Good Liberal Arts Schools for Economics

College Search & Selection
1

Hey all,

I’m currently composing my college list, and want to add a wider variety of schools on it. I’m interested in going into the business field but am split on either majoring in Economics or Business. I’m looking for a couple more liberal arts schools with strong economics programs to apply to, below are my stats:

STATS: SAT; 1380 700M 680CRW, No subject tests,
GPA: 3.7 UW (one of the top public school in the country, known for rigor, taken hardest classes offered at school)

EC’s: Interned at Fortune 500 Company,
Interned at High-end PR Firm,
Interned at Nationally Recognized Museum,
President of Best Buddies Chapter,
Started a Social Media Marketing Agency and amassed 700K social media followers for companies.
Then some minor EC’s like swim team and school store etc

Financials are somewhat of a concern but am not going to not apply somewhere because of finances. From New York.

The only real thing I’m looking for in an economics program is one that is more business-related and has at least a couple of financial/business course offerings. Please let me know some schools I should look at! Thanks so much

2

If you research these colleges with respect to their business/finance offerings, you should find a few options to emphasize:

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

Looking ahead, you may want to look into an HBS program available to students at a range of undergraduate colleges (I think more than those mentioned, actually):

http://blogs.wgbh.org/on-campus/2015/5/5/harvard-business-school-expands-online-initiative-liberal-arts-colleges/

3

To emphasize suggestions from your other threads, I think schools with programs such as those available at the University of Richmond, Gettysburg, Bucknell and Skidmore should be of interest to you.

4

Applying to an unaffordable school is a wanted application. Check net price calculators before applying.

In terms of business emphasis, that suggests that you would prefer a school like Claremont McKenna over a school like Pomona, right?

5

Have a look at Trinity College. It has long been a feeder for Wall Street for economics majors. It is in a capital city and internships both in Hartford and NYC are very common. The economics department is great. Trinity is part of the elite 11 college NESCAC.

6

For a full listing of LACs partnering with the Harvard Business School go to the website:
https://online.hbs.edu/enroll/collaborating-colleges/

7

Yes @ucbalumnus 100% about the Claremont McKenna over Pomona. the reason why I cant do that (the financial stuff) is due to my parents unwillingness to express how much we can afford per year. I’m a very good candidate for aid (father is widowed, single parent household, $0 assets and twin brother) but my father won’t notify me about the amount until after i get my aid packages

8

Do you have any idea what kind of job he has and what kind of pay range? Or will he run the net price calculators himself and give you a yes or no answer?

If your parent will not help you preassess financial aid, then you have no possible safeties except for automatic full rides for your stats – but these are very few and getting fewer as time goes on.

9

Economics degrees are very common, and at most of the highly-selective LACs, economics is the top major (even at the (once?) famously counter-culture Wesleyan). Most of the Ivies (not LACs, I know) do not have business majors; instead, economics is considered the classic major that acts as a springboard to the business world, and this is certainly the case at LACs, where, currently, it seems that everyone is majoring in economics. If memory serves, it’s the top major at the “little three” (Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan).

10

^I think that’s correct. And, as far as Wesleyan is concerned, every generation is different. Who knows what kind of signaling goes on between members of the same generation? To this Old Card, today’s students are pretty indistinguishable from the kids standing behind the cash registers or flipping burgers in the restaurants downtown.

11

@ucbalumnus do you know of the schools that give full rides based off my stats? very interested in that. He runs the Net Price Calculator and gives me a yes or no, and the estimate of loans I’d have to get if I do attend. The thing that I’m worried about with aid is the cost of living factor. My father is in the $100kish range, but I do live in Manhattan so the cost of living is extremely high. Do you know if colleges take this into consideration when calculating financial aid?

12

@Hapworth thanks for your input! I do like Wesleyan, but don’t know if I can get into the schools solely based off of my stats. Do you know of any strong programs that fit more into my stats?

13

Trinity College in Hartford CT.
Econ Dept. is perhaps its strongest, next to political science. SAT optional. NESCAC.

14

Full ride scholarships for stats are not very common. Here are a few:
https://www.pvamu.edu/faid/types-of-aid/scholarships/university-scholarships/
https://www.tuskegee.edu/programs-courses/scholarships/freshman-scholarships if you get a little higher test score.

