<p>I am trying to narrow down my college list (rising senior), and UNC is one of the reaches on my list right now (out of state). </p>
<p>My prospective major is economics, possibly with a double major or a minor in math/statistics or a foreign language. With that said, how strong are UNC's economics, math, and foreign language departments? Economics is most important to me.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Oh, and I mean the liberal arts economics, not the business.</p>
<p>I know an eco major. He wasn’t impressed with the department at all. Says it wasn’t rigorous enough.</p>
<p>Econ at UNC seems more focused on behavioral economics than anything else, so the course itself isn’t as math heavy as you might find at another school. You could certainly seek out more calculus-heavy econ courses, but they aren’t really required within the major beyond finding derivatives.</p>
<p>^ArtemisDea is right… its not as math heavy as you might expect… more theoretical. I’ve met several people who like the department overall… however, I’ve always gotten the impression that people who are truly serious about economics and business end up at the business school, and that the econ department is for people who are less serious. </p>
<p>The other departments that you mention, however, are very good. I’ve heard some very good things about math and statistics (and operations research for that matter… the department is called STOR). I had a very good experience with the romance language department, and I have met people who studied through the germanic, slavic, african and asian language departments who liked their courses a lot. I give the school a lot of credit for offering a very wide range of foreign languages.</p>
<p>^ Very good summary, although I’d say the opposite about how “serious” the bschool students are. The attitude that I’ve seen from econ profs/students is that kids who go to the bschool are selling out and just looking to get hired rather than actually learning the principles of economics. Mostly though, I’d just say this is b/c many profs dislike bschools in general and consider them very lax/unchallenging/for lazy students (see NYT article about how few hours bschool students work on average compared to other majors)</p>
<p>That aside, I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with behavioral economics, but if you wanted to go to grad school for it, the best thing would probably be to double major in econ and math and/or take some econ courses at Duke.</p>
<p>Sure, its often argued that business administration is one of the easiest majors and one of the easiest ways to get hired out of college… but I’m referring more to the fact that you have to apply to the Kenan-Flagler business school to major in business. Also, a business major is much more concentrated in the subject while a BA in economics requires 8 courses (I think). Sure, there are a lot of slacks who major in business, but I have met some serious students before. </p>
<p>And let me clarify, I’m not saying that economics is a bad department. I’ve heard that there are some great professors, and the TA I had in summer school for econ 101 was a foreign student who was very active in macroeconomic research (and I actually found some of his research published online). So the department definitely has a good enough reputation to attract some good students, alongside being active in important research… but its not for everyone. Some people prefer math-heavy economics… if that’s how you are, then ArtemisDea is right… double major in econ and statistics or math. Its not very difficult to do that in the college of arts and science. </p>
<p>On a side note, one program in the department that I have heard great things about is the minor in entrepreneurship. Its relatively new and I have met people from all sorts of majors who are in the program (econ, political science, history, foreign language, etc). I actually looked into it at one point, but I found out that I could not fit it. I found out that the minor has four different tracks (commercial, social, scientific and artistic), so its good at catering to a wide range of students. I also know that it requires an internship or some sort of field learning class… so it is a very good way to gain work experience. </p>
<p>Just to let you know in case you were curious.</p>
<p>^ Yes, of course. I think both departments have ill-feelings towards the other. I don’t think there is any harm it in, just some good-natured rivalry.</p>
<p>Also, I am not a business major. haha</p>
<p>i’m considering UNC again. I had previously cut it out of my school list because of you guys saying it wasn’t as math heavy, but I would have no problem doing a double major Econ/Stats, and probably will anywhere I go. </p>
<p>Decent grad school/job placement with a degree in Economics and Statistics from UNC?</p>