<p>How are economics at columbia? I know it has a strong graduate department in this field and has produced numerous nobel prizes in econ. But I heard that columbia's undergraduate classes are overcrowded and the department isnt that strong? Can anyone share their thoughts on this?</p>
<p>I think what you've heard is about right. It's a good department faculty-wise but has a hard time staffing the undergraduate classes. The department is hiring, but who knows when it will catch up with the number of undergrads who choose an economics major. There are a lot of hyphenated econ majors (econ-math, econ-philosophy, econ-political science, etc) and I'd guess that the students might get more advising and attention from the smaller departments. You can look at the enrollments for the econ classes on the department site. Every major does get a seminar, capped at 15, but mostly not until senior year.</p>
<p>Economics is the largest major, political science is a close second.</p>
<p>Intro-level and second-level economics class are pretty large (around 150+), but you have TAs. sac is right - once you get to the upper-levels, classes get a lot smaller.</p>
<p>each course has its enrollment next to it here:
<a href="http://www.college.columbia.edu/bulletin/depts/econ.php?tab=courses%5B/url%5D">www.college.columbia.edu/bulletin/depts/econ.php?tab=courses</a></p>
<p>do you guys feel as though columbia is sick of econ applicants? I am thinking about majoring in econ, but also in the humanities; perhaps i will enter undecided or combine the two.</p>
<p>If I remember the Columbia application correctly, it doesn't ask a major, it just asks you to list three departments you might like to take courses in. (maybe it asks you to rank those?) I think if you have other interests as well it wouldn't hurt to put those first. I doubt they'd keep anyone out because of major, since they know how often students change their minds. On the other hand, they certainly would like to have students who will take courses in some departments that are not as crowded as econ.</p>
<p>How would you compare Columbia's economics department with Stanford's, at the undergraduate level? Also, how does it compare with Harvard, Yale and Princeton?</p>
<p>Regarding the question on the Columbia application, I'm not too sure whether they would hold it against you if you put Economics down as your intended major. I put down Econ-Philosophy, Economics and Econ-Political Science, in that order on my application.</p>
<p>you got stiglitz, bhagwati, shapiro(?) which is pretty awesome. but i think youre also familiar with HYP's star academics too, so.</p>
<p>And also Robert Mundell....I would consider UChicago too!!!!</p>
<p>chicago wouldnt be as much fun though.</p>
<p>well, in that sense, you might be right. I've heard that UCHICAGO is boring. Although it's still difficult to believe, you know, being in such a great city... Columbia and Chicago should be the best places in terms of location</p>