<p>My final goal of academic degree is a Ph.D in Economics. How should I plan for it starting from undergraduate study? I am comparing among Econs of Princeton, Yale, Upenn, Columbia and Dartmouth, and Wharton. Any suggestions on choice of applying for admission to these programs are greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>You don’t study Economics, per se, in Wharton. Penn’s Economics department is in its School of Arts and Sciences (the undergraduate component of which is the College of Arts and Sciences). Penn’s Economics department is widely regarded as one of the top 10 in the country. An advantage of studying Economics at Penn is that you can also take business courses in Wharton (the top undergraduate business program in, well, the world 
), as well as relevant classes in Penn’s top-10 law school (probably the only top law school that encourages undergrads to enroll in its classes).</p>
<p>So, in addition to a top Economics department, Penn offers its undergrad Economics majors access to interdisciplinary study that is really unparalleled.</p>
<p>Though it’s not as common as with Economics majors in the College, there have been Wharton undergrads who have gone on to Ph.D. programs in Economics, such as this rather prominent fellow:</p>
<p>[The</a> Dismal Scientist: Economist Biographies](<a href=“http://www.economy.com/dismal/bios.asp?author=25]The”>http://www.economy.com/dismal/bios.asp?author=25)</p>
<p>Of course, it used to be possible to major in Economics in Wharton (which I did), but that’s no longer the case, so I’m not sure how common it is these days for Wharton undergrads to go on to Economics Ph.D. programs. A review of these career surveys reveals that a few apparently still do:</p>
<p>[Career</a> Services, University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/wharton/surveys.html]Career”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/wharton/surveys.html)</p>
<p>EBM, those are all fine schools. If I had to pick one it would be Princeton since it sends so many students to top grad programs, but they all do a good job. The more important advice, however, is to take lots of math. Many Econ Ph.D. students major or minor in math. You will want to take courses in multivariable calculus, linear algebra, real analysis and topology at least.</p>
<p>In terms of research output and prestige it would be:</p>
<p>Princeton > Yale = Penn > Columbia > Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Of course that is only one factor in which prepares you for graduate school. And which oen has a quality of life you would enjoy. Despite being in cities, Yale Penn and Columbia are vastly different experiences. Dartmouth and Princeton would be similar, however…</p>
<p>If you are serious about grad school, go to CAS at Penn and get your master’s in math. I’m not sure about other schools, but here it seems like the econ professors don’t take on too many undergrads for research. That’s where Wharton comes in because they do take on undergrads for research (at the undergrad level I’d say what you do is pretty similar business or econ) and even give you funding.</p>
<p>At the undergrad level, I would say it almost makes no difference which of these schools you go to. What matters more is what you do there.</p>
<p>you could apply to Wharton and eventually double major to get a business education from Wharton and a econ one from CAS</p>
<p>^an econ major isn’t necessary for PhD programs. However, if you look at what the econ department recommends prospective grad students to take, [Graduate</a> Study in Economics](<a href=“http://www.econ.upenn.edu/Undergraduate/GraduateStudyinEconomics.htm]Graduate”>http://www.econ.upenn.edu/Undergraduate/GraduateStudyinEconomics.htm), it’s not too far off from a math major, and if you take the upper level options it’s pretty close to a Math Master’s.</p>
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Wait wouldn’t that essentially put one of your major obsolete? I mean From Wharton you are getting a Bachelors in Economics and then for CAS you would be getting a Bachelors of Arts in Economics. What is the point? I mean you can go to Wharton to get a Bachelors of Econ and then go to Econ grad school.</p>
<p>^doing that means you take 6 more theoretical econ courses and a bunch of graduation requirements for fun. If there are econ courses that interest you its far easier to take them on the side and get an econ minor (which is also pretty useless).</p>
<p>^I agree. I think the better idea is to major in business at Wharton and just take those class as electives or get a minor rather than going through all the graduation requirements for an econ major.</p>