Need Admission Decision Counsel and Perspective

exacademic
Thu, 07 Apr 2016 19:18:08 +0000

One thing to note is that at U of C the STEM fields you’re talking about all have different tracks, so he doesn’t have to be competing with departmental majors in physics, chem, and math. He’ll probably be competing with pre-meds, biologists, and social scientists who, like him, have an interest in, and see the professional relevance of, these adjacent fields.

From what I’ e read, it sounds like the professional opportunities for finance people right out of college are exceptionally good for U of C students (especially those with strong math skills). Maybe I’m wrong, but my impression is that MBA programs are very different from MD and JD programs in that they aren’t GPA-obsessed and they strongly value/typically require a few years of work experience after college. So job opportunities post-BA are worth looking at (and you may also want to check out whether Booth has a BA/MBA track – I thought I’d heard references to something like that but I could be mistaken).

The “is it worth the money?” question is one only you (pl) can answer – so many variables in the mix. But one consideration I would flag is that once smart kids get into life-of-the-mind environments, all bets may be off in terms of career goals. I went into Harvard unclear on whether I wanted an MBA or a JD or both – I came out enrolled in a PhD program. So much for ROI, LOL! Odds are, if your son goes to a top 10 engineering school in a public university, ends up an engineer (and a very good engineer at that). But it may be much harder to predict what he’ll end up doing if he goes to U of C, especially given the apparent range of his interests.

Bottom line – I’ve got plenty of counsel but no recommendation to offer re what choice should be made. Good luck and congrats – he has lots of appealing option to choose from among!