<p>Hi, i am just curious about uchicagos undergrad econ degree. For the sticker price is it worth the debt? how far will it take you in the job market, as per se a hyp degree or top lac (williams amherst) degree?</p>
<p>I believe one will find that an econ degree from Chicago is considered second to none. But since majors change, I would consider all the many factors that go into four years of college when choosing any school.</p>
<p>Although it’s hard to find comparisons specifically for the undergrad level, MIT and Harvard certainly have econ departments comparable to Chicago.</p>
<p>UChicago is great if you want the Nobel Prize (UChicago has a lot more winners than MIT and Harvard.) Oh, but I guess you wanted a job.</p>
<p>Well, you could always ask this guy from Goldman Sachs:</p>
<p>[Where</a> in the World Is ‘Fabulous Fab’? Rwanda. Chicago. - Deal Journal - WSJ](<a href=“Where in the World Is 'Fabulous Fab'? Rwanda. Chicago. - WSJ”>Where in the World Is 'Fabulous Fab'? Rwanda. Chicago. - WSJ)</p>
<p>Although a lot more UChicago faculty have won the Nobel prize, more alumni from MIT and Harvard have won the Nobel prize [source <a href=“http://www.shanghairanking.com/SubjectEcoBus2011.html][/url”>http://www.shanghairanking.com/SubjectEcoBus2011.html][/url</a>]. The alumni data combines bachelors and graduate alumni so I’m not certain which school has had more undergraduate alumni win the prize. In any case, this is probably not particularly relevant to the OP.</p>
<p>saw this post…i’m curious as well, especially on the uchicago vs williams/amherst part. anyone wants to contribute?</p>
<p>UChicago has one of the best economics programs in the country. Check out these links:
[Best</a> Undergraduate Economics Programs in the Nation](<a href=“http://education-portal.com/best_undergraduate_economics_programs.html]Best”>Best Undergraduate Economics Programs in the Nation)
[url=<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/university-of-chicago-144050/overall-rankings]University”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/university-of-chicago-144050/overall-rankings]University</a> of Chicago | Overall Rankings | Best College | US News<a href=“scroll%20down%20and%20find%20economics”>/url</a></p>
<p>There’s no meaningful difference between the “value” of a University of Chicago degree in economics and a similar degree from Harvard, MIT, Williams, or Amherst. Employers don’t hire degrees, they hire people. No undergraduate economics degree certifies that the student who earned it has any actual real-world job skills.</p>
<p>Going to any of those schools means (a) that you were pretty smart to begin with in order to be accepted, (b) you have been through a rigorous educational program with top-quality teachers and peers, and (c) you probably have good-to-excellent writing and analytical skills, both of which are foundational skills for success outside academia. In addition – and this is really important – having been at any of those schools means that you will have had opportunities to engage in research, get internships, and things like that, that will burnish your credentials, and that you can turn into a compelling reason why an employer should hire you. But that doesn’t happen automatically; you have to use your opportunities anywhere you go.</p>
<p>You have to like the school all around, not just the major. That being said…UChicago’s Friedman and his colleagues basically invented one of the three major economic schools of thought…so it’s like going to the Mecca of Monetarists. Before you decide to attend(if you get accepted), I suggest you read some of Thomas Sowell’s or Milton Friedman’s books to see if you like economics the way Chicago will teach it.</p>
<p>Except Chicago has lots and lots of economics professors, and they don’t all teach it like Milton Friedman (not to mention Thomas Sowell, who hasn’t taught anyone economics in the past 30 years, and never was on the faculty at Chicago).</p>
<p>The University of Chicago is stuffed to the gills with economists who have won the Nobel or other major prizes, and have lots to say for themselves. If you are curious, their work is easy to find and to read. Steven Levitt is a media darling with his Freakonomics books. Gary Becker writes all the time about almost anything. James Heckman is the foremost academic proponent of public investment in preschool for at-risk children. Austan Goolsbee was President Obama’s top economic adviser. Sure, many of the Chicago faculty are politically conservative, but that’s pretty much true of every economics department in this hemisphere, north of Havana.</p>
<p>I got to actually meet professor Heckman and my god, he was one of the most amazing people I have ever met. There was some conference on helping the poor through economics headed by him and I was invited via email to meet him. When I got to the place, the security was like this is a closed event, we don’t allow high schoolers here but the moment I showed them Heckman’s email they let me through. I got to see and witness some of the most cutting edge reasearch in the field of economics during my visit and I must say, the quality and standard of people at the University is unparalelled. Heckman and I actually dicussed for a good 30 minutes about the implications of the reasearch shown and I still cannot believe that he, a nobel prize winning professor was talking to me, a high school student. He then gave me a bunch of contacts into the finance department at Uchicago and I truly believe that if the professors there were able to do so much for me, imagine how well they must treat current undergraduate students.</p>
<p>so did you still apply to wharton ED? lol</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is not true. There are big differences in ideology even among top economics departments. I would say MIT’s economics department is more center-left. There are definite exceptions to this but to there is a definite divide between MIT (and to a lesser extent Harvard) and Chicago in economics.</p>