If your father will run the NPCs and give you a loan estimate, then that can help you. However, note that you can only borrow $5,500 first year without a cosigner (increasing to $7,500 junior and senior years). If the NPC result appears unaffordable, but there is a competitive merit scholarship that can make it affordable, put the school into the “reach” category.

Colleges may take location into account, but note that $100k is nearly double the median household income in NYC.

15

Everyone is recommending LAC’s but OP actually said “liberal arts schools” so I’m not sure that OP means to restrict the search to LAC’s. Top LAC’s such as those mentioned by @Hapworth as well as Pomona and CMC, have very low acceptance rates and would be high reaches with OP’s stats. Perhaps OP can clarify whether or not OP is open to non-LAC’s? For example ASU’s WP Carey School of Business with Barrett Honors College is a possibility. ASU has a merit scholarship estimator. https://scholarships.asu.edu/estimator. I’m sure many others can be suggested if the search is not limited to LAC’s.

16

@respacings ,
I was sort of suggesting that economics as a major is fairly commonplace, and while I do not deny that the so-called “elite” colleges can act as pipelines to great jobs, I also like to remind students that even if they attend a school that is lower on the prestige ladder (note: but not lower in terms of academics), they can still do quite well, whether the goal is graduate school (an MBA) or direct entry into the job market.

As for colleges that are not as tough to get into as Williams/Amherst/Wesleyan/Bowdoin and so on, Colgate and Hamilton have success in sending its students into successful careers in business. Of course, neither school is an easy admit!

You might do research into LACs that offer business majors. For instance (and I use this school simply as an example, not as a direct recommendation that you apply here, though it could work as a safety school?), Lake Forest College, an LAC in one of Chicago’s very wealthy north shore suburbs, offers both business and accounting. Its proximity to Chicago (and the fact that there’s also the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management) means that Lake Forest has strong programs in business and economics, and graduates fare well landing interviews and jobs in the Chicago area, even though Lake Forest is rarely mentioned on this site and is listed somewhere around #100 on that questionable US News thingie. Again, I just use this as an example of an LAC that offers business.

Here is a mixture of selective and mid-level LACs that offer business, and this combo (LACs with business) might be a nice fit for you (economics will still be offered as a major too!). Lehigh isn’t really a classic LAC, though it definitely has a beautiful campus (and wealthy students to boot!), and it has majors in finance, accounting, and marketing. Of course, Lehigh is not an easy admit. Rhodes College (51% admit rate) offers business. Brandeis (34%) is also not a true LAC, but it is a smaller school that has business. How about Franklin & Marshall? Good, rigorous school. Also not an easy admit (35% acceptance rate approximately). Bucknell (30%). Muhlenberg College (very nice school with about a 50% admit rate). Gettysburg (also very nice school with around a 50% admit). Skidmore (25%). Dickinson College (50%) has International Business. Rollins College in the Orlando area (65%). Oh, don’t forget about Babson (22%) and Bentley (44%). These are not LACs, but they are small, completely business-oriented schools.

I am trying to keep this short (and failing), but one good use of the US News thingie is that you can go through the “top” 50 or 75 or 100 national liberal arts colleges and see which ones offer business majors. And as another poster mentioned, maybe consider slightly larger non-LACs like Elon, Miami of OH, Fordham, Case Western, Butler (an IN school with strong business connections in the midwest), and so on. Finally, if you can get into a strong business program at a large public university, such as Indiana U’s Kelley School of Business (no easy feat), that’s a sweet get.

17

I’m not sure if it helps you to consider colleges without the array of typical undergraduate business offerings that you seek (however, they’ve been introduced on the thread), but note that the LACs that send the highest proportion of their graduates to highly regarded MBA programs (Amherst, Hamilton, Middlebury, Bates, Claremont McKenna and Pomona) do not offer a business major.

(Source: Top MBA Producer Schools – Infographic | College Transitions.)

18

Do those with an undergraduate degree in business need an MBA ? Probably better and more efficient to earn a one year specialty masters degree for those with an undergraduate degree in business.

Those with an undergraduate degree in economics may & should benefit more from earning an MBA degree than would one who has already earned a degree in business.

19

@Publisher: With respect to the OP’s expressed interests, I think you’d be right. For now, I’ll stay with my recommendations in the second reply.

20

SUNY ALABNY. Cheap and a top notch business program