I’m finishing up at a local community college and should be TAG eligible. How would you rank the different UC schools?
also, how important is it to get into a good undergrad program given that I am interested in continuing my education?
I live close to UC Irvine and would be able to save a lot of money by living at home. They seem to have a really new undergrad econ department and I haven’t really heard anything about the caliber of their program though.
Bump
As longs you are OK living at home, go to UCI and save the $. It is a very good school. A strong performance there wiill qualify to for lots of top grad schools.
Good luck
UCI is fine, and offers quantitative intermediate economics courses (Economics 105A, 105B, 105C; see http://catalogue.uci.edu/schoolofsocialsciences/departmentofeconomics/#courseinventory ).
To prepare for those courses, and PhD study in economics, you should take frosh calculus, linear algebra, multivariable calculus, and differential equations before transfer (at Fullerton College, these would be Math 150AF, 150BF, 250AF, 250BF, and probably 250CF). After transfer, you would choose the quantitative intermediate economics courses as well as take additional math and statistics courses like real analysis, proof-based linear algebra, and calculus-based probability theory.
OK thanks for your help. I should be finished with differential equations/ linear algebra by the time I transfer so that’s all good. If I’m accepted to Berkeley (which I actually have a halfway decent chance of getting into) would I be crazy to choose UCI? or does it really not matter that much?
No, certainly not crazy. At the end of the day, you’re the one who will be spending your life and your $ at the school. Don’t just pick the higher ranked school because other people tell you to. Honestly, your undergrad doesn’t matter that much a few years out. Maybe if you went to Harvard or Yale, but not between Berkeley and UCI. Go with that gut feeling of where you think you will excel.
UCs in general have a good reputation for graduate education…if you do well at either of your choices, you’re setting yourself up really well for post-grad opportunities.
UCB is another school with more math based intermediate economics courses (101A, 101B, 141).
In general, you can look at the economics courses in the course catalog to see how much math is used. More math is preferred for pre-PhD economics students.
Most schools have intermediate microeconomics and econometrics courses that list single variable calculus as a prerequisite. The more math-heavy ones list sophomore level math like multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and/or differential equations. Some schools, like UCB and UCI (as well as Harvard and Yale), offer both types of courses. A few, like MIT, Chicago, Stanford, and UCSD, offer only the math-heavy version.
OK, thanks for the clarification. I really appreciate everybody’s help
At UC Davis, I was told to take pre-calc before Econ 1A or 1B. Recommended by my orientation leader, but not a requirement. I’m not a “math person” by any means, but I didn’t feel handicapped at all.
Honestly, I can’t think of any math requirement that would be necessary for UC-level Econ. I absolutely did not need to have taken pre-calc before either economics classes and looking back, would have gone straight into the course. I would recommend taking Micro before Macro if your school separates the two, but the math itself is so basic, and you can use a calculator on exams. As long as you’ve taken some sort of Calculus or Statistics in high-school, know how to graph basic functions, take percents, and plug numbers into formulas, you should be fine. A lot of the course is theoretical anyway, and more about being able to interpret word problems than do any complex calculations.
Hmm… I feel that graduate level econ is a totally different beast than undergrad econ. It seems (like ucbalmnus pointed out) that the upper level econ classes rely on a lot of Linear Algebra/ multivariate calculus. The problem is that the UC schools give out a B.A and not a B.S, so there is a fine line between the two aspirations (B.A vs PH.D). I know some UC graduates at my CC that are taking refresher calculus courses in preparation for their graduate studies, because their math skill have rusted a bit.
Re: #9
The introductory economics courses at any school just assume high school level math knowledge. It is the intermediate economics courses where the level of math may vary from one school to another. Pre-PhD students would best be served where more mathematical versions are offered (e.g. UCI, UCSD, UCB among the UCs). Pre-PhD students at any school need to take substantial advanced math and statistics courses like real analysis and calculus-based probability theory.