<p>Eventually I would like to major in finance, economics, or something business related in grad school, but since Caltech does not have such a major, I was wondering what the best path would be. I have heard that Industrial Engineering is also a good undergrad major b4 going on to finance, but Caltech does not have this either (do they?).</p>
<p>I really like math and i kno that problem solving/analytical skills are important for majors like finance and economics, so I was thinking Math/Economics at Caltech. I have also heard about how difficult Caltech is, so I was wondering about the feasibility of a double major...or is it very common?</p>
<p>Another thing, how does the economics program at caltech compare to that of other schools?</p>
<p>My other choice would be Industrial Engineering/Math at Purdue University; Purdue IE is ranked like #2, and they have given me a full scholarship (I live very near also) and I hear it is not difficult to get a math major here.</p>
<p>Any advice? Advantages at Caltech?</p>
<p>A Math/Econ double major is not uncommon and quite doable.</p>
<p>Neapol1s is right. You can pretty much get the econ major just by fulfilling the humanities/social science requirements you'd have to do anyway, plus a little more. </p>
<p>Let me tell you a little about this since I came in as a pure math major and am going to grad school in economics, either at a business school or a pure econ department.</p>
<p>Caltech's economics department is solidly top 15 in the country and probably not quite top 10. In some fields, it is absolutely second to none. One example is behavioral finance/economics (Jaksa Cvitanic, Colin Camerer, Peter Bossaerts, and the experimental economics and finance labs). Another is theoretical industrial organization (Preston McAfee, John Ledyard). Caltech has always been strong in microeconomic theory and will continue to be hiring very good people in the next few years. The econ department has a very strong research culture, exciting seminars, very good grad students, and lots of opportunities to do basically whatever you want.</p>
<p>An advantage at Caltech is that you will be able to get a very strong pure math education with some of the best undergrads in the country (won't happen at Purdue). Then econ profs will be very eager to hire you as a collaborator for theory papers. This is the route I took and it has worked well. I am choosing between the top econ programs for grad school, plus the Stanford Graduate School of Business econ theory Ph.D. program.</p>
<p>Another advantage is that undergrad courses are done basically at the grad level. (Where else would you see Debreu/Scarf core convergence in the undergrad micro class?) That means your preparation for grad school will be scarily good, and grad schools know this.</p>
<p>Dirty little secret: I will not get an econ degree from Caltech and was quite up front about this with grad schools. You don't need to be a rubber-stamped undergrad econ major to do well getting into grad programs. Math majors (and other majors, even) are just fine, as long as you show interest in economics, take the serious econ courses (but can skip the fluff), and have some research under your belt by the time you apply.</p>
<p>Hm, Ben, I'm wondering what the differences between BEM and Econ are, in terms of said applications to finance and business.</p>
<p>BEM (Business Economics and Management) at Caltech is generally intended to prepare you for working in consulting (e.g. Bain, McKinsey) or finance (D.E. Shaw, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers) straight out of school. Starting salaries are about $65k+ with bonuses pushing it up close to 100k first few years (after that you either get kicked out or you go on the track to senior management which usually involves a stop at business school for an MBA). BEM courses are either mathematical finance (the options classes) or strategy (BEM 106) which involves no math.</p>
<p>Econ majors also do the above, probably a little more consulting than finance. But a fair number go on to finance/econ/business econ Ph.D. programs, at a rate higher than BEM majors. The primary goal for most Ph.D. students in these fields is to become professors of econ/finance/business econ, but a fair number end up going into the corporate world, the government, or organizations like the World Bank. The salaries out of grad school after a Ph.D. in these things are higher, but probably not high enough to compensate you for the time you lost in the program. So do a Ph.D. only if you love the scientific aspect of economics!!</p>
<p>Econ is more academic and scholarly -- you study fancier mathematical models that are less immediately applicable, whereas in finance you also study hard mathematical models, but ones which are used every day to compute option prices and the like. BEM people tend to want to apply their knowledge in business right away, whereas econ people want to develop theories that people will be applying 50 years from now.</p>
<p>I hope that sheds some light... feel free to ask more.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for all the info! Both of those Econ majors seem very appealing, but one of the main things about Caltech for me right now is the money. Another question though, how do you think the chances of getting into a top grad school in finance or econ differ if one was more of an average student at a top undergrad university like Caltech (in Math/BEM or Econ) than if one "stood out" more at a less prestigious university, like Purdue (again, the areas of study would be Industrial Engineering and Mathematics)?
Regardless, i definitely have alot of things to consider; thanks again!</p>
<p>To have a good chance at a top 5 program from a decently ranked state public, you'd need to be very near the top of your class in your major, and it would be kind of a crapshoot whether you could get enough faculty attention to show your research abilities. On the other hand, a Caltech student of average intelligence (by Caltech standards) who works very hard and takes time to get to know professors and learn lots of math and econ can have a serious shot even if they're not ranked superhighly. So I'd say more prestigious schools definitely have an advantage, but not one so huge that it would be worth going into massive debt. If you end up going to a state school, just make sure to be ambitious and go to office hours early on so you can start building relationships with faculty that can help you later.</p>
<p>One thing about Purdue is that it doesn't seem to have a real econ department but the business school is reasonably good. So if you can, I'd try to get to know some of the faculty there (quite a few of them went to top 10 places in econ for grad school and they would be able to help you if your eventual goal is to become an economist).</p>
<p>thank you Ben Golub for the great information! What you said definitely agrees with some of the other advice that i've heard. i plan to visit caltech and depending on how much i like it there and how much fin aid i receive (for some reason i haven't gotten it yet), i'll make a choice. but since you've said and other ppl have told me that it is very possible to get into a good grad school from either college (and cuz undergrad doesn't matter ALL that much), theres a good chance i'll go to purdue; in which case, thanks for the advice on what to do there! my main concern is that i will miss out on the caltech environment (smart people) though.</p>