Econ Major: Help Narrowing College Search

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm one of those who has been lucky to have developed a well defined interest in a particular subject, and thus is fairly confident in what I want to major in. I'm also leaning strongly toward a career in business or finance. I have a long family legacy at Northwestern University, and it is very close to home. I have narrowed my college search list a bit already, and have some criteria:</p>

<ul>
<li>Top ranking for undergraduate economics program</li>
<li>Friendly atmosphere and peers, diversity is not a priority</li>
<li>Strong list of alumni in business</li>
<li>Prefer an urban campus, but college towns are ok</li>
<li>Strongly prefer private over public universities</li>
</ul>

<p>List:</p>

<p>Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Columbia University, New York, New York
Stanford University, Stanford, California
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, California</p>

<p>I would appreciate input on whether these colleges/universities meet my criteria. I'd also appreciate reviews or additional recommendations. I'd like some input on liberal arts colleges with good undergraduate economics programs beside Claremont McKenna and Dartmouth.</p>

2

<p>I would narrow it down to:</p>

<ol>
<li>UChicago</li>
<li>HYPSM (you really can’t go wrong with these)</li>
<li>Cornell/Columbia</li>
</ol>

<p>Keep in mind, it’s much better to have a specialized business degree like accounting, finance, etc. than an econ major if you want to go into business because most econ majors go get their phds and become professors. Unless the college does not have a undergrad business should you go take econ.</p>

<p>If you want to go into finance or wall st:
NYU/UPENN are the leaders imo.</p>

3

<p>Here are the available majors at the schools on my list:</p>

<p>Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts Economics
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey Economics
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut Economics
Columbia University, New York, New York Business, Economics
Stanford University, Stanford, California Economics
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Economics, Business
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Business, Economics,
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire Economics
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina Economics
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois Economics
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois Economics, Finance, Management
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland Economics
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island Economics
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York Economics
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee Economics, Business, Finance
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Economics, Business
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California Business
Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, California Economics, Financial Economics</p>

<p>It appears that some econ departments are more geared toward MBA aspirants and some are more geared toward Phd aspirants.</p>

4

<p>Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Columbia University, New York, New York
Stanford University, Stanford, California
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California</p>

<p>Base off your post Northwestern may be your best pick. Its also located in Chicago metro, downtown access by public transportation and subway. Specifically Northwestern is located in Evanston, it’s a very college town like area ( with it’s own downtown center). I have learned a lot about Chicago and its metro over the past several months since I now visit the area often.</p>

5

<p>At Cornell one can study business [Dyson School] in CALS, or economics in the College of Arts & Sciences. Though Ithaca is obviously not urban, it is a wonderful college town, often rated the best in the country.</p>

6

<p>Holy Cross, Colgate.</p>

7

<p>Actually, you don’t need a specialized degree at all. Most wall street jobs would rather teach you themselves. I know a few art history majors who got on wall street. You basically need a top resume, connections, and a good interview. An internship would help as well. But as economics is your interest, any top school will have a good economics program. Wharton is probably the most prestigious. </p>

<p>Since you asked, LACs are included in that discussion. Claremont McKenna’s economics program is fabulous and highly rated. If being near a city is important, Pomona (can take classes at CMC too) and Swarthmore also have great economics programs with great prof interaction. CMC is great at landing you jobs and Pomona shares IB recruitment with them. Keep in mind that the “numbers” will say that Harvard/UPenn/etc will have more people in top IB firms, but at an LAC you’re probably going to have less competition. Most LAC students head to grad school or phd programs. I know that Amherst and Williams do fairly well in recruitment. But my overall opinion is that your personal resume, not the school you go to, will determine if you get the job. The school may get you the interview, but it doesn’t really matter unless you have stuff to brag about. If you take advantage of the resources of top schools (LAC or uni), it won’t really matter where you go.</p>

<p>After a quick google search, here’s an interesting thread on LACs and banking jobs (I tend to agree with the LAC point of view):
[Top</a> Five Liberal Arts? | WallStreetOasis.com](<a href=“http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/top-five-liberal-arts]Top”>Top Five Liberal Arts? | Wall Street Oasis)</p>

8

<p>Santeria is totally right. If anyone knows anything about working on WallStreet, they know it doesn’t matter what you major. There are people who are Art History majors on wall street. They just care that you have an interest because they will train you themselves. Plus, a “finance” degree or “business” degree is probably not as highly regarded as an economics degree. Mainly because if you are keen on business, you will go to business school, and with finance, you can learn a lot of it. That being said, finance is very diversified on wallstreet (asset management, IB, equity research, etc. etc.).</p>

<p>It is true, however, that certain schools offer connections, etc. That being said, sometimes it’s the alumni network itself that can be of benefit. I would also argue that if you are set on wallstreet, join an investment club at whatever college you go to.</p>

