Econ seems to be the most popular major at Mac, and the number of tenured professors seems impressive for a small college of this size. Also, the curriculum seems to include a number of practical classes that includes some classes usually found in a business major. They also seem to have lots of internships in major businesses in the city based on their internships team’s information. Has anyone had experience with the econ major at Mac? Is it relatively practical for an LAC? Are all of the classes in the extensive catalog offered every semester or at least year? It seems to draw profs who work at the Federal Reserve of Minneapolis and to place folks in good finance and big business jobs; also seems that a good number of the athletes major in it.
Although you have probably seen it, you might want to review this analysis based on faculty publishing, which places Macalester’s economics department in the vicinity of, for example, NESCACs such as Bates, Colby and Bowdoin: Economics rankings: US Economics Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges | IDEAS/RePEc.
Fantastic. Had not seen it, but not surprised after canvassing the faculty bios and course offerings. Impressive. And ahead of Carleton, its arch rival, with much better internship opportunities.
You can see the course offerings for this last fall and the current semester online and compare to the catalog, if that is what you had been looking at.
I used to hire Mac econ students for a top tier consulting firm. Mac was a reliable source of smart, hard-working graduates, many of whom had good research experience that demonstrated the ability to do in-depth and creative analysis. The firm recruited across the country, including Top 10 national universities and liberal arts colleges, and we had very high expectations for new hires; Mac was very competitive.