Could someone give me a list of 10 or 15 liberal arts colleges which are know for economics. Preferably in the order of their reputation for economics.
Definitely not that knowledgeable on this topic but what are your plans for your Econ degree?
That will matter with your list
Do you want to go work on Wall Street or are you planning to go get a Phd?
Certain schools have a history of success going down both paths others tend to have more success steering down one
If you know more specifically your ultimate goal you will get a more specific list
Best of luck
The top 15 from the above link, which is based on faculty scholarship:
- Williams
- Wellesley
- Middlebury
- Wesleyan
- Hamilton
- Claremont McKenna
- Claremont McKenna*
- Colgate
- Richmond
- Holy Cross
- Vassar
- Lafayette
- Bates
- Macalester
- Bowdoin
The best overall order for these schools should depend on the greater factors you are seeking in a college. Read deeper in the link for more choices, all of which are in the top 25% in their category by the standards of the analysis. That said, the top six above may be particularly strong, in that they also appear amid a university analysis for which the data has not been normalized (“US Economics Departments” / IDEAS).
- Listed as a separate department. Appears to include graduate school faculty.
@Tanmay98 These schools are in virtually every case peer schools. Would you go to one that is ranked 5th over 15th if you hated it? Could you even quantify the difference between any of the listed schools?
Also, these schools range from Highly Competitive to Most Competitive. Can you even get accepted?
If one wants to use econ degree to work on Wall Street or apply to B-School, look at Williams, Holy Cross, Colgate.
Those are really good colleges overall, I don’t think there is ant real way to rank the order of ‘Bestness’ of the Econ dept. the above lists attempt to do that by determining that publications make for the order that undergrad colleges should be ranked. Note they write…
The data presented here is experimental. It is based on a limited sample of the research output in Economics and Finance. Only material catalogued in RePEc is considered. For any citation based criterion, only works that could be parsed by the CitEc project are considered. For any ranking of people, only those registered with the RePEc Author Service can be taken into account. And for rankings of institutions, only those listed in EDIRC and claimed as…
Pre-PhD or pre-professional?
Pre-PhD economics students may want to check how math intensive the intermediate economics courses are, and the advanced math and statistics offerings.
@ucbalumnus Why is this as always brought up about LACs. You don’t think those 15 excellent schools know what Math courses are necessary for a proper Economics degree? Is it a secret other schools keep from them? I am well aware of the two directions in Economics but I’m sure the schools have the bases covered.
Most economics departments only require single variable calculus for economics majors, as a prerequisite to intermediate economics courses. Economics departments catering to pre-PhD students often have higher math requirements for economics majors, and intermediate economics courses that list those math courses (e.g. multivariable calculus) as prerequisites. Pre-PhD students are also advised to take additional advanced math and statistics courses as well.
Regarding the IDEAS analysis (and in reference to post #5), when cross-referenced with some older, more comprehensively scholarly data, it tends to confirm that some colleges are perennially strong in economics. Beyond that, the authors of the older study themselves comment on the relationship between teaching and research: “Teaching the latest discoveries in classes, supervising student theses, and preparing students for graduate school are some of the teaching activities that may be enhanced by faculty research.”
The older study’s overall top ten:
- Williams
- Wellesley
- Colby
- Trinity
- Wesleyan
- Colgate
- Middlebury
- Hamilton
- Claremont McKenna
- Bowdoin
- Hobart & William Smith
- Union
When adjusted for department size:
- Hendrix
- Colby
- Trinity
- Hamilton
- Claremont McKenna
- Grinnell
- Wesleyan
- Middlebury
- Swarthmore
- Agnes Scott
Note the similarities to the schools from the current IDEAS analysis (post #3).
(Hartley and Robinson; Economics Research at National Liberal Arts Colleges: School Rankings; 1995.)
Yes, but this applies to non-lacs as well. Most econ students will take Calc 1&2, Linear Algebra and Multi V usually in that order plus statistics regardless of minimum requirements because some classes require LA and MV.
My point was it is always brought up about LACs and not about other schools.
Yes, never said that it did not. The same comment applies whether or not the student wants a LAC.
Actually, I have mentioned non-LACs in this context. For example, I have mentioned that such non-LACs as Florida State, Penn State, and Georgia Tech do not even list calculus as a prerequisite for their regular intermediate economics courses (Penn State has an “honors” version with single variable calculus as a prerequisite).
