<p>I am planning to apply for Economics major. Which of the California colleges have good Econ programs. Please advise.</p>
<p>Lots of them - but it is very difficult to make a recommendation without knowing your grades/test scores/ECs/budget and preferences like N Cal vs So Cal, campus size, how important is a ‘residential’ campus and proximity to beaches/mountains/cities. etc.</p>
<p>The University of California system has the best economic programs in California. UC Berkeley’s economics is probably a top 5 or 10 program in the country. I believe UCLA is not far behind and UCSD is also rated in the top 20 to 25. For UC Berkeley, you cannot go wrong with just about any major. Stanford and Cal Tech are also highly rated, probably with Berkeley in the top 5 to 10.</p>
<p>If you are considering going on the PhD study, you may want to consider more strongly schools with a higher level of math used in economics courses (e.g. linear algebra, multivariable calculus, and/or differential equations as prerequisites for intermediate micro, intermediate macro, econometrics, and/or electives). Of course, PhD study in economics also requires more undergraduate math and statistics preparation.</p>
<p>High math: Stanford, UCSD
High math and low math options: Berkeley (intermediate micro, econometrics, electives), Pomona (econometrics), UCLA (electives)</p>