<p>What would you be able to do with a double degree in applied mathematics and economics? Would it be useful right out of college? What if i went to law school and got a JD? And how useful would a graduate degree in econ be?</p>
<p>You could work on wall street, if they are hiring by the time you are going to graduate. You could be a financial analyst for a number of different businesses, including money management firms, the government, etc. A JD is useful if you actually want to practice law; otherwise it is a lot of work and $$. You may want to work at your math job for a couple of years to see if a JD would help you in your career.</p>
<p>I had an undergraduate degree in Econ - and went into Information Systems - designing computer systems. I would think that the math degree would be most applicable in this field as well. </p>
<p>The econ skills of analyzing problems - aggregating things together and tearing them apart are really useful when it comes to business and accounting systems. </p>
<p>I would think that a graduate degree in econ implies a far greater commitment to working as an economist - either in the financial industry or for the government. Certainly both places would make a lot of sense for an undergraduate as well. </p>
<p>As for a JD - my belief is that graduate degrees are best begun after a couple of years in the workforce. This gives you a little time to see what kinds of things you enjoy and where you might want to go professionally. Personally I got an MBA and went into management. Econ is a great lead-in degree to an MBA program.</p>
<p>My daughter is double majoring in math and economics. She will probably get a job in finance, maybe on Wall Street. With those majors she could go into accounting, business consulting, planning, or any entry level training programs. I don’t think she will ever pursue a higher degree in either one of those majors. Math is a very difficult major, it will teach her critical thinking and be a good problem solver. I doubt if she’ll ever use multivariable calculus at work. I know of many corporate lawyers that crossed over to the business side, so undergrad econ major is good for JD. I personally like to deal with lawyers that have good business sense.</p>
<p>Brother in law did econ and law school but not the math. His first job was rewriting laws after the savings and loan crisis. Then he decided he wanted to buy a house in San Francisco and needed a bigger salary. He worked for VISA for a while and is now in the legal dept. at google.</p>
<p>Many colleges would treat that program as a single degree in applied mathematics with your in-major additional credits being credits in economics.</p>
<p>It’s a great background for what I do - estimate the costs of major acquisition programs for the gov’t. And that is a missing skill set in the gov’t right now so hiring will continue for a while (in the gov’t and as consultants). It’s also a good background for commercial consulting (think corporate restructuring, etc).</p>
<p>I had an undergraduate major of applied math + an econ minor. I worked for several years (highly recommended!) before going back to school for an M.S. in statistics. I’m currently an actuary–<em>GREAT</em> field. Much higher demand than supply, although it takes a motivated person to survive the exam process. Definitely worth looking into, though.</p>
<p>My son has degrees in applied math and econ, from Berkeley. He is currently working on his Master degree in Financial Econ in UK. He doesn’t have much intern or other job experiences. I wonder what are the areas he should be looking for his first job? How is the job market now for fresh graduates? Thanks.</p>
<p>^ This thread is over 4 years old. I suggest you start a new thread. You will probably get more/better replies that way. :)</p>
<p>Applied mathematics and econ means you can do a variety of quantitative things in the business world; you can do mathematical modeling of financial markets; risk management and/or actuarial science; marketing research; finance; educational research and measurement; if you’ve taken enough stats classes, biostatistics; you could work for tech companies doing data mining. There are so many things your son can do. Government agencies also hire mathematicians and mathematical statisticians, and analysts at all levels who have mathematical skill.</p>