Good Evening All,
Just a little background. Right now, I am a 3rd year student at a notable public University planning on majoring with a BA in Economics and a minor in PoliSci. What I want to know is what is the best path to maximize the effectiveness of my degree in the “job world”.
What I have heard is that a MA really helps you out and sets you above the rest. On the other hand, I’ve heard a MA isn’t worth the price, and a person with an Econ degree should do a MBA program.
Now here’s what is preferable for me, if I had my way: I’d love to work in Government and/or policy creation (think tanks, lobbyist group, regular DC type stuff). So, with all that in mind, which path is better to get my foot in the door (with an emphasis on Gov. and Gov. related jobs)?
Secondly, and a little bit out of the scope of the question, I have a question about Graduate Schools. In my degree plan to graduate with a BA, I don’t have to take Calculus, especially not to “Multivariable Calculus”. The hardest math I had to take was College Algebra, Logical Analysis, and Intro to Stats along with a “no-calc” Econometric option. What I’ve heard is that a lot of places require you to at least have Calc 1 or something equivalent done. That being said, what should I do? Do I take Calc over the summer to look better for graduate schools, or has someone done or know of something different? Math isn’t my strong suit (I’m not bad, but very “B” at it, if that makes sense). Is a C in a Calc a killer, even if you have a decent GPA?
Thank you for your help.
There’s no one best path to take to make yourself marketable; it all depends on what you want to do. Either an MA in economics or an MBA can be lucrative/a good decision, depending on your goals. I think an MA in economics (or an MPP or an MPA) might be more useful for going for think tanks or a lobbyist group than an MBA - the public policy type places are going to want social science research or communications/polling type skills, unless you want to manage the business side (and even then, the MPA might be better).
If you want to go to graduate school in economics, you definitely need more math than college algebra. For example, NYU’s MA program in economics requires two semesters of calculus, a semester of statistics and a semester of econometrics at bare minimum. Columbia’s MA program requires “substantial mathematics,” which they list as multivariate calculus, linear algebra, and statistics. And Boston U’s MA program recommends some “courses” in calculus, statistics, and linear algebra. So I think it’s safe to say that most MA programs in economics are going to want about the same things - 2-3 semesters of calculus (probably 3), a course in linear algebra, at least one semesters of statistics (preferably calculus-based), and a semester of econometrics (also preferably calculus-based).
If you are going to be applying to MA programs in economics next year, you probably should have at least taken calc 1 with calc 2 in progress - so yes you could take it over the summer. An alternative is to take a year or two “off” so you can take the math coursework you need as a non-degree student.