The University of Chicago

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Economics (This Major's Salary over time)
The University of Chicago is one of the world center of academic research. Here graduate students get the chance to study or conduct research with Nobel prize winners. Since 1990, 6 University of Chicago faculty have won Nobel prize in economics. They are Ronald Coase (1990), Merton Miller (1991), Gary Becker (1992), Robert Fogel (1993), Robert Lucus (1995), James Heckman (2000). Chicago produced more Nobel prize winners in economics than the combination of Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale abd Princeton.

Students are supersmart and work extremely hard. The 1st year students are very competitive since many students fail the prelim (Ph.D. candidacy exam). Once one pass the prelim, it becomes relatively easier. But still, most students put into 70 hours or more in their studies a week. The hardest part in writing the dissertation, which can take anywhere between 2 years to 4 years. Once you get a Ph.D. from Chicago, one usually find good academic positions or industry positions. Top students from Chicago usually become assistant professors at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Berkeley, Penn, Northwestern etc. Others generally go to Wall Street, consulting firms or government such as World Bank, Federal Reserve etc.

University of Chicago is the world's best place to study economics and conducting economic research.