<p>I'm in the process of choosing colleges according to my major and I've come across a fork in the road. </p>
<p>I was wondering if economics is a feasible major for someone who is not all that great in math, albeit I was able to scored a 700 on SAT1 math but we all know how much of a joke that is. I've taken up to Pre-Calculus and have done mediocre in most of my math courses (although part of this can be attributed to me not being interested in the course/teacher).</p>
<p>So for those of you out there majoring in/contemplating a major in economics- how much math is required? Should someone who doesn't love math attempt such a major?</p>
<p>At the undergraduate level, you can get away with just Calculus I and Statistics. So no, you do not have to be a math whiz to major in Economics. Of course, it also depends on the program. For example, Chicago and MIT are very quantitative, even at the undergraduate level, and require at least Calculus II. Most respected programs highly recommend taking at least Calculus II as well, but you can usually get away with just Calculus I and statistics.</p>
<p>If you plan on taking anything harder than an undergrad econ course (aka if you want to take a couple grad courses as an undergrad) you better know your math. I've been told that if you want to go to grad school for econ, you're better off with an undergrad math degree than econ. It gets really math-heavy, really fast. I'm at a school where econ majors are required to take grad classes, and everyone who has a poor math background is doing badly in those classes. You'll be miserable in upper-level econ if you're bad in math, but it doesn't sound like you're too bad anyways.</p>
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I would say its standard to require up to Calc II and maybe a stat course, but courses like Econometrics use some Calc III and such
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<p>Not quite sure about that. At Duke (the school with which we both happen to be most familiar ;) ), econometrics requires Stat 103 (Statistical Inference/Probability), not Math 103 (Multivariable Calc). On the other hand, Econ 105 and 110, both core courses for the major, do use concepts normally picked up in a third semester of calc, and I've heard people that struggle in them usually attribute that to not having a firm grasp on the underlying math.</p>
<p>If your goal is law school, why not major in Poli Sci with a minor in Econ?</p>
<p>Anyone contemplating grad school (i.e. Phd) in econ not only must know some math, he should LOVE it. I think taking so much math that you're practically a math major by the standards of a top 30 department is almost a prerequisite for high level grad work these days. While it's possible to get by with the minimum, anyone taking less than Real Analysis, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, Game Theory and Econometrics will have a hard being accepted to the top 25 programs and will be pretty unhappy should he happen to go there.</p>
<p>Let me put it another way: Serious Math or Physics undergrad = no problems with econ grad school
Econ only, little math undergrad = forget about the top 20 programs.</p>
<p>Math=well-roundedness, especially in higher-dimensional calculus. I mean, what's more rounded than a hypersphere or smooth manifold? (perhaps this would have met with better reception on the MIT board or something).</p>