I am planning on applying Early decision to one and I am planning on majoring in Econ; which school sports the better Econ program and stronger alumni network?
Middlebury. Many of the NESCAC schools are strong in Econ.
Haverford has a strong econ dept. I would not say Middlebury is better. You should make your decision on which other aspects of the school appeal to you as both will provide a great education. The schools have fairly different vibes.
Based on publishing citations:
- Williams
- Wellesley
- Middlebury
- Wesleyan
- Hamilton
- Haverford
(Ideas; Top 25% US Economics Departments at Liberal Arts Colleges.)
^ I wouldn’t put TOO much weight into that data in terms of the quality of teaching goes. First, authors need to be registered to have it picked up, Haverford is a much smaller college at 1/2 the size of Middlebury. Though it provides one consideration, the site itself says: “The data presented here is experimental. It is based on a limited sample of the research output in Economics and Finance. Only material catalogued in RePEc is considered. For any citation based criterion, only works that could be parsed by the CitEc project are considered. For any ranking of people, only those registered with the RePEc Author Service can be taken into account. And for rankings of institutions, only those listed in EDIRC and claimed as affiliation by the respective, registered authors can be measured. Thus, this list is by no means based on a complete sample.”
I’d advice looking at each department’s offerings (remember that as part of the Quaker Consortium that you would have access to classes at Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, and UPenn), check out what departmental graduates go on to do, reach out to faculty and students. I think you’ll find that both schools offer a very strong Econ Dept. Then way in other factors that are important to you.
I agree with the above caveats. I did, however, cross-reference the Ideas study with another, more comprehensively scholarly study before posting it. Though the supporting study is decidedly on the older side, it is, when combined with the Ideas data, an indicator of Middlebury’s perennial strength in economics. The authors’ comments on the relationship between teaching and research are pertinent: “Teaching the latest discoveries in classes, supervising student theses and other research, and preparing the students for graduate school are some of the teaching activities that may be enhanced by faