Economics or Statistics (Environmental)

College Majors
1

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I'm a college student who is trying to decide on a second major. My first major is in the humanities, and I feel like it would be nice to have a second "more practical" major. </p>

<p>Due to the amount of time left in school + personal interest, I have narrowed down my choices to either Economics or Environmental Statistics. I'll probably get roughly the same grades in either one. Each would allow me to take some classes I want, and each would require me to take a couple of classes I don't particularly want to take, each to about the same degree. If I major in Environmental Statistics, I may also be able to get an economics minor. If I major in Economics, it is possible, though unlikely, that I would also be able to get a math minor.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any advice on which major choice would be better? And, perhaps most importantly, is one a significantly better choice than the other? I imagine Economics is probably the better choice career-wise, but if I decided to go the other route, would Environmental Statistics not look anywhere close to as good on a resume?</p>

<p>Also, does anyone think that a second major isn't that big of a deal, and that perhaps simply minors in Economics and Math would look just about as good as a second major?</p>

<p>Thank you for the help!</p>

2

<p>Employment-wise, statistics is the better option. The most valuable aspect of an economics major is the quantitative training it provides. You will get more of that with a statistics major and a few econ courses thrown in.</p>

3

<p>I concur. Forget about the “environmental” part (not that it’s a bad idea, it’s just unnecessarily narrow in itself, but you can try to do projects relating to the environment if you wish), training in statistics is useful for a large number of jobs in a wide variety of sectors, both private and public.</p>