Economics + Math Double Major. How hard?

<p>@millionth</p>

<p>I’m a graduate of NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, which is one of the top mathematics graduate schools in the world and is ranked #1 in applied mathematical research. Three professors Lax, Varadhan and Gromov won the Abel prize numerous times and the faculty is considered among the best in the U.S. While I was there, I worked on a few large prestigious projects funded by the U.S. Government.</p>

<p>Some undergraduate classes are held in Courant. Like most serious large research universities, graduate students often tutor the lower level classes and the students are a wide spectrum of ability. At Courant, the focus is not on teaching and you might even get a tutor who doesn’t have perfect ability in English. In this environment, students who are relatively good in math will get good grades, so I wouldn’t say that there is grade deflation at low level math classes e.g., multivariable calculus. However, if you take high level classes at Courant, you are quite likely to run into the best math students from all over the world e.g., Israel, China, India etc. No matter how good you may think you are in math, these students will be the equal or better than you so there is severe grade deflation, but only because you are competing with the world’s best math students. If you find yourself much better than them, its quite likely that you have a promising international career in mathematics.</p>

<p>So, NYU Math is what you want to make of it. If you just want a CAS degree and are good in math, it should be no problem getting good grades. However, if you want to take the higher level math classes (say because it looks good for graduate school) BE FOREWARNED!!!</p>