Hey Hoyas, I’m currently a high school senior, and Georgetown is one of my top two choices (I’m still deciding where to apply early). I am really strong in math but I also love politics and econ, so I was reading about the political economy major and it looked interesting. Could anyone in the major please message me or respond below to the following questions:
To what extent are quantitative methods used in the major? Like I said, I love politics and econ, but math’s application to those areas is absolutely fascinating.
How “unique” is it? For instance, I’ve heard of similar programs at other schools, but a lot of people say that the program is essentially equivalent to a major in government and a minor in econ (or vice versa). So what I mean is, does PECO differentiate itself much from that, or is it something I could pretty much put together on my own at any other school?
Our son majored in PECO and really enjoyed it. He also minored in English and Business. There are quantitative methods with stats, econometrics, and similar classes. Please note my knowledge is as a parent and not the student. You could call it a major in econ and government minor or just the opposite as you did. It is an interesting marriage of the two fields. He graduated last May and is now a 1L at Duke Law School.
I major in International Political Economy, which is essentially the same thing. In regard to your questions: You need to have some quantitative skills for the major, but it depends on whether you focus on that. You will have to learn STATA for it, but I wouldn’t say in depth knowledge of mathematics is stressed here. In terms of it’s uniqueness, I would say that IPEC is top notch. You get access to the best and most interesting professors at Georgetown, and more importantly, IPEC attracts the best students in the SFS for the most part, meaning you collaborate with some of the smartest people at Georgetown on a daily basis. The focus in IPEC at Georgetown is largely International Trade/Consulting related though, so if you aren’t interested in why everything on the news about TPP is completely incorrect and ignorant, you might want to try International Econ, which is much more quantitative over practice related.