Why the Smartest People in the Midwest All Move To Chicago (Evanston: good schools, universities)

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

For instance, the valedictorian of my high school, who was quite a brilliant guy, lives in a smaller Midwestern city as a physician. He will never leave.

I went to college in Iowa and it was rather messed up. To me at least. First, a guy I graduated with had a 4.0 in Computer Science which is really, really, really, really hard to pull off. He had offers from every major, good, and "cool" tech firm from Silicon Valley, NYC, and Boston. Instead, he decided to work for some small Iowa company making very average money in a company that isn't too recognizable in the industry.

Second story is when I was doing research with some Finance professors. We were talking about this (the one professor was from Toronto and went to college in NYC). She worked for Goldman Sachs and said Goldman said "Give me the resumes of your upper level students and we will hire some of them as interns in Chicago." She said when she told her students, NOBODY out of maybe 40-50 people wanted to do it. Why? Because Chicago was "too big." So instead, they took internships at small community banks in Iowa instead of Goldman Sachs in Chicago. That's kind of crazy to me, even if you think Chicago is big...that name on your resume will do a lot.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Second story is when I was doing research with some Finance professors. We were talking about this (the one professor was from Toronto and went to college in NYC). She worked for Goldman Sachs and said Goldman said "Give me the resumes of your upper level students and we will hire some of them as interns in Chicago." She said when she told her students, NOBODY out of maybe 40-50 people wanted to do it. Why? Because Chicago was "too big." So instead, they took internships at small community banks in Iowa instead of Goldman Sachs in Chicago. That's kind of crazy to me, even if you think Chicago is big...that name on your resume will do a lot.

How old were the students in your professor's story? The reason I ask is that one of the characteristics that's been attributed to "millennials" or "Gen Y" by commentators, fairly or not, is that they are less ambitious in terms of career, and will choose their desired lifestyle and location over career ambition. I've seen similar decisions made by some of my younger co-workers. I'm not saying it's wrong, but it is interesting to see. Obviously there are still plenty of young "Gen Y" people with loads of career ambition, though.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

How old were the students in your professor's story? The reason I ask is that one of the characteristics that's been attributed to "millennials" or "Gen Y" by commentators, fairly or not, is that they are less ambitious in terms of career, and will choose their desired lifestyle and location over career ambition. I've seen similar decisions made by some of my younger co-workers. I'm not saying it's wrong, but it is interesting to see. Obviously there are still plenty of young "Gen Y" people with loads of career ambition, though.

They were 20-22 years old. I have seen both decisions made. Many people "get it" and some don't. Loads of Gen Y have career ambitions, but there are many who don't see the bigger pictures sometimes. I am a millennial too..

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Maintainschaos

There was actually a recent thread about college graduates in metropolitan areas. Unsurprisingly, Chicago has the third highest raw numbers in the U.S. and over three times that of the next metro area (Twin Cities) in the Midwest, and it currently has the second highest percentage increase in the Midwest, which is interesting considering how large the pool here already is.

//www.city-data.com/forum/city-...-msas-1-a.html

I think it's safe to say Chicago is a magnet for well educated people.

That's interesing info. Thanks for posting.

[probablyimnotsure]

You have to be adventurous as well, not just smart.

[cali3448893]

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

I'm from St.Louis and noticed a brain drain when I left many years ago. They say that has turned around but I don't have any statistics to back it up.

I know of many who went to California Texas Georgia New York and many other places. Very few come to Chicago!

I love Chicago for many things but I've never thought of it as a magnet for well educated people like San Francisco or Raleigh/Durham or other cities.

Interesting in my high school about 60% of them went to Chicago the others went down south. This was in cincinnati.

[MPLS_TC]

They are? What is Chicago doing that makes it so much smarter than the rest of the Midwest? I don't see what Chicago's population being any smarter than Minneapolis. For the last couple years the Twincities metro has gained more residents than Chicago for a reason.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by MPLS_TC

They are? What is Chicago doing that makes it so much smarter than the rest of the Midwest? I don't see what Chicago's population being any smarter than Minneapolis. For the last couple years the Twincities metro has gained more residents than Chicago for a reason.

Yes, Minneapolis and the Twin Cities region definitely continues to be a magnet for college-educated Midwesterners with an even greater tolerance for cold weather than those that move to Chicago, and we apologize for neglecting to bring it up in a discussion of Chicago in a Chicago-based forum. Thank you for trying to kick Chicago on the way out (we really like it here), and please note that the thread's title is just the name of an article in a somewhat biased local magazine.

Thanks for playing. And further apologies to the likes of Indianapolis, Madison, Omaha, Grand Rapids, and other fine Midwestern cities that aren't smoldering rust belt disaster zones. Our local booster magazine freelance authors promise to be more sensitive to your feelings in the future.

[Wicket]

Young smart grads come here because its easier to meet members of the opposite sex than it is in BFE or in a decaying rust belt city. There are also many more higher paying jobs and cultural attractions that impress members of the opposite sex than in those other places. So really it's about biological urges just below the surface. There's a cruder 5 word sentence to say the same thing but yeah. This is why.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I went to college in Iowa and it was rather messed up. To me at least. First, a guy I graduated with had a 4.0 in Computer Science which is really, really, really, really hard to pull off. He had offers from every major, good, and "cool" tech firm from Silicon Valley, NYC, and Boston. Instead, he decided to work for some small Iowa company making very average money in a company that isn't too recognizable in the industry.

Second story is when I was doing research with some Finance professors. We were talking about this (the one professor was from Toronto and went to college in NYC). She worked for Goldman Sachs and said Goldman said "Give me the resumes of your upper level students and we will hire some of them as interns in Chicago." She said when she told her students, NOBODY out of maybe 40-50 people wanted to do it. Why? Because Chicago was "too big." So instead, they took internships at small community banks in Iowa instead of Goldman Sachs in Chicago. That's kind of crazy to me, even if you think Chicago is big...that name on your resume will do a lot.

Probably depends on where you went to school, how big the school was, where the students were from and how big the town was.

I went to the University of Iowa, and hardly anyone I knew stayed in the state, and every single one who did stayed in Iowa City or went to Des Moines. Almost everyone I knew local or from out of town spread out around the country, with many going to Chicago. I grew up in Iowa City and a very large % of my graduating class ended up in larger cities around the country. Almost all went to metro areas of more than 4-5 million people.

Of all the kids in my neighborhood growing up in a suburb of Iowa City I can list off they went to: Chicago, Manhattan, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Manhattan KS, Boston, Washington DC. I still see some when we happen to be back in town together, but for the most part my parents (and theirs) are all amazed we went from growing up goofy kids in Iowa in the mid 80's to now peppered all across the country in very different situations. There isn't a single kid from my old neighborhood left in town.

And hell, it wasn't even one of those places people are "dying to leave". Iowa City was a blast growing up and still draws people from around the area. When I was growing up there were roughly 80,000 people in the metro. Now it's pushing 160,000. Most people want a huge city these days.