Hey! I am looking to potentially apply early at Brown University and wanting to hear if any students there have pros/cons they could share? I’m really interested in economics and looking to major in economics/foreign policy so if any undergrad students majoring in economics have any pros/cons they could share it would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you!
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Brown economics appears to be medium-math-intensity, requiring single variable calculus.
If you intend to go on to PhD study in economics, you will want to take substantially more advanced math and statistics courses.
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I’m not studying econ, but our economics department is really well-regarded. For foreign policy, the concentration that would best suit you is probably IAPA (international and public affairs). It’s easy to double concentrate in them. Re: what @ucbalumnus says about math intensity, technically the hardest math you’d need to take is “math for econ” and a few statistics classes, however, it’s super common to take more advanced math classes and there are lots of options within the econ and applied math department. The biggest pro is the open curriculum, so there are no general education requirements and even many concentration requirements have lots of flexibility.
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One of Browns most defining characteristics is the open curriculum. It allows you to concentrate in a specific area with a great deal of flexibility. If shooting for a PHD (didn’t see you mention it) there is plenty of math heavy opportunity. If you are interested in foreign policy and economics the OC gives you that opportunity to not “waste time” taking core classes at the expense of those of greater interest. FYI at Brown you don’t choose a major they are called concentrations.
Specific to economics many students also combine concentrations with applied math or international relations. The flexibility of the curriculum allows you to customize your experience so that you are attending classes of interest amongst peers that similarly found the class subject matter of interest.
Happy to try and answer any specific questions.
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Based on faculty scholarship, Brown appears to offer one of the top economics programs in the nation: Economics rankings: US Economics Departments | IDEAS/RePEc. If Brown appeals to you partly for its notably flexible curriculum, also consider Hamilton and Amherst: Economics rankings: US Economics Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges | IDEAS/RePEc.
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Brown offers Applied Math-Economics and Math-Economics, as well as Computer Science-Economics, in addition to regular Economics. Top students with each one of those majors have been accepted at top economics Ph.D. programs.
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