Good economics public colleges

College Search & Selection
1

hello,

My son is planning to pursue UG course in economics in US. We are preparing his application and would like to understand good colleges in the east coast. We will prefer courses which are STEM if possible.

regards

2

Cost constraints?

How large of a college? 2000 students or 20000 students?

What’s his GPA?

Rural or city?

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3

Why public schools only? Depending on the school, they may not always be the best value if your student is OOS.

4

OP- there are dozens of excellent econ programs in the northeast. Can you post the kid’s stats, your cost constraints? Otherwise you’re just getting a laundry list.

MIT- excellent econ, not a public college
Rutgers- excellent econ, a public college in NJ
Binghamton- excellent econ, public college in NY

Etc. This isn’t very helpful to you unless we understand the full picture.

5

If the student likes math and is good at it, or wants to go on to PhD study in economics, look for higher math prerequisites in the intermediate economics and econometrics courses to get an idea of how math heavy it is.

  • Low math: calculus not required.
  • Moderate math: single variable calculus required.
  • High math: multivariable calculus and/or linear algebra required.
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6

Some colleges also have multiple tracks. At my daughter’s college, the BA required only single variable calculus but the BS required more.

7

For most students interested in a top-notch U.S. economics program, these sites should be helpful:

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.usecondept.html

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html

For a greater level of STEM, consider a second major in mathematics: For Students Seeking a College Strong in Mathematics.

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8

Thanks for your revert. What do you mean by OOS. I am considering public colleges as they are good in terms of fees.

can you suggest me some real good public colleges for economics.

regards

9

Hi,
Thanks for your prompt response. We are estimating fees and stay all put together at USD 50-55K per year. My kid has scored 1280 in SAT

Can you suggest some good public colleges for him in economics.

regards

10

OOS = out of state. Tuition and fees are lower for in-state students at public colleges and universities, and need-based and merit aid policies for OOS students vary. I agree with the previous commenter who wrote that you will need to provide more information about your student’s qualifications and requirements to get good advice.

11

Look into the Big 10. All solid.

12

Did I miss the student’s GPA? A 1280 SAT isn’t going to cut it at many of the Big 10 programs unless there is a really high GPA and some mitigating factors.

13

With a 1280 SAT getting into anything in the top 50 is going to be very difficult. You probably want to target schools ranked from 50-100. There are many large public schools in this range. It helps that he is applying for economics and not engineering or CS. With your budget, most large publics will be in range, even if you are OOS.

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14

Check out the resources @merc81 posted.

Sticking to East Coast (or eastern) states, Penn State and UMD College Park seem to come up quite a bit. Any flagship university will have an economics department that will meet the needs of most undergrads, though, depending on the concentrations offered — business econ, mathematical econ, etc. (The rankings of schools for some academic disciplines are really driven by publishing output and research, not undergraduate instruction.) Anyway, look at the stats of wherever your student is applying to see if it makes sense to apply test optional, if allowed. And, as always, prioritize fit over prestige. Students should have a good sense of the environments where they’ll thrive before applying anywhere.

15

For Econ, it would work at Iowa, Iowa State, Penn State, UMN, Nebraska, UMD, tOSU,Michigan State, INdiana, Rutgers.

SUNY Albany also (SUNYs in general)

16

I think UMD and OSU are still going to be tough with that SAT score, especially for an out of state applicant. And isn’t Econ in the Kelley School of Business at IU? I thought their minimum SAT was a 1370 for direct admit?

17

I assumed international (from no GPA but test score)
At IU:
https://college.indiana.edu/academics/degrees-majors/major-guides/economics-ba.html
pretty math heavy though

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18

From the link, Indiana economics requires only a semester of single variable calculus, so it is only moderate math.

19

Penn State economics is low math, probably not a good academic fit if the student likes math.

20

At IU, they emphasize Mathematical modelling and the econometrics course is hard enough that there’s an optional transition course.

Penn State has 2 tracks, one that is mathier than the other.

I guess itd depend whether the 1280 is V730/M550 or the reverse.