<p>would this major take me to a grad school for a PhD or can it get me a job out of college (in finance or investment fields)?</p>
<p>The major can lead you to both, but it’ll take more than just a major to guarantee you either choice.</p>
<p>what will it take, other than the major, for me to get jobs as a financial analyst or the like?</p>
<p>Experience, charisma, motivation, intelligence, work ethic… everything basically.</p>
<p>do I need good connections to work in the field? If so, would it still be okay to choose UCSD vs. some privates (BU, Syracuse, etc.)</p>
<p>And since UCSD doesn’t have a finance major, would econ/math joint major be the closest thing?</p>
<p>Didn’t you want to do engineering?</p>
<p>I think just an economics major would suffice. Every university has certain connections, you just have to start networking early (like with alumni, frats, etc.).</p>
<p>I did econ/math. Do you have any specific questions about it?</p>
<p>At UCSD, it’s harder than econ, but more rewarding and useful imo.</p>
<p>You can get jobs with either major.</p>
<p>I did want to do engineering, but at this point, I’m reconsidering my options.</p>
<p>@Slorg: are you still in school or have you graduated already? What was/is your experience like with the major?</p>
<p>I was in engineering also and also reconsidering math/econ. Any other news you have on this major about specific jobs that we can find?</p>
<p>There’s no specific job that you can get with Math/Econ.</p>
<p>More technical jobs (financial analysts, operations researchers, financial data miners, etc.) require a thorough grasp of statistics (particularly stochastic probability) that the Economics coursework just doesn’t even begin to touch upon.</p>
<p>If you’re looking into a Ph.D. in Economics (or Finance for that matter) a Math degree of some kind (even if it’s a joint degree) is necessary to gain admission even at the lowest-tier schools. Economics degrees are quickly becoming worthless as more and more people graduate with the major without having any real quantitative or analytical skills.</p>
<p>^That makes me a bit sad. I’m just doing a plain ol’ economics major :(</p>
<p>@Adam: You don’t even go to UCSD yet… it’s not like you can’t change majors.</p>
<p>Grad schools for Econ prefer math majors over econ majors since it requires a lot of math, that is why UCSD made the joint math/econ major.</p>
<p>Don’t rule out double majoring in math and econ though. It’ll probably look better than just a joint math/econ major.</p>
<p>@JeSuis: Oops, forgot to write “plan to do”. And I think I’m pretty sure I’m going to do economics though. I’ve already taken a couple economics class and got the “gist”(I’ve barely scratched the surface) of it, and it’s pretty engaging. </p>
<p>I’m not planning to do econ/math though. I’m decent at math, but the four year plan looks like it’s basically 70% math classes, which sounds quite dull to me.</p>
<p>Well, you could minor in math.</p>
<p>^ What JeSuis said</p>
<p>The minor, if I recall correctly, is just 9 math classes (up to 3 can be from the Math 20DEF series), and all classes MAY be taken P/NP. If you just care about passing, you can load up on 3-4 classes each quarter and finish the minor in less than a year.</p>
<p>Anyway, after having done the Honors program for Math/Econ (and taking 2 doctoral level Micro classes), I can say that you really need to have a fair amount of math (at the very least, math reasoning, real analysis, ODE/PDE, probability/stochastic theory, and advanced linear algebra) under your belt for an Econ Ph.D. (and even an M.A.?). There is little overlap between undergraduate material and graduate material covered in respective courses. The Micro classes assumed no knowledge of undergraduate economics courses and the course begins with proofs deriving the basic assumptions of microeconomic theory.</p>
<p>If you have no interest in academia or research, then Math won’t be so crucial to you getting into graduate school, policy think tanks, etc. It is a valuable toolset, though, to understand how all the equations you learn in undergraduate economics courses are structurally built upon each other. When you can look at the big picture (the whole SEM of modern economics), Economics becomes that much easier.</p>
<p>Or if not the minor, at least take the following (as recommended by a Harvard Econ professor) to prepare (and many times, qualify) for an Economics/Finance Ph.D.:</p>
<p>[Greg</a> Mankiw’s Blog: Which math courses?](<a href=“http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/05/which-math-courses.html]Greg”>Greg Mankiw's Blog: Which math courses?)</p>
<p>And lastly, some more resources:</p>
<p>[Advice</a> for Applying to Grad School in Economics](<a href=“http://kuznets.fas.harvard.edu/~athey/gradadv.html]Advice”>http://kuznets.fas.harvard.edu/~athey/gradadv.html)</p>
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<p>MATH140AB is known as one of the hardest sequences in the Math department, so come prepared (don’t just cruise through MATH109 – use it as momentum going into Real Analysis).</p>
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<p>^ Why you should either do Joint Math/Econ, double in both Math and Econ, or at the very least minor in Math. Either taking or sitting in some doctoral courses at UCSD would also be great preparation as to what level of effort and base knowledge is expected once you apply/begin a doctoral program.</p>
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<p>This post was talking about the NSF GRFP (Graduate Research Fellowship Program), but I would also apply to NSF REUs (Research Experience for Undergraduates). UCSD applicants, over the years, have been fairly successful at nabbing these. I, myself, got to go to ASU and UNC/Duke for two summers through this NSF program. These programs can be found here: [US</a> NSF - REU - Search for an REU Site](<a href=“http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search.cfm]US”>Search for an REU Site | NSF - National Science Foundation) and deadlines typically fall around February of each year.</p>
<p>[FAQs</a> about Graduate School in Economics and Links to Useful Threads](<a href=“http://www.urch.com/forums/phd-economics/99553-faqs-about-graduate-school-economics-links-useful-threads.html]FAQs”>FAQs about Graduate School in Economics and Links to Useful Threads - PhD in Economics - Urch Forums)</p>
<p>^ A great forum for prospective Economics Ph.D. students. Those are the FAQs, but feel free to browse the entire forum and even ask a few questions not addressed by that thread. This is a very high-traffic forum dedicated to Economics (the other high-traffic site being Econ Job Rumors, [Economics</a> Job Market Rumors](<a href=“http://www.econjobrumors.com/]Economics”>http://www.econjobrumors.com/) ), so questions are answered very quickly.</p>
<p>Anyway, this is a lot of information and perhaps more than what was necessary for this thread. I guess (anecdotally) I’ve seen differences in employability and admission to graduate school between my friends whom were just Economics majors versus those whom were Math/Econ – the latter being much more successful in general at nabbing jobs that required technical or economics expertise and getting into doctoral programs in Economics and Finance. There are always exceptions and I know plenty of people graduating with Economics degrees doing very well for themselves (though they were brilliant in other respects, either being involved in research of having competitive internships under their belts), but it isn’t nearly as unanimous as my Math/Econ acquaintances.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great resources, Oyama.</p>
<p>I wasn’t planning to get a PhD, but I was looking into doing an MBA sometime after graduating from UCSD. I’m guessing a economics/math joint/double major would be more useful in that respect as well, but I’m not very fond of a math major, to be honest. I enjoy doing more basic forms (I’m taking AP Stats and BC Calc currently), but to spend my undergrad years doing tons of math courses…I know I wouldn’t like it. </p>
<p>Is a computer science minor a good choice? I’m also interested in computers (and I know it’s math-y), and it also fulfills one of my PofCs.</p>