<p>Hello Everyone,</p>
<p>Applied to both Smith and MHC, I was wondering if there was anyone out there who could tell me about their respective economics departments. </p>
<p>Any information would be most helpful, even about other departments that may be related to econ in some way.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>My D took several Econ classes as a Government/Math major and loved them. Two of the Econ profs, Mahnaz Mahdavi and Roger Kaufman, are among her mentors today, in the “call me any time” class, and she plans to do graduate work in Econ. I’ve heard other profs spoken highly of as well.</p>
<p>D is working as Econ research assistant at a highly competitive think tank in DC and her Smith background was an asset.</p>
<p>I took an Intro to macoreconomics when I visited smith. It was AMAZING!..I mean, I know that’s a poor way to judge a department, but everyoen I talked to see to love Econ</p>
<p>Cranebird, are you a graduating senior or a transfer student? I can’t tell from your post whether you need this information right away for the May 1st deadline. As a mom of a first-year, I’m not very knowledgeable about econ at Smith, other than what I have heard on this forum from others. It’s well regarded and popular and it provides a strong background for the real world (see Jyber209’s comments in the Smith “Just need to convince the parents now…” thread). More qualified people will eventually respond so just be patient. I know that as a related department, government as a major is among Smith’s largest and most popular majors. I see that TheDad has already posted. Perhaps Jyber209 (whose daughter majored in econ, I believe) and SmithieandProud (a government major) will post soon. Often people comment on their experiences with econ or government departments within various threads, so you could look up Jyber209 and SmithieandProud’s responses on other threads until you hear from them. Unfortunately, no recent questions have addressed the specific departments. Sorry but I can’t comment on econ at MHC. </p>
<p>All I can say is that when my humanities-loving daughter had to choose between Smith and MHC, even though MHC gave her more money, she chose Smith because the two Smith classes she sat in on were fantastic and the four classes she attended at MHC were very disappointing with unresponsive students and mixed abilities with profs. We felt a sampling of four classes was reasonable. To be fair, she also was given a Smith STRIDE research opportunity for two years so that was a real draw as well. I hope this is helpful.</p>
<p>I was asked by another poster to provide input here.</p>
<p>My D was an economics major at Smith, graduating in '06. She then worked for three years in an economics consulting firm that had both US and international clients. (Her top boss there is often quoted in major media (NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Week, etc.) and interviewed on NPR. They had a “green room” in the building so they could give interviews without traveling to the site. I do not want to name the firm here as D likes to keep a low online profile (or at least not have her profile determined by her mom!) but they were GREAT to her and she loved her time there. Even D got several interview opportunities, but only for radio and not in major markets. My D had one of her “15 minutes of fame” in Cleveland, I think. ;))</p>
<p>Anyhow, she went there directly from Smith and after two promotions there had gone as far as she could without a graduate degree, so bit the bullet and is now in grad school for applied economics. I know that her Smith background was a factor in her getting full funding as one of her grad school interviewers had previously taught at Amherst so knew Smith well and he told her they were eager to have Smith applicants.</p>
<p>I will look for previous posts of mine on this and try to link to them, or feel free to search my posting history on the Smith forum.</p>
<p>I really can’t speak much about the department since economics is not my area of interest, and my major exposure to the profs was at the departmental commencement reception. D is crazy busy now grading undergrad work while doing her own, or I would offer her for input. If you have a quick question feel free to PM me and I will try to get a response from her.</p>
<p>edited to add:
For additional comments from me on this topic you can check out my posts #5 and #12 on this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/smith-college/909349-just-need-convince-parents-now.html#post1064635831[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/smith-college/909349-just-need-convince-parents-now.html#post1064635831</a> and/or go back further. In sum, for my D being an econ major at Smith worked out great.</p>
<p>R6L, who taught the macro course you sat in on?</p>
<p>One of the things I like best about the Smith econ program is that I think it’s our most intellectually wide-ranging departmetn. That is to say it contains both of our most right-wing professors (yes, we have those! who knew?) and our most marxist professors, and plenty of in-betweens. So you have a lot of options, if you’re interested in the power of the market place when not tampered with by outside forces or the need for economic justice in developing countries, I feel like there’s a class and a prof for you.</p>
<p>Thanks very much everybody, most helpful and very quick!</p>
<p>Carolyn: I am a transfer student, and I have already applied to both schools.</p>
<p>Also, if there is anyone out there who has still has their syllabi from any classes, I would love a sample book list (any classes, although econ would be great)!</p>
<p>Much obliged!</p>
<p>If you look up a class on the course directory you may still be able to search the book list on the campus bookstore website though it would have to be for Spring 2010</p>