Economics a good major for someone who likes math?

College Majors Business Major
1

<p>So I decided to enroll into Boston University for my undergrad degree (with over 50k in financial aid!), but as of right now I'm still undecided for my major. </p>

<p>As the title implies, I'm good at math and I genuinely enjoy it (compared to my other subjects). I initially thought about engineering, but that's a very science heavy subject as well, so I decided I didn't really want to go that path since I'm not big on science. So I did some searching and looked for some majors that interested me and that involved math. Of course, after about a week, I stumbled on economics, and after reading a lot about it, I found it pretty interesting.</p>

<p>So, I was wondering if economics would be a good major for me? And how easy/hard is it to find a job with an economics degree? What kind of jobs would I be doing? And if not economics, what other kind of major would you recommend?</p>

<p>And also, would BU be a good school for econ? I know it's overall rank in business/management is 42nd, which doesn't seem too bad, but not amazing either.</p>

2

<p>I’m pretty sure that most of econ is theory based and not particularly heavy on math.</p>

<p>Not sure though.</p>

3

<p>why don’t you get a math major?</p>

4

<p>Become an actuary :). Its heavy in math.</p>

5

<p>I didn’t want to major in math because I find it to be too broad of a subject to major in (imo). I wanted something more narrow.</p>

<p>And what’s an actuary?</p>

6

<p>Actuaries calculate risk as it applies to finance. Most work for an insurance company.</p>

<p>Comparable starting pay to engineering, but a lot more salary growth.</p>

<p>You have to take Actuary Exams, which are supposedly very difficult. There are several of them, and you’d get a significant pay raise for each you passed.</p>

7

<p>Yes, Econ is a very math heavy if you choose to go the Masters or PHD route. Many people will major in Math and minor in Econ when going for a higher degree in Econ.</p>

8

<p>Econ is a social science, and is not math heavy. It is an interesting subject, especially game theory.</p>

<p>Actuarial Sciences is more math heavy, especially on the statistical side.</p>

9

<p>You’re absolutely right. Econ at the highest in an undergrad progam uses Calc 2 but under the Masters/PHD route it is quite math heavy.</p>

<p>[Math</a> Camp for Economics Graduate Students](<a href=“http://economics.about.com/od/applyingtograduateschool/a/math_camp.htm]Math”>http://economics.about.com/od/applyingtograduateschool/a/math_camp.htm)</p>

<p>This is an article about one’s experience in PHD economics. Here is a quote from the article…
“Grad School Economics is About Math, Not Economics”</p>

<p>Here is another article if lead economist Steve Levitt (author of a WONDERFUL book called Freakonomics) could even get into a graduate econ program with the little math he has and some of the comments shed light on what its required to get into a graduate econ program.</p>

<p><a href=“Freakonomics - The hidden side of everything”>Freakonomics - The hidden side of everything;