<p>Hello All,</p>
<p>I attend Northeastern University and I just changed my major from Criminal Justice to Economics in hopes that I will end up with a better job in something like iBanking, Economist, etc. Any thoughts on Econ as a major and what the job market may look like as a Northeastern economics graduate? Thank you all!</p>
<p>I just graduated with a BA in economics (and was also VP of my student economics association). Here’s what I think about economics in a nutshell:</p>
<p>I’m first and foremost an international relations major (as I prefer writing/following current events more than quantitative stuff/business) but I am very glad I double-majored in economics for a couple reasons - one, I like the data analysis part of it - while I’m not big on math, economics gives you a framework to understand things in a relatively more objective way (its not just aimless arguments like sometimes international relations/politics is). As a student who enjoys researching a variety of topics, it is really nice to view things through a “different lens.” 2 - learning economics gives you a technical skill (although not quite to the level of any science/computer/med discipline) that is really desired in the workplace. 3- jobs. Economics majors have some of the best job prospects out there as it is so flexible (you can go into business, government/politics, community/international development, consulting, banking, wealth management/investments, teaching, scholarly research etc.). And it makes my IR degree more marketable in general. It is a pretty universal major so it generally doesn’t matter what school you got your degree from. </p>
<p>Now, here are the downsides for me personally. 1 - I really don’t like math. Econometric methods was probably one of the more challenging classes I have taken. I had a really good professor though, which made it bareable. While I’m not bad at math, it’s just not something that comes super easy to me (I’ve taken up to college level calculus I). And the most marketable economics majors are the ones who know the most math. 2 - economics as a subject overall isn’t intuitive to me. I don’t get the perfect 4.0’s even if I study. There are some people where economics just comes intuitively to them, but I’m not one of them. I still enjoy the challenge of the classes though. </p>
<p>Overall economics is a very good major to have (way more interesting than some other business fields) because you have the option to go into business stuff or more analytical/research stuff. The one thing you might notice is a lot of ibanking jobs want to hire only finance or accounting majors (although some still take economics majors), but for just about any other career economics is just as good if not better as the more traditional business disciplines.</p>
<p>Wow thank you for all the information. I am definitely with you in the sense that I am not such a big fan of Math. Like you stated I, myself, am not bad at it but it just doesn’t come so naturally to me.</p>
<p>Economics is very useful because you learn to look at things in an analytical, objective way as lena said. And like she pointed out, it’s also very flexible. You can combine the degree with business classes if you’re looking to get into investment banking or other kinds of finance, with a poli sci/international relations if you’re interested in that, or if you find yourself doing really well and want to go to grad school, you can focus on math.</p>
<p>If you’re not that great at math, I wouldn’t worry about it. Schools usually offer a ba in econ, which is lighter on math, in addition to a bs. I was terrible at math in high school, but did fairly well in calc 1 and 2 and went on to take calc 3 and linear algebra. The data analysis skills you get from taking statistics and econometrics classes are also really useful and can help you find jobs. </p>
<p>This report may be slightly skewed because of all the ivy league people who choose to do econ since there are no undergrad biz programs, but it shows that econ grads are right behind engineers and comp sci majors in terms of earnings and actually earn more than mechanical, industrial, and civil engineers by the middle of their careers.
[Best</a> Undergrad College Degrees By Salary](<a href=“http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp]Best”>Common Jobs for Majors - College Salary Report)</p>
<p>Yes, I know Northeastern has a BA in Econ as well as BS so I will probably steer towards the BA to avoid as much math as possible. I’m thinking of taking additions business classes to free myself towards a minor in business or international relations. Thank you for the link and wow it does look like Econ majors have a good career path.</p>
<p>I’m a senior majoring in Economics. Take a look at this recent article. [Which</a> College Majors Pay Best? - Real Time Economics - WSJ](<a href=“Which College Majors Pay Best? - WSJ”>Which College Majors Pay Best? - WSJ)</p>
<p>As you can see Economics beats out almost all other majors in salary. Economics is a great major because it makes you think differently and logically as you have to solve complex problems. You can do a lot of different things with it down the road.</p>
<p>Wow Economics average wage of $43.15? Sounds good to me, great article thank you. Hopefully I can land something that good after I graduate!</p>