Computer Science or Economics?

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
1

<p>I'll be starting university in the fall, and I'm currently trying to decide between these two majors: Computer Science and Economics. </p>

<p>Reasons I'd choose computer science:
- past experience in this domain
- the university I'll be attending has a lot of extracurricular opportunities for CS students
- more internship opportunities, better job offers after finishing university</p>

<p>Reasons I'd choose economics:
- I speak Russian fluently, French at a pretty good level, and at this university I would be able to achieve a pretty good level of Arabic, and I think that majoring in economics would pair better with the knowledge of these languages than majoring in computer science
- I see it as a more female-friendly area, me being a girl</p>

<p>Could you please add more arguments in favor of one area or the other? And maybe comment a little bit on my situation? I just want to balance everything before making a decision.</p>

<p>I know that I don't have to decide on my major this year, but I'd like to form some sort of direction, at least an initial one.</p>

2

<p>What would be your post-graduation goal after each major? Employment? PhD study?</p>

<p>You can major in one subject and take elective courses in the other subject.</p>

<p>Language knowledge + CS can lead to research or work in automated translation and internationalization.</p>

3

<p>Go with CS if you don’t mind programming. </p>

<p>My wife, who is a native Mandarin speaker, has an Economics degree and thought it was worthless. She went back to school for an Information Systems degree, and that’s what got her a job.</p>

4

<p>@ucbalumnus I am planning on getting a minor in whatever I choose not to major in, but I don’t know if it should be major- CS, minor- economics, or major- economics, minor- CS. The economics minor is a requirement for those majoring in CS, given that CS majors have to minor in either economics or applied mathematics. As for post-graduation goals, if pursuing economics I would probably want to work for several years and then pursue postgraduate studies. With a degree in CS I don’t think I would further my studies.</p>

<p>@simba9 thank you for the insight! If you don’t mind me asking, did your wife think that postgraduate studies in economics would have helped her get a job?</p>

5

<p>For PhD study in economics, it may not actually be necessary to do a full economics major, but a strong math background is important:
<a href=“Preparation | Department of Economics”>Preparation | Department of Economics;
<a href=“Preparing for a PhD in Economics | Department of Economics”>Preparing for a PhD in Economics | Department of Economics;

<p>Obviously, PhD study in economics is for those aiming to do academic research or similar activities.</p>

<p>However, it is much more common for economics majors to choose a light math track. In this case, economics is often viewed as a substitute for a business major (and economics departments at schools without business majors sometimes offer business-like electives). But note that there are a lot of business majors, so competition for jobs may be heavy.</p>

6

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<p>She said that everyone who was getting an economics degree, either bachelors or masters, ended up getting jobs processing loans in a bank. She didn’t want to do that.</p>

7

<p>You’ll have a job easily if you do CS. Way more opportunities and higher paying. If you enjoy it, go for it.</p>

8

<p>It depends, my neighbor’s kid got an economics degree. I think he graduated in 2003 from UCB. Now he is CFO to one of Peter Thiel’s company(the Paypal guy).</p>