A Letter Home

Dear BA Community,

I am writing this “letter home” to give a brief update on life post-BA. I am in my fourth year at the University of Chicago, majoring in economics and international studies. Usually, students with these majors go on to do graduate work or pursue a career in finance. I have been thinking about doing a mixture of the two—possibly in a development context.

In a lot of ways, I think that the path my college career has taken was the next step in a process that started back at BA. After all, spending a week studying in the library is normal for anyone who ever took AP Bio. My BA economics courses still rank among the most enjoyable and thought-provoking I have ever had, even in a university department known for its Nobel prize winners. I believe BA trained me well and I am grateful to all my teachers there who worked so hard to do so.

During the past four years, I have had the chance to observe students from a large variety of educational backgrounds and I am convinced that the people who have the most success are the ones whose education will allow them to pursue whatever field they like. This is to say that, upon arrival at University, the students who are most prepared by their high schools have the greatest advantage with regard to their course of study.

While my own career at the U of C has not been without challenges, I think that the success I’ve had is due to the preparation I received at BA, and I am very grateful for that.

All the best,

Robert Reavis ’06