<p>I'm a recent Grinnell acceptee and I am almost certain to commit to Grinnell. I am grateful to attend Grinnell, but I am also bit concerned at same time.</p>
<p>While I understand Grinnell is a great school for graduate schools and for PH.D, I feel like (if I am correct) there aren't that many Grinnell alumni working in finance or business fields. It seems like most people go to graduate schools and get Ph.D.</p>
<p>I would like to major in econ for undergraduate and would like to go to professional graduate schools (MBA) but not necessarily doctorate degrees.</p>
<p>Also Grinnell does not seem to have pre-professional focus at all, which sounds like it kinda lacks resources, recruitment, networks, and internship to prepare me for such career path.</p>
<p>So are there any Grinnell students or alum who can clarify about this and give me advice?</p>
<p>You got the essentials. Few Grinnell grads end up in business or finance, however there are a few that do. I know a couple of incredibly driven people that will end up in business and finance and are working very hard to get there through internships etc. </p>
<p>I am not sure how the support in terms of internships etc. is but I imagine that it won’t be that much different than for other non-academic fields: you’ll have to find the internships yourself. </p>
<p>I’ve also heard very mixed things about the Econ department. Some professors seem to be amazing while to maintain the balance I guess, there are also a few that seem to be terrible.</p>
<p>All I know is hearsay so I am actually not sure of the names. I know that international econ for example is a class that will kick almost everyone’s butt but is also known for being incredibly interesting. It really depends I guess.
From what I’ve heard the Econ department is not the best department we have, but it’s also far from being the worst. It’s decent I guess but because it’s liberal arts it may not give you the focus you want.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, I have no problem with liberal arts. If I did, I would not have applied to Grinnell in the first place. All I wanted was the combination of liberal arts and practical pre-professional education.</p>
<p>And just one more question, what kind of networking opportunities and recruitment are there at Grinnell?</p>
<p>Professor Swart is fantastic for Intro and Applied game theory. Professor Ferguson and Montgomery are also very good. I have heard anything from mixed reviews to very poor reviews for the rest of the department.</p>
<p>I wanted to clarify my last post. My experience with Econ was great as I made sure Prof Swart was my prof for the two classes I have took. I have heard Montgomery for environmental Econ is very good and that Ferguson and Graham are also very good. The problem is that the other profs in the department are mediocre and have heard repeated horrible reviews of two. The problem is that one required econ class is only taught by one of these profs and competition to get into the good profs class is stiff. Overall 3 good profs, 2 mediocre profs, and 3 bad profs is not bad, just not to the same terrific standard of over grinnell profs in other departments.</p>
<p>Also look at the Grinnell Econ faculty page so you can see who is still there (prof bateman has great reviews but no longer is at Grinnell for example).</p>
<p>I looked at next years Econ schedule for you:
Fall 2012
Intro to Econ- Brouhle, Swart, Munyon, Chan</p>
<p>If you have AP credit
American Economic History: Munyon
Economic development- Mutti
Environmental Econ- Montgomery
Empirical methods- Swart
Micro- Brouhle
Macro- Stroup (new prof)</p>
<p>Check the ratings. That way you know which profs and classes you should target when you turn in your registration card and which ones to
avoid at all costs. PM me if you want more info such as class times.</p>