Chances and suggestions for schools for econ.

<p>Well I'm a junior and am starting to look at colleges. I would like to major in economics so if you can suggest some good schools for that it I would be grateful (I'd like to go to Stanford but it's probably a longshot).</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>SAT I+II: will probably get around 2150 and mid 700's on SATII's.
Classes: I've taken all the hardest classes that I could including 3 Ap's this year (AP US hist., AP econ, and AP Stat.) will take AP Euro. Hist., AP Calc., AP Physics, and 2 accounting classes at a local college next year. I have a 92 average unweighted (probably a lot higher weighted because of a decent amount of honors and AP classes). Definatly in the top ten for my class of 180 people, probably top 5. (Public school in MA)</p>

<p>EC:
math team treasurer for 4 years
science Olympia 3 years
news watch- 2 years
golf team jv- 3 years
tennis team jv- 1 year, varsity- 3 years</p>

<p>Volenteer Work:
tutoring about 2 hours a week for school year
sailing instructor about 10 hours a week in summer
assited forestry person for about 3 hours a week in summer</p>

<p>Work:
Give surf lessons in summer-about 4 hours a week
Make surfboards-about 4 hours a week all year</p>

<p>Yah so any suggestions on some econ schools I can apply to would be great. (have to do this because guidence counselers don't know anything at my school and are always "having lunch" whenever I have questions)</p>

<p>I'm going to list off some of the major universities that generally have a solid economics program. These schools aren't in any particular order. </p>

<p>Ivies:
Harvard
Princeton
Yale
Cornell
University of Pennsylvania</p>

<p>Northeastern/East Coast Schools:
NYU
MIT
University of Virginia
Carnegie Mellon
Duke</p>

<p>Midwestern Schools:
Northwestern University
University of Chicago
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
University of Wisconsin</p>

<p>West Coast Schools:
Stanford
UC Berkeley
UCLA</p>

<p>I don't know how interested you are in those schools. Ivies are always tricky, so I'd say those might be reaches. You have a very good chance of getting into most of the Midwestern schools, but Northwestern and U of Chicago are much more selective. </p>

<p>If you're really interested in economics and want the best possible education in economics, I would recommend U of Chicago because that school is a pioneer in terms of economics right now. But if you go to U of Chicago, you'll have to be prepared to work like crazy and the people there are extremely intellectual and not so big on partying. The best way to put it is that you wouldn't get the "typical" college experience at U of Chicago. </p>

<p>What sort of school are you interested in? A big state university or a relatively smaller private university? Plus, do you have an idea as to the geographic location you want your college to be in? When you figure that out, the lengthy list I just put up can be condensed down.</p>

<p>Try looking at Claremont McKenna</p>

<p>Yah I've been looking at UC Berkeley, but since I'm out of state do I have a decent chance? (It would be nice to spend a couple years without having to shovel snow)</p>

<p>I live in the Midwest, so I don't know exactly how difficult it is to get into Berkeley. But I do know that competition is obviously stiff because it's a top public university. I think at this point, you have a decent shot at getting in. Most recently, Berkeley admitted around 21% of the 4,653 out-of-state applicants. If you want to make yourself a really competitive out-of-state applicant, just get really high scores on your SATs and SAT IIs. When you already have solid grades and ECs going for you, high standardized test scores can go a long way. You should also be thinking about teachers or other credible adults that can give you solid recommendations when you eventually start applying to schools.</p>

<p>My dad is an economist, so I know more about this than I otherwise would, being a literature and music sort of person. U of Chicago is very good, but something of a factory in terms of majors, and quite orthodox. Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Bard, and Claremont-McKenna stand out among liberal arts colleges. U of Michigan is excellent. The schools harri listed are all very solid, I think, but I personally would steer clear of Northwestern, Emory, NYU, and Penn, where students are often interested in econ solely as a preparation for business school. If I get a chance, I'll ask my dad where he would advise, but these are places he's talked about.</p>

<p>Lol well I sorta want to major in econ and then get an MBA. Want to be a stock trader and apperently I need a degree even though I've beaten the market by over 10% for the last 6 years.</p>

<p>If you want to be a stock trader, why wouldn't you be thinking about majoring in Finance? A lot of universities have undergraduate business schools that offer a major in Finance, which could lead you to stock trading. </p>

<p>But if you plan on going to a private university that doesn't have an undergraduate business school, then I can understand why you'd be focusing on economics.</p>

<p>Well I would like learn the finance aspect in an MBA, but if I go to a good college for econ. that also offers finance I would probably double major with finance and econ.</p>

<p>Oh, okay. That makes sense. Based on the fact that you want to go into stock trading, I'd like to point out that NYU kind of stands out as a school you might want to consider because of the fact that it's already so close to the world of investing and Wall Street.</p>

<p>Frankly, many economists find it annoying when students want econ degrees because it's the closest thing the school offers to an undergrad business/finance degree. I'm not criticizing you, I'm just suggesting that you'd have a happier relationship with your profs at a school with a business or finance major. I don't know much about that field, but NYU, Penn, and Rhodes College all definitely fit the criteria.
Also, Vanderbilt has a very good econ department, as does Princeton.</p>

<p>Well I’ve just noticed that most top investors especially value traders get degrees in economics for undergrad. But I do admit that finance is extremely important part. That's is why I will probably persue an MBA later. </p>

<p>Thanks for all your suggestions :)</p>