Probably not most. At schools where more math and less math versions of intermediate economics courses are offered, the less math one is the more popular one. For example, at Penn State, ECON 102 (no calculus prerequisite) has enrollment in the hundreds, while ECON 102H (honors version with single variable calculus prerequisite) is limited to 25 and is not even full this semester.
@ucbalumnus, Here are the requirements at UCB and Bates. I don’t see much difference, do you?
UCB:
Math 1A-1B (Basic calculus) or 16A-B (Analytic Geometry and Calculus) Note: Students will receive no credit for 16A after taking 1A.
Stat 20, 21, 25 or an approved upper division stat course with a calculus prerequisite (Stat 131A, 134, or IEOR 172 are acceptable)
Econ 1 or 2 (or equivalent) (Introduction to Economics)
Econ 100A and 100B or Econ 101A and 101B (or equivalents) (Microeconomic Theory and Macroeconomic Theory )
Econ 140 or 141(Econometrics)
Five upper division electives courses taken within the Economics Department at UC Berkeley or coursework from other sources approved by the Economics Department, preferably in advance.
Bates:
-
ECON 101 (Microeconomic theory), 103 (Macroeconomic theory), 250, 255 (econometrics), 260, and 270(intermediate Micro and Macro theory). The following statistics courses may be substituted for ECON 250 (Statistics):
BIO 244. Biostatistics.
MATH 215. Statistics.
PSYC 218. Statistics. -
MATH 105 or 106 or the equivalent. (Calculus)
-
Three 300-level electives in economics.
-
A fourth economics elective, which may be numbered 220–249 or 300–399. The following courses may substitute for a 200-level elective:
ANTH 339. Production and Reproduction.
PLTC 222. International Political Economy.
SOC 260. Economic Sociology.
- Senior research capstone. Majors either undertake a one-semester thesis in the fall semester (ECON 457) or enroll in a research-intensive capstone seminar in the winter semester. The description of the capstone course is available prior to winter registration. Generally, only students invited by the department to undertake an honors thesis enroll in the winter thesis (ECON 458).
@turnert - I have extracted the advice that Tufts gives its undergrads who want to pursue a Phd at a top school (note that in Economics, Tufts is kind of like a LAC because it does not have a Phd program).
This advice is independent of the type of school. Some LACs do not offer much in the way of Econometrics classes (although that has been changing over time), so I think that is the basis of some of the comments you hear. The way you can get around that is to just load up on math courses by adding at least a couple of theoretical Probability and Stats courses along with the minimum recommended list below.
For all intents and purposes, top level Econ Phd programs are applied math and they don’t even require an undergrad major in Economics. Top LACs tend to have strong theoretical math courses that will provide the necessary preparation, you just have to start planning early, so you have time to weave them into your schedule.
http://ase.tufts.edu/economics/undergrad/requirements.htm#gradstudy
Neither U Penn, Dartmouth or Cornell require anything more than Calculus 1 but I would bet most take Linear Algebra and Multivariable, some might even minor in Math because you can probably take just a few more courses for a minor.
I did notice Bates has two courses where Linear and Multivariable were prereqs. I’m sure this is the case elsewhere.
@Mastadon My experience is that Math is best learned in smaller classes so LACs are a better option. Math is not a popular major so you would have to pick a school where there was some heft to the department.
The notion that schools whose econ departments don’t have many math requirements are a bad choice for students wishing to pursue postraduate specialization in econ makes no sense to me. After all, those schools still offer plenty of advanced math and statistics classes, so econ programs are wise to make way for future finance bros (who rarely want or need to take a ton of advanced math) while also allowing the future academics to take plenty of math. Requirements aren’t limitations; they’re minimums.
While true, the offering of undergraduate economics courses with higher math content does allow students considering PhD study in economics more of a taste of mathematical economics than they would get taking less mathematical courses.
Some schools (LAC or otherwise) do offer intermediate economics of varying levels of math content, so that pre-professional students can choose the less math version, while pre-PhD students can choose the more math version.
Many more advanced math courses (e.g. real analysis) tend to be small even in big research universities. Frosh/soph level math courses can be large due to the large number of students in various majors taking them, though if the school offers honors versions, they can be much smaller.
Sure, but students considering PhD study can just take some math classes. Again: requirements are not limits.
However, the limit may be that mathematical economics courses are not even offered, so it becomes more difficult for a student at such a school to get a taste of math applied to economics before deciding whether to apply to PhD programs.