<p>For those economics majors out there, I was wondering what kind of courses and skills an econ major entails. Primarily, I wanna know how advanced in math must you be to be relatively successful at a selective school such as Princeton or Chicago? I've heard there's a very rigorous courseload of calc related subjects, but my dad, who's an engineer, is adamant that it's just a lot of manageable statistics. So can anyone give a breakdown of courses, difficulty of major, etc?</p>
<p>I know that Chicago requires economics majors to take calculus I, II and III as well as one or two stats/probability courses...also, the economics courses themselves require calculus and stats (especially econometrics).</p>
<p>And if you want to work in i-banking, it's beneficial to take more than the mere minimum of math courses--a couple analysis courses should do the trick.</p>
<p>You should go to the websites for Chicago and Princeton and see what the math requirements are for an economics major; the requirements vary depending on the school. </p>
<p>If you want to go on to graduate school for economics, then you need much more than just calculus and statistics. You'll also need to take classes in linear algebra, differential equations, probability, and the dreaded real analysis. </p>
<p>An economics major usually isn't extremely hard if you don't plan to get a graduate degree. But if you do plan to get a graduate degree in economics, then the major gets harder because you'll basically be working towards a minor in mathematics with all of the advanced math classes you need to take to be competitive for grad school admissions.</p>
<p>Even though economics shouldn't be too hard if you don't plan to take the extra advanced math classes, I would imagine that economics at Chicago will be pretty rigorous because Chicago is famous for economics and infamous for how difficult of a university it is. </p>
<p>To give you another perspective, a ton of ivy league students, who plan to go into business after college, major in economics. In order to be a competitive job applicant, you need to have a good GPA, so large amounts of people would not be majoring in economics if they thought it would be too hard to get good grades.</p>
<p>At most reputable Econ programs, a minimum of Calc I and I and intro and intermediate Stats are required to take the bulk of Econ classes. Some schools require Calc III, but it really isn't that necessary. Many classes in Econ are applied math, such as Econometrics and Game Theory. </p>
<p>So, to answer your question, no Econ is not as quantitative as Engineering, but it is relatively quantitative just the same.</p>
<p>At UChicago, of your 13 courses for the econ concentration, 6 will be math/stats. It's probably one of the most math-demanding econ majors in the country. Maybe one or two are equally so (MIT?), but that's something to check out.</p>
<p>Princeton has two tracks - a dummy track without much math (Calculus BC is enough), and a track that requires Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra.</p>
<p>MIT econ majors are required to take single-variable and multivariable calc (but so is everyone else at MIT). Econ majors are also required to take linear algebra. It also looks like they take two econ-specific math classes.</p>
<p>Not to question the rigor of Chicago's Economics program, but assuming the previous posts are all correct about the number of Math/Stat courses required, when comparing the 6 courses required at Chicago vs. the 4 courses required at Princeton and MIT (assuming in all cases that the starting point is first-semester Calculus), bear in mind that Chicago operates on a quarter system, while Princeton and MIT operate on a semester system, so Chicago's 6 quarter-courses is the same fraction of a 12-course annual courseload as Princeton's and MIT's 4 semester-courses with an 8-course annual courseload.</p>
<p>Erm, that makes no sense. Chicago's courses are designed to be taught in 10-week units.</p>
<p>Princeton's program also requires one semester of stats.</p>
<p>Hmm.... </p>
<p>I just wanted to point out that people should not conclude that Chicago requires 50% more Math/Stat courses than Princeton (and is therefore that much more "rigorous") if, as reported by previous posts, Chicago requires 6 courses while Princeton require 4, because these "courses" are different. Just counting courses is not valid for comparison purposes.</p>
<p>At Chicago, a normal courseload is 4 courses X 3 quarters = 12 courses per year. At Princeton, a normal courseload is 4 courses X 2 semesters = 8 courses per year. Therefore, 6 Chicago courses is 50% of a year's work, while 4 Princeton courses is also 50% of a year's work. The Math/Stat requirements at both schools are each equivalent to half a year's worth of courses; they are the same.</p>
<p>This is kind of beating a dead horse here. I don't think anyone seriously evaluates the "rigor" of a program by counting the number of required courses, but since the discussion was started ...</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong; it is certainly possible to have very rigorous undergraduate experiences at both Chicago and Princeton (and MIT). It is just that counting minimum course requirements is misleading. It also misses the point: as discussed out by other knowledgeable posters, you need at least a good course in Real Analysis before you can talk about a rigorous undergraduate program.</p>
<p>Mmm, I agree 4th floor. I suppose what we can conclude is that it is highly possible to have a rigorous undergraduate economics experience, but by no means necessary.</p>
<p>I would compare it to history, in a way. Not a high percentage of history majors are really serious about it - that small percentage who take (optional) courses on hard-core historiographical debates are akin to the small percentage of economics majors (even at Princeton, MIT, Chicago) who take Real Analysis.</p>
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At Chicago, a normal courseload is 4 courses X 3 quarters = 12 courses per year.
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<p>umm so far i've thought that a quarter = 1/4. so wouldnt it be trimesters?</p>
<p>what the hell. how do you use the quote command?</p>
<p>Don't put the slash in the first one, just square bracket-quote-square bracket. The end quote is square bracket-slash-quote-square bracket.</p>
<p>And it's quarters because there's a summer quarter offered -- just that most people only take classes during fall, winter, and spring quarters.</p>
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ahhhhhhh, nice
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<p>excellent, excellent.</p>
<p>I basically agree with the translation of semester to quarter courses. Two semester courses=three quarter courses. But it's also true that not all courses are alike. In a typical university setting, there can be 2, 3, 4 or 5 credit-hour courses -- generally reflecting also the number of meeting hours per week. (Back in the day, I even took some 6-credit hour courses.) Also, the last time I checked, you could graduate from Chicago averaging about 3.5 courses per quarter; and many students would typically be taking 3 courses rather than 4; but Chicago's courses tend to be pretty intensive in terms of the amount of work, so that's another factor compared to some other schools.</p>
<p>However you reckon it, at Chicago almost half of all the required courses for the econ major are math stats. And those would be courses above the basic core requirements of all Chicago undergrads, which do include math.</p>
<p>I am double majoring in Mathematics and Economics next year because I know I want to go to graduate school in one of them so I figure either way I will be in good shape. I love Mathematics, but I am growing to like Economics a lot so I'm thinking about doing a focus in Econometrics but who knows - we'll see.</p>