<p>sorry, but one more question…
I’m debating between Econ w/ a minor in Stat and just straight bus econ (and acct minor if I get in).</p>
<p>For the fall, Im taking a cluster, math 31a, and a ge.
For the winter, I will take math 31b, engcomp3, and the cluster,
But thats where I start to question…
When should I bump up my course load to 4 classes?
I would like to graduate early if possible, even a quarter.</p>
<p>For anyone who wants a shot at a solid starting point in a businessish career, the accounting minor (or simply doing the accounting courses) is golden. With that, you can recruit for top accounting firms and be fairly marketable. I’m not sure how well Econ + stats will serve you in getting a job, but I know for sure that having the accounting minor is a good backup. </p>
<p>binks09: consider bumping it up whenever you feel comfortable with the courseload. If you feel 3 allows you way too much free time, go with 4. That’s at least how I did it.</p>
<p>4 friends get into UCLA the same year. 3 of them choose pre-biz econ as there major, 1 chooses math econ. </p>
<p>After two years, only one of them is still eligible for biz econ because he did well in econ 11 and 101, and he survived Ravetch. He applies to the major, gets in, and doesnt look back. The second friend didnt fare as well, but he is still a hard worker. He realizes “hey, i’ve always wanted to travel!” so he begins taking language classes to complement his new major, econ international. The third one chooses to be an econ major, stating that he “just wants to graduate.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the math econ student has been studying like mad the entire time, taking the occasional break to explain how you need to have a higher understanding of math to be able to truly understand economics. He’s the one who goes to grad school.</p>
<p>binks: I’d talk to a counselor about the courses you should take to do that. Just remember it’s a public school, so you usually don’t get the exact courses you want.</p>
<p>Hew: ■■■■■, completely true.</p>
<p>bus econ: u must have a gpa above 3.3 (and this gpa is calculated differently from your normal gpa, check out the econ department website for more details) to apply (about 3.5 is safe to get in)</p>
<p>econ: just a 2.0 gpa will qualify you to apply.</p>
<p>As far as grad school goes, pretty much everything requires an understanding of higher level math, especially economics. I’ll be honest, I’ve yet to take an econ class at UCLA that I find extremely challenging. It’s very dull, I can’t imagine making that my major and doing nothing else. In fact, it’s somewhat embarrassing how little math is used in the econ classes here. The same cannot be said about math though. There are a few that are hard.</p>
<p>If you are gonna be applied math you will be taking other classes anyway, so it makes sense to make those classes econ. I’m math/econ, I can’t imagine being any of the other 3.</p>
<p>The differences amongst the majors have been broken down already. It really depends on your goals and what you want to get out of it, I suppose. I don’t know much about int’l econ or mathecon, but I can add my two cents about bizecon vs. econ.</p>
<p>I was a bizecon major, but if I had to do it all over again, I would be an economics major. I chose my major in my second year, so I was a little bit behind. Economics would have been more flexible for me and allowed me more room in my schedule to take classes of personal interest. If I have had any desire to double major or graduate early, I would have definitely picked economics. Also, I found that I wasn’t particularly interested in the 106 classes anyway, so my favorite classes ended up being these random economics electives I took like “environmental economics” and “sports economics”.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that it was particularly “competitive” to get into the bizecon major just like I wouldn’t say that it was particularly “competitive” to get into the accounting minor. It’s just not as… automatic. And after you get into one of the majors, it’s pretty much at the same level of competitiveness because there’s a lot of overlap in classes. I’d say the jury’s out on whether it really “looks better” or is considered more “prestigious” to recruiters, esp if you aren’t looking for jobs in LA (I wasn’t, and the recruiters there could care less if I was “economics” or “business economics”). Maybe it is, but maybe it isn’t. Personally, I’ve known lots of economics folks with higher gpa’s than a lot of bizecon folks. Tristan Reed, student speaker for class of 2008, comes to mind. Some people just like pure economics and have no interest in the accounting classes and “business” oriented classes like finance.</p>
<p>In short, you don’t have to get too wrapped up in the whole concept of “prestige” and “more competitive”. Think about what type of econ classes you want to take, how flexible you want your schedule to be, whether the recruiters in your prospective field really would care, whether you want to graduate early, etc.</p>