<p>Hope current Dukies can help with the following:</p>
<p>What is the economics program at Duke like? Is it fun? Is it possible to get a good GPA while having an active campus life (student organizations frats, parties on weekends)?</p>
<p>I understand that the major underwent a recent revamp and has become more mathematical. Completion of the major requires a fair number of Math courses. Are these courses manageable? </p>
<p>Is the economics major a good preparation for a career in finance/consulting (as compared to a business education)? Or would the great Public Policy major be a good choice too?</p>
<p>I only took 2 economics courses, but I hated them. This was a few years ago so it could have changed. The ones that I took were very boring and very theoretical - the microeconomics had too much useless/random graphing also. I also heard that there is more harder math mixed in now. Public policy is popular and you might be better off with that one.</p>
<p>yeah im not sure fun is good adjective lol. Im premed but most of my econ friends find the courses really challenging esp. econ 51 (? or 55 Im not sure, but whatever the intro class is) As far as math goes, most if not all math courses are pretty tough at duke but they should be manageable. i think you have to get up to 103 in math which means taking 31 and 32 first (calc I and II) and then 103 unless you can place out of those (i know a lot of freshmen that started with 103) and 32 is pretty bad (most failed class at duke lol) so if you can go straight to 103 i think that would be wise. You also need one statistics class I believe but those classes aren't too bad or atleast as bad as the math courses :). good luck!</p>
<p>Ok OP, stop thinking like this... "if i could still get good GPA and have fun"</p>
<p>You major in something you enjoy. </p>
<p>That being said, if you really hate econ you're going to find it really hard to get a good GPA and have fun.</p>
<p>The econ program is pretty rough and I think it's one of the harder Trinity majors... the courses here weed you out majorly: 55/51/103, etc. I think econ at duke is harder than at other comparable schools. Anyone know?</p>
<p>Just take 51 and see how it goes. Even if you don't get a good grade, if you really enjoy it, continue on with 55.</p>
<p>I'm currently a freshman here at Duke who plans to major in Econ in order to apply to business schools later on.
I believe that Duke has a strong Econ program overall. It has been modified recently but the changes are relatively negligible. Basically majoring in Econ gives you the choice to get either a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science. However, because of the modifications that were made, the difference between the courses you must take for a BA or a BS is so small (1 class only I think) that everybody ends up having a BS.
Indeed, Econ 51 has the reputation of being a weedout class. The material is not that tough but the tests are pretty hard. Yet, if you go to class and work regularly on your own, you should easily be able to pass with a B, at least.
The other modification is that you can now take math102 (math for economists..) rather than 103. From what I heard, 102 is still pretty difficult though. But in general, math at Duke is considered to be tough. However, if you really want to prepare for a career in finance, some math won't be a bad thing.
Oh, and to answer your first question, Duke econ program is fun... if you find econ fun.
Finally, it is definitely possible to have a good time AND a good gpa at Duke, even if you're majoring in Econ. Well, if you consider a good gpa being a 4.0 you might end up working a bit more but a 3.5 is totally achievable if you make some efforts and have strutured working habits!
Hope it helps.</p>