Economics & Operations Research

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>hey guys I'll be going to Columbia next year woo =]</p>

<p>and I was looking into this major and I was wondering if anyone here had specific info on it
(yes, I've tried the search function already and have read some stuff... but I'm looking for more detailed information)</p>

<p>I was just wondering</p>

<p>-what exactly do you study (types of classes, curriculum)
-what types of people does this major attract?
-what careers does this major correlate with (obviously business-y)
-how many kids per class are normally in this major
-is it difficult to maintain a high gpa with this major
-what would be the main differences between the OR major and other things like.. a joint econ-math major or an econ-stats major?</p>

<p>I personally have done really well in calculus and I LOVE math in general. However, I am not a science-y person and I don't know very much about comp sci. Is this something I should be looking into?</p>

<p>ETA: I'm thinking of going for an MBA a few years down the road. Would this put me in the best position for it?</p>

2

<p>I’ve taken a fair amount of OR and a fair amount of Econ, you take Econ classes with the econ kids and OR classes with OR kids. It attracts people who want to work on wall street, usually smart, practically driven kids. You don’t need prior comp sci experience, but you will have to take a comp sci class or two. The major sets you up well for anything financey, but not necessarily only finance. econ is econ and operations research is a mix of mathematical econ concepts, stats, computer sciences. </p>

<p>there seem to consistently be 5-10 who do it each year. But because you take econ with econ and OR with OR you’re classes are well populated, you don’t feel like you’re doing a small major, large faculty resources in each. Econ and OR classes are usually curved to Bs sometimes B+s. It’s not particularly hard to maintain a decent GPA, by college standards it is one of the tougher majors, math and physics are crazy in comparison. By SEAS standards the major is a joke :). </p>

<p>Finally econ-math and econ-stat have their share of wall street wannabes, so there is some overlap, but there are also kids who are genuinely interested in stats, or mathematical econ or econometrics or pursuing an econ phd. If I were in the College, and some days I wish this, I would be studying econ-OR or econ-math hands down.</p>

3

<p>thanks concoll, that was really helpful</p>

<p>what would you say are the advantages of doing the joint econ-OR major as opposed to just doing OR by itself?? can you do OR by itself in the college?</p>

4

<p>^you can’t do OR by itself in the college. The advantage of studying econ, is that econ is a social science, so it looks at behavior and models behavior whereas OR is mostly just mathematical and statistical models, which are a further step removed from behavioral assumptions. </p>

<p>Personally I think Econ-OR is just a fantastic major, it sets you up well for investment banking, sales & trading, investment management, risk management, consulting, an econ phd or even doing operations research in an industrial firm. The advantage over econ-math for wall street is that instead of less useful classes like analysis and optimization, you take computer programing and more advanced statistics classes (stochastic modeling for example). Stats and statistical intuition is used a lot in most fields, and basic programming skills (Java, visual basic) are often desired by quantitative analyst positions in investment management firms as well as in a few proprietary trading roles. I’m surprised more college kids don’t take it, considering how many of them want to work on wall street.</p>

5

<p>I’m an OR major, via Cornell (BS) and Berkeley (MS). Past and current work is related to OR.</p>

<p>what exactly do you study (types of classes, curriculum) - Stats, probability, modeling, linear programming/optimization, game theory, comp sci (simulation, especially), accounting, manufacturing systems (residual from industrial engineering)</p>

<p>what types of people does this major attract? - When I studied OR, it attracted mostly engineers who wanted exposure to applied math and comp sci. Some drifted over from the Econ department. Many were Electrical and Mechanical Engineering flunkees.</p>

<p>what careers does this major correlate with (obviously business-y) - My first job was with an investment bank developing pricing models for mortgage bonds. Obviously that type of work is not very popular today! Eventually, I moved towards designing large-scale databases with a focus on data mining for marketing purposes. Now I work for a retail brokerage and build client profitability and behavioral models.</p>

<p>-how many kids per class are normally in this major? It’s recently become very popular at many schools, including Berkeley, Cornell and Columbia. For upper-level courses, 30-40 students per class is common. Some of them are from the business school and econ departments, especially on topics such as game theory and optimization.</p>

<p>Is it difficult to maintain a high gpa with this major? Not sure about today, but back in the 1980s and 1990s, Cornell, Columbia and Berkeley all utilized a grading curve with a B-minus mean.</p>

<p>what would be the main differences between the OR major and other things like… a joint econ-math major or an econ-stats major? In engineering school, you tend to look briefly at theories, and then move quickly towards practical applications of the topic at hand. Econ-math is much more theoretical in nature. Not sure about econ-stats, though.</p>

<p>I’m thinking of going for an MBA a few years down the road. Would this put me in the best position for it? Overall, it made sense for me to major in OR because I really disliked the hardcore engineering courses in EE, CS and ME (I tried all of them). Everywhere I went, I heard of OR being referred to as “Engineering Light”. I think that description is correct. Later, many of my classmates were able to get into top MBA programs at the more technical schools (MIT, Wharton, Chicago), so I think OR would fit the bill for future MBA students.</p>