<p>You might also check out Tufts. It’s near Boston. They don’t have a business or finance degree (ironically, they tie for second for the number of undergrads who are current fortune 100 CEO’s…think Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPM, etc.). They have both an economics and a quantitative economics degree and they have a good alumni relations and a good undergraduate investment group. Heck, Goldman is recruiting Tufts kids for their IBD (i.e., they are paying to come to campus to hold interviews). Tufts is also known to be pretty happy place (Princeton review ranked it one of the happiest i believe) </p>

<p>NYU stern undergrad is also good (given). People at stern are also friendly, yet you might find your occasional unfriendly person (like anywhere). I also think you could work during the semester because of its proximity to wallstreet (unlike Columbia, which is kind of farther away. Both are great schools, no doubt. NYU, however, is without a doubt in a better location in manhattan…doesn’t get any better than that). And Upenn wharton (given). But I heard wharton kids are pretty cutthroat. Yet almost any good school, if you make the effort, can do well.</p>

<p>Georgetown supposedly also has some good stuff. So you might check there too. I also think Dartmouth has a good undergraduate investment group, and obviously can provide networking/connections.</p>

<p>Best of luck. Whoever told you that people who major in econ can only be professors is a liar. There are soooooooooooooo many people on wallstreet who were undergrad econ majors. Especially since a lot of things have been macro-driven lately, it’s been more useful.</p>

9

<p>No, it is much better to get a specialized business degree especially if you are get your masters. You can use your undergraduate degree to your advantage. </p>

<p>In addition, many recruiters don’t want to have to spend so much money training new recruits. It is much better to have knowledge of skills beforehand. With an economics degree, I doubt you can get any practical real world skills from it.</p>

<p>Only if you’re like me, who is unsure of whether to go into business, should you go the econ route…</p>

10

<p>If you get your masters, then it doesn’t matter at all what your undergrad major is. To get into a good MBA program, you probably need work experience. Firms don’t really care what you’ve learned, they just need proof that you’re qualified. If you speak four languages, for example, they’ll probably assume you’re smart and have the ability to learn things. Almost all jobs- IB jobs included- are learned through experience. They actually prefer to train you for your specific job. Your undergrad major doesn’t matter. Econ majors can certainly go into business, as can political science majors. Wherever you’re getting your information, it sounds like a bad source.</p>

11

<p>Santeria is right (and is probably the most intelligent person on here who actually sounds like he has first hand experience with this). The beauty of the american education system is that you can major in art history and go to engineering school. Besides, you end up taking economics classes anyways. Besides, business is a broad term. WallStreet is finance focused. Yet they train you and teach you. This is why I said join an undergraduate investing club. Trust me, economics degrees are not invaluable. What they usually care about (at least wallstreet) is you have an interest and know some accounting.</p>

12

<p>

</p>

<p>Take a look at the payscale.com data.
[Best</a> Undergrad College Degrees By Salary](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp]Best”>Common Jobs for Majors - College Salary Report)</p>

<p>By mid-career salary levels, economics is one of the only non-engineering majors to make the top ten. It comes out well ahead of accounting, marketing, and finance. Note that the payscale data is gathered exclusively from graduates with terminal bachelors degrees (alumni with graduate degrees are excluded.)</p>

<p>The most selective colleges and universities generally do not have accounting, marketing, or finance majors at all. Economics is one of the most popular majors at many schools. I don’t know what the typical percentage of students who major in it would be, because the Common Data Set does not break it out; however, based on the percentages of social science majors (typically, 20-30%) I suppose it must be about 10% or more at many schools. The percentage of alumni who earn PhDs in all fields combined is less than 10% at all but a very few schools.</p>

13

<p>Might look at the most recent Payscale salary ranking by schools. HYP, Duke, and Stanford did well but some LAC’s with strong business alumni networks were in the top 20-Williams, Colgate, and Holy Cross.</p>

14

<p>Payscale just does the aggregate of all majors and then takes the median (Because the mean can be distorted by the high end and low end). This person wants to go into wallstreet, and eventually, business school. Though payscale does indicate, that in general, economics majors do better, it doesn’t account for the people that eventually go to business school (it excludes them). This is critical because they do it by median salary, not starting (if you notice, some schools offer a way higher starting salary, in terms of the median, than others…yet they get ranked lower because of mid-career salary…however, the mid-career salary excludes those that go to business school, etc.). People who work on wallstreet and plan on getting an MBA usually work 2-5 years and then apply to business schools (since they require you to work 2-5 years for the good B-schools).</p>

<p>That being said, payscale does highlight that there is no harm in being an economics major. You would be surprised how much macro analysis/macro knowledge, monetary economics, financial economics, etc. is used on wallstreet. And if you look at the recruiting for these schools, most of them usually prefer, but not require, that you are an economics, business, and/or finance major. Yet they also say that you should just have an interest and know what you are doing to some extent (hence why you should probably join an undergraduate investment club).</p>