<p>
[quote]
Well, I've heard from a source that's not necessarily accurate, that a degree in Econ. from U Chicago is the most lucrative along with Comp. Science from MIT and maybe a few from some ivies.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, let me put it to you this way. Although I can't prove anything directly because Chicago doesn't publish undergrad salaries by major, let me attempt to argue it indirectly. MIT is tied for #1 in Economics with Chicago according to USNews. Yet, the MIT Econ undergrads make about 11k less than the MIT EECS undergrads as can be seen on p. 17 of the following pdf. In fact, as you can see, the MIT Sloan management undergrads make more than the econ students do. </p>
<p>Now, for Chicago econ undergrads to be making something comparable to the MIT EECS students, they basically have to be making 11k more than the MIT Econ students do. I find that rather hard to believe. Even if you believe that Chicago econ students really are better than MIT econ students, it's hard to believe that they are that much better to be making 11k more. Heck, even the 4k difference necessary to beat a Sloan management undergrad is hard to believe. </p>
<p>Lest you think the MIT salaries are anomalous, here are the Princeton stats. Note that the econ and EECS (EE + CS) are comparable to MIT's.</p>
<p>The point is, the evidence indicates that a degree in Economics from Chicago or any other top econ school is not comparable in pay to an EE/CS degree from a top school. Certainly, econ is relatively speaking a pretty lucrative degree. And some econ grads will make boatloads of money in investment banking. On the other hand, other econ grads will end up working for nonprofits or the government and make relatively little. To be fair, they also enjoy a high quality of life (i.e. light work hours, stable job, good benefits etc.)</p>
<p>The strengths of econ department doesn't even matter other than for a handful of future nobel nominees-see this year's princeton valedictorian-who are able to take advantage of the department research and graduate seminars. The school's general prestige trumps any department rankings. Usually MIT, Chicago, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, and maybe Berkeley are considered the elites of Econ</p>
<p>
[quote]
The school's general prestige trumps any department rankings. Usually MIT, Chicago, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, and maybe Berkeley are considered the elites of Econ
[/quote]
</p>
<p>lol - the irony :)</p>
<p>In general, Chicago, UC Berkeley aren't as prestigious as quite a few other universities in the US. And yet these two made your list while many other prestigious schools didn't, primarily because they are known to have amazing econ departments (especially Chicago).</p>
<p>Here is one of the PUBLISHED rankings, not based on opinion of people who aren't even in the econ field; who are they? Probably most of us on this board. It's graduate ranking by the way but people do seem to be talking about graduate ranking here anyway. </p>
<p>One more point: any given top school probably has 30-50 econ professors. Evaluating the strength of a department based on just couple Nobel winners out of 30-50 faculty members while ignoring the rest doesn't seem to be a good idea to me. At the undergrad level, chances are you take no more than one class from that person anyway.</p>
<p>lol, Dionysus is probably the most incompetent poster in this whole thread. Just listen to what others have to say and stop trying to misinform everyone.</p>
<p>What did I prove? That you are an imbecile whose only purpose on this thread is to flame me? What have you added that is so much more competent than my post? I'd really like to know.</p>