Between Economics and Statisitcs which is toughest and why?

College Majors
1

<p>In general and in your opinion.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>BA in Economics is not very difficult.</p>

<p>BS in Economics with a math concentration (Mathematical Economics) is much more challenging.</p>

<p>BS in Statistics is more difficult, imo, because there is a lot more math involved. Calc 1-3 sequence is required, and the upper level theory of statistics and probability is very calc heavy. Statistics also requires some computer science (or programming) courses.</p>

3

<p>At my school the curriculum of the two are similar in many ways but Economics is “competitive” (average GPA to get into the department is 3.45) while Statistics is not. Also, according to Cappex only 9 people graduated with a Bachelor’s in Statistics while over 300 people did so in Economics.</p>

4

<p>What school?</p>

<p>In general, significantly more people with graduate with Economics degrees than Statistics degrees. Probably because people don’t want to do the math.</p>

5

<p>Statistics is definitely harder. I’m a stats AND economics major myself. The math is about the same for each but probability theory, mathematical stats, and numerical analysis are way harder than any class you will see in an economics major.</p>

6

<p>Statistics is a less popular major than economics. But that’s a shame since statistics is an incredibly useful for any other field you want to go into for graduate school, from all social sciences to even natural sciences.</p>

7

<p>So, if I don’t get into the Economics Department I guess I would have to go into Statistics because it only requires the minimum GPA…</p>

<p>Also, generally which is tougher Math or Stats?</p>

8

<p>I would say Math is a tougher major than Statistics…and I’m a Stats major.</p>

<p>The few upper division mathematics courses I have to take as part of the Stats major are fairly difficult…and math majors have to take approximately 2x’s as many “math intensive” courses. In Stats we have several methods and programming type courses that really aren’t super difficult…mathematics wise.</p>

9

<p>Generally what major do people turn to if they don’t get into the economics department?</p>

10

<p>Probably some business discipline - like finance or accounting. Some probably fall into political science.</p>

11

<p>Maybe Applied Mathematics with the Econ option</p>

12

<p>The material in a math major is much more theoretical, and hence for me, more difficult. Stats is much more computational. In upper-level math, you rarely use numbers, just a lot of proofs and abstract problem solving.</p>