CMC Economics

Colleges and Universities A-Z Claremont McKenna College
1

<p>Elsewhere on CC a poster asked others to compare the economic majors at CMC and Pomona. I don't like to do this because it inevitably leads to foolish arguments and belittling schools for no good reason. Instead, I answered the question by focusing on the economics program at CMC, since I am not all that familiar with Pomona's program. I figure with the May 1 deadline approaching, there may be students viewing the CMC forum who are interested in majoring in economics and are still considering a number of schools. Here is my post:</p>

<p>"I would ask the OP what he/she would like to do with his/her economics degree after graduation. At CMC, the economics dept has numerous finance and accounting courses; they even offer a major called economics-accounting. The financial economics institute at CMC offers a sequence in finance that prepares students for careers in investment banking, investment management and corporate finance. Many of the bulge and boutique investment banks, private wealth management firms, Big 4 accounting firms and Fortune 500 companies recruit on campus. We have many students who land summer internships and full-time offers with companies like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, Lazard, PwC, E&Y, Google, etc. We also have the Kravis Institute on campus ( named after alumnus Henry Kravis) which offers a leadership sequence with a variety of management courses for those students who would like to run organizations or become entrepreneurs. Many consulting firms, such as Bain, Boston Consulting, Deloitte and Accenture also recruit on campus. Of course, the dept offers all the traditional economic courses for students who are interested in a career in economics. The great thing about CMC economics is that you will have a variety of options to choose from depending on where you see yourself heading after graduation."</p>

2

<p>My child is interested in economics at CMC but we are new to LACs. We know CMC is a great school but are having a hard time talking with current students and on his visit the contact with current students was limited. What is the homework expectation? He enjoys some writing, but is not one that enjoys writing lengthy papers on a regular basis. He is strong in math. We believe CMC might be a good fit but want to understand the course load.</p>

3

<p>I’m sure the homework expectations will vary from class to class, professor to professor - but he can certainly expect that he will need to write papers. Any top university or LAC is going to ask their students to write in depth papers on a regular basis. Maybe your son would be more comfortable in a math focused program, rather than one with a lot of reading, discussion and writing - which is what one would expect at both Pomona and CMC? Or perhaps he just needs to realize that writing papers, and reading the material to support them is part of the liberal arts college/university experience.</p>

<p>Another possibility is if your son is not quite ready to plunge into that kind of environment, he would be happier taking a break from academics for awhile (gap year or two) and applying to college later when he’s more eager to participate in the entire spectrum of academics.</p>

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<p>@baffled5300. </p>

<p>If long papers are not his cup of tea, I would strongly urge him not to consider CMC. Not only is writing essays on a regular basis very common, but also ever senior must complete a year long senior thesis paper [Senior</a> Thesis](<a href=“http://www.cmc.edu/thesis/]Senior”>Senior Thesis | Claremont McKenna College).</p>