compelling argument can be made that Chicago is the best university in the Midwest. But if those are your actual costs after running net price calculators, then I’d definitely pick Michigan. If the costs are somewhat comparable, or won’t create too much of a burden on your family, I might be inclined to pick Chicago as its students are generally more intellectual than what you’d find at Michigan (this is just a personal preference for me.) Whether you should pick one over the other really comes down to how you fit at either school.</p>
<p>Also, don’t count on making a ‘six-figure salary job’ once you graduate from Chicago, or Michigan. Chicago doesn’t do very well on PayScale. If that tells us anything, it might be that it ranks low because Chicago students generally go to graduate / professional school after they graduate. This might increase their lifetime earnings, but make them ineligible for PayScale. </p>
<p>Again, your choice should be determined by fit. FWIW, I think Michigan at in-state price is a fantastic bargain.</p>
<p>Chicago is the best university in the Midwest academically, there are no “ifs”, “thens”, or “buts” about that statement. A Chicago Econ degree will take you a lot further than a Michigan Econ degree with regards to job placement and provide you with a better core liberal arts education, however a Ross degree from Michigan will match Chicago in job placement and exceed it in the “college social life” category.</p>
<p>You have to weigh the potential debt here with your personal preferences for either school and your likelihood of admittance to Ross after the freshman year of Michigan.</p>
<p>@Alexandre In terms of job placement, no university is worth $150K more than Michigan as long as you are admitted into Ross. As far as being surrounded by the most intelligent and academically capable undergraduates, Chicago is on par with Harvard and Stanford while being a clear notch or two ahead of Michigan.</p>
<p>Chicago is a much better choice than Duke, that is for sure. </p>
<p>I would stick with Michigan. I really like Michigan, better than UCh and my contacts re UCh. And I’d pick Duke over UCh as well. Duke vs Michigan would be a tough choice, and I can’t give an off the top of my head answer to that, probably Duke, though with instate prices at M, I can’t say.</p>
<p>IMO, quality of life is much higher at M than UCh, at least for me, and so there is no question which I’d advise taking. For MBA or other grad programs, I’d go with UCh, but ug, I’d pick M in an instant.</p>
<p>I have tremendous respect for Chicago’s faculty–better than Michigan’s in some areas, not as strong as Michigan’s on some other areas, but on the whole outstanding. I also have tremendous respect for the caliber of student Chicago attracts. But I have to say, I’ve never much cared for the campus culture there. It has a reputation as an academic meatgrinder, as few other schools do (Swarthmore is one, but you just don’t hear places like Harvard and Yale described that way). And for as long as I can remember, Chicago students have half-boasted, half-complained about how crushing their workload is. Chicago students are also the ones who invented and perpetuated the “Where fun goes to die” reputation the school claims. Having neither studied nor taught there, I can’t say whether these boasts/complaints have a real basis in fact; it could be that the school just attracts a certain kind of complaining masochist who loves to feel miserable and loves to let you know that he’s extraordinarily put-upon, even though he doesn’t really have it any worse (or much worse) than everyone else. But in any event, I find the whole posture off-putting.</p>
<p>That said, it’s obviously a great school, and some people think very highly of it. But I will say it’s one school I never encouraged my daughters to think seriously about. I did encourage them to think about Michigan, even though we would have been paying full OOS tuition, but in the end they both opted for high quality LACs. </p>
<p>It depends on the major in my opinion. Some of the Chicago undergrad majors are heads above comparable LSA majors. But both are great universities and there are aspects outside the classroom that are very different. Historically Chicago has been rather self selecting which contributed to the academic grind, which the students were rightfully proud of. Not sure that is still holding true. Personally I dont think the OP is “hurting” themselves if they choose the less costly Michigan over Chicago for undergrad.</p>
<p>“Some of the Chicago undergrad majors are heads above comparable LSA majors.”</p>
<p>Like?</p>
<p>Seriously, there is no liberal arts undergraduate major that is worth paying almost 150K extra over four years between these two schools.</p>
<p>If you want to be in a very academic enviornment, choose UChicago. If you want to work hard and play hard, choose Michigan. Don’t forget that you can buy yourself a nice Porsche with the money you save going to Michigan and have some left over.</p>
<p>If you can get into UChicago, then your chances at pre-admit Ross will be pretty good, but not certain. Even if you don’t get pre-admit status, sounds like you won’t have much trouble getting into Ross regular admission.</p>
<p>I’d really only choose UChicago if you care about being pretentious(keep in mind, a lot of Michigan kids are already quite pretentious). Even if you do choose UChicago, you won’t be in too much of a disadvantage for not choosing Ross since the UChicago prestige carries weight. </p>
<p>“If your parents can afford UChicago, I say go for it, you will easily land a 6 figure starting salary job”</p>
<p>after87, I am not sure if that statement is realistic or accurate. The average starting salary for Wharton BBAs is $65,000k/year. After Uncle Sam and cost of living take their cut, you’d be left with $20,000k. And that’s Wharton. Chicago graduates do not enjoy employment placement success like Wharton graduates…not straight out of college anyway. I would invest that $150k that you save from attending Michigan wisely in low-medium risk instruments and watch it grow steadily by 6$-10% annually. Over a lifetime, the money generated from this investment will most likely be greater than whatever earning advantage attending Chicago (there isn’t any to be honest) would give you. </p>
<p>With that said, I do not think it is necessary to discuss whether or not attending Chicago actually offers any kind of advantage. </p>
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<p>Yeah but the amount they’ll make in their first year is higher than that because of bonuses and relocation and stuff like that. And surely some will get 6 figure salaries, others will get 6 figure first year compensation. </p>
<p>There will be some Chicago graduates who make 6 figures their first year out of college, but it’s certainly not a guarantee by virtue of going to Chicago. Whether it’s easy or not is a matter of opinion. And you can say the exact same about Michigan, plenty of people make 6 figures their first year out of Michigan, but it’s not just by virtue of going to Michigan. I doubt if Chicago really opens up many doors over Michigan. It certainly is a better school, but does that translate to more money and opportunities?</p>
<p>" low-medium risk instruments and watch it grow steadily by 6$-10% annually."</p>
<p>What low-medium risk instruments yield 6-10% in this reckless keynesian stimulus driven market environment? You do know that 5y HY CDX is trading at 300bps spread right? I kid you not, junk bonds are trading at 5% IRR. When mergers are announced, a lot of the better risk arb deals immediately trade to less than a 5% annualized spread.</p>
<p>Wealthy people pay 2 and 20 to get steady 6-10% returns, which is obviously very different from just a return stream that averages out to 6-10% annualized. You make it sound like OP can easily achieve that.</p>
<p>^About as easily as a guaranteed six figures out of undergrad from UChi or UMich, bearcats ;)</p>
<p>Two UChicago friends cleared $80k last year as first year consultants.</p>