<p>What I want to know is how does Princeton's economic department compare to those at schools like Stanford (to which I've already been accepted), UChicago, and Harvard?</p>
<p>As good as it gets</p>
<p>All of them are excellent in economics. UChicago is the old-standby in economics and it is indomitable in the minds of many, but supposedly it's been slipping the past several years. These universities all have specialities in which they are in the top of the field (econ is a very very broad subject). Princeton, for instance, dominates game theory and trade theory. </p>
<p>All of these school also have their own unique twist on economics and will teach it very differently. No doubt you've heard of diehard laissez-faire economists called "old school Chicago economists." Furthermore, if you're interested in macroecon, you will find that your profs will teach their side of the ongoing debates (nobody is really sure of anything in macro). So they'll say something like, "Here are the possible reasons for (some observations). Let's examine each of these... ...evidence seems to suggest that (my idea) is the best." And, while this may in fact be the case, a rival professor at another university may teach that another idea is best, and so forth.</p>
<p>Our economics is awesome.</p>
<p>I never get why prospective undergrad applicants are worried about how good some specific department is.
When you're applying to schools of such caliber (princeton, stanford etc.) ANY of their departments will be good enough for undergrad students.
If you want to do some post-graduate work, i can understand how the strength of a specific department can influence your decision, but i don't think its an issue to be considererd for undergrad apps</p>
<p>Right. What you should be more concerned about is where you have those professors actually teaching the undergrads, and how good they are at teaching, as opposed to research.</p>
<p>chicago is better.</p>
<p>if your looking to get into a good mba grad school: <a href="http://wsjclassroom.com/college/feederschools.htm%5B/url%5D">http://wsjclassroom.com/college/feederschools.htm</a></p>
<p>Research feeds through to undergrad.</p>
<p>frozen-tears, do you know what Harvard and Stanford specialize in. Also is Columbia any good for Economics (just applied to Princeton in case anyone was wondering why I have put this here). Cheers.</p>
<p>Harvard may be in a league of its own relative to others 'cause you can cross-enroll with MIT at least on the grad level. Stanford great, Princeton great. Check out the USNWR grad rankings which come pretty close to what the consensus in the field is. But what someone said about undergrad vs. grad is true... You should go to the school where you feel most comfortable.</p>
<p>On the grad level, unlike all the others in the top 10, Chicago lets in a lot more and then lets a lot of weeding out take place. Wonder if this leads to a cutthroat feeling on the undergrad level as well...?????</p>
<p>Well, last year's Nobel Prize in Economics just went to a guy from Columbia. It surprised me a little, because the top three picks were a guy from Harvard and two from Princeton -- one of them was my professor at the time. And yes, those professors do teach undergrads, even freshmen.</p>
<p>I have a couple of friends studying econ at Chicago -- it seems like the main difference is that even though you can just sign up for classes, the popular professors' classes get filled up very quickly and they can be quite difficult to get into. That's hardly ever a problem at Princeton -- if you're qualified for a class, you will probably get to take it.</p>
<p>About cross-enrolling -- most people don't do much of that even though they can, until maybe your junior or senior year if you find a niche in your field to study. The reason is that, even though the other school is about 10 minutes away, you really, really are not going to feel like biking there all the time or waiting for shuttles or that sort of thing. And what if you miss the shuttle? Then you might be kinda late. Or if you're just feeling crappy one day, it's a disincentive for you to get yourself up and bike over there. It doesn't feel like a big deal now, but trust me, it will be when you get there.</p>
<p>Yeah I have several friends at Harvard who say that there are VERY, VERY, VERY few students who end up cross-enrolling... </p>
<p>In terms of strengths of the econ dept., I'd have to agree that its really a non-issue, but not necessarily because of the reasons listed above. Access to the top faculty is key, but what's most important is that you put yourself in a situation to warrant that opportunity. I go to Chicago now, and I see a wide array of experiences in the econ dept. I have friends who are in their last year, have pretty much only completed the minimum reqs, and will be graduating with the perceived prestige of a Chicago Econ degree by having learned what they would've learned... eh.... anywhere. Then I have this other friend who is taking price theory in our famous grad seminars led by Becker, Murphy, Lucas.... so, it varies.</p>
<p>Also, when it comes to picking classes, the only time that it gets really hard to pick classes here is when it happens to be the professor's "pet-project" class -> Levitt's "Econ of Crime," for example.</p>
<p>Lastly, it has to be noted just how much overlap exists amongst these schools when it comes to who was a student where, then who taught where... its kind of amazing. For instance: </p>
<p>-Nobel prize winner Kenneth Arrow (Arrow impossibility theorem) was a researcher at Chicago for a while, taught there for a couple years (maybe less), and is now a faculty member at Stanford.</p>
<p>-Gary Becker, Econ dept. head at Chicago, went to Princeton.
-Mankiw, former CEA head and author of the infamous "intro to econ" series, is a faculty member at Harvard --> college at Princeton
-Levitt -> Harvard -> MIT -> Chicago</p>
<p>I echo the sentiments expressed somewhere above--- at an undergrad level at top tiered schools all the econ you learn is basically the same exact thing. ANd let's face it... top economists at Universities DO teach undergrad- but the stuff they teach can be taught by any good Lecturer armed with an adequate set of notes. The truly differentiating stuff lies at the graduate level...</p>
<p>But with that said. Top 5 Econ programs haven't moved much in the past 5 decades (except Columbia moving OUT of the Top 5 after the riots and stuff in 1960's). Columbia is tied with Yale and Berkely econ right now (6-8) but interestingly, CU has won 5 Nobel Econ prizes in the last 10 years-tied with Chicago for most Nobel Econs (Phelps last year, Stiliglitz, Baghwati, couple of other guys). Jeffrey Sachs (End of Poverty), Harvard Economist also moved to Columbia a couple of years ago. Columbia also went on a hiring binge last year ("Sunspot/Cluster Hiring) two years ago hiring 14 top economists from rival universities so it's econ ranking is likely to rise precipitously in the next few years (always a little lag in rankings- not that they mean much anyway).</p>
<p>If the Nobel is what floats ur boat here's some stats:
Universities where Laureates received their Highest Degree (Ph.Ds, etc.) </p>
<p>Chicago - 9
UC Berkeley - 4
Cambridge - 4<br>
Harvard - 4
Columbia - 3
M.I.T. - 3
Stanford - 3
Oslo - 2
Princeton - 2
Yale - 2</p>
<p>Are Stiglitz and Baghwati still at Columbia. Also what does Phelps do.</p>
<p>Are you talking about the UK Cambridge. Why hasn't LSE got more.</p>
<p>I think Stiglitz is still at Columbia.</p>
<p>yea all are still there and teach undergrad. Phelps = awful lecturer. Stiglitz = Amazing lecturer. Sachs is extremely good too but very busy with his UN INitiative stuff</p>
<p>This question is not completely relevant to the original topic of this thread, but if I plan on majoring in econ and have gotten a 5 on the AP test, should I skip to the 200 classes? My friends in other schools have told me that it is still best to start with econ 101.</p>
<p>Econ doesn't matter. It's a huge department anywhere and very few kids will go for the research that garners professors prestige when you can make 10k off an internship at an investment bank.</p>
<p>Don't delude yourselves here.</p>
<p>High School AP Econ is not comparable by any stretch of the imagination to top undergrad econ programs...</p>