<p>I'm really hoping someone could clear the air for me. I am currently a Econ major, but I never really cemented myself as for sure knowing whether or not I wanted to stick with it.</p>
<p>Currently, I have never taken calculus before, and plan to take the introduction course the coming Fall quarter. However, the only class I've taken so far, Microeconomics, I've had to take twice... The first time I took the class, I received a D+, and I retook, only to get a B-. This was a tough class for me, since both times, I read the book front and back, showed up for every lecture, was normally the one explaining concepts to my peers (who ended up doing better than I would), and generally, understood the material. However, once the tests came, it was tough for me to apply my knowledge and think critically.</p>
<p>Now, I am currently signed up to take Macro next quarter, intent on following through with econ, but with how much I struggled, do you guys feel maybe econ isn't right for me? I generally have a lot of interest in the subject, so I would love it if I had an epiphany somewhere along the way to become good at it, but IDK, I'd love to get some feedback since I know no other majoring in econ who could help me out. I have no idea what I want to do after college, but I am currently quite interested in attending Law school if that is still on my mind in a few years. Thanks.</p>
<p>PS. My school does not offer business, but offers economics and a BS form called Managerial Economics that has a focus with accounting. Does following the BS track have a lot of benefit instead of just taking the BA track?</p>
<p>I would look into something else. We all have things are great at and things were not. Your will and determination are impressive, and I don’t doubt you could get an economics degree, but it looks like you would have to put an insane amount of time in studying. </p>
<p>Then again, is it your first year of college? I’m guessing so. Did you have trouble in your other classes as well? You could have simply come a little less prepared then you should have from high school and be on the right track do doing better.</p>
<p>I wish you best of luck. But in all honesty, I would look at the situation realistically. In the job world, you will be competing with peers with who did not have to to retake Micro. If you can’t apply the knowledge you learn in the classroom, how will you do at a job? </p>
<p>If you are set on doing business, transfer out to a college with a business school. You can also get a degree in just about anything else and then go get an MBA (you’ll have to raise your GPA though).</p>
<p>I appreciate your honest opinion. It was probably the answer I was kind of looking for.</p>
<p>And yes, it was my first year, and no, I did not struggle with my other classes nearly as much. My strengths lie with the humanities classes, but I have no interest in them, and I decided that I’m coming to college to study what I like, not necessarily just what I’m good at, so we’ll see I guess…</p>
<p>dude, intro to micro is really not hard. try a different study technique, like do more problems. i mean the problems on the exam should not be much harder than the homework or the problems at the end of the chapter. econ is all about solving problems at the end of the day. honestly, i think you are overestimating how much effort you put into the class. hope this is not too harsh. good luck</p>
<p>I appreciate all of the posts made, and I even agree with a lot of the points made.</p>
<p>Would it be unwise for me to continue pursuing econ then? Personally, like the above poster said, I could work harder, but I don’t want my “I can do better” attitude cloud my real judgement of whether or not I should really pursue this major.</p>
<p>Sorry, if I’m making little sense, it’s just scary to not have a goal in mind.</p>
<p>You’ll be obliterated in intermediate microeconomics(and macro for that matter). There’s a tiny bit of calculus(as long as you get a C or so in your actual Calculus class that should prepare you enough), but it’s still difficult otherwise. If you can’t look at questions and figure out what to do(beyond memorizing formulas), you will fail it.</p>
<p>Reevaluate your choice of major. Your struggles in lower level courses do not bode well for upper level classes. You may want to use the career center at your school to help you decide on your future.</p>
<p>The fact that you excel the most in humanities classes is a warning sign. Economics, as a discipline, is one of the most mathematically intense in academia. Even in its watered down undergraduate form it requires a fair amount of quantitative reasoning/ability. If you’re a humanities person, I would suggest that you stick with humanities. </p>
<p>BTW, most of people I know who are good at econ usually rock intro econ very easily. The “I never go to lecture, glance at class notes occasionally and get 90+ on exams” sort of rocking. And they had some trouble with econometrics/intermediate micro (myself included). If you had to take intro micro twice… well, you’re not going to graduate on time if you keep taking retaking the upper level classes.</p>
<p>eh… don’t think so, but you can have that opinion. Not saying there isn’t math, but I can think of a ton more disciplines that are more mathematically intense.</p>
<p>The sheer number of Economics professors with undergrad majors in math should give you a hint about the mathematical nature of economics. The only other disciplines that involve as much REAL math as econ (besides math/stat, of course) that I can think of is Physics and theoretical computer science. And by real math, I mean real analysis, topology, optimization, etc (stuff they recommend you take before graduate study in econ).</p>
<p>What goes on with PhD’s is different than what goes on in undergrad. For example, in accounting research is generally either done from an econometric point of view based on archived data or a behavioral/psychological point of view. That’s just what goes on with dissertations and whatnot. But for undergrads it’s about learning accounting rules. It might require a background in math to engage in fruitful areas of research in economics but from my experience in Intermediate Micro and Macro much of the calculus is “pre-digested”. In other words you might be told that the area underneath your marginal profit curve is equivalent to total profit but you aren’t exactly doing any integration to find that(IIRC, either way it’d be extremely basic compared to finding the integral of 3 sinx/cosin x or some other nonsense). Obviously if the OP was planning on being a professor or finding the easiest route to a Nobel Prize he’d need math to go the Econ route, but that’s not really the issue here(the issue is that he couldn’t deal with an intro course in econ).</p>
<p>Sure, economics can get into the mathematics. If you study it seriously, you need to be proficient with them.</p>
<p>However, the mathematics in a typical undergraduate degree in economics are extremely watered down. Undergraduate economics students are not held to the same standard as undergrad physics students are.</p>
<p>Well okay, but there’s lots of people who are good at a “quantitative/non-humanities” field but not great at math. If we knew he had F’s in Chemistry and Physics and A’s in English and History then yeah, I’d say avoid anything with numbers at all costs. </p>
<p>To reiterate, I do think he should abandon economics because when you get an F in Principles of Anything in round 1 and a B- in round two(and it’s not because the professor just assigns grades randomly), you should try something else.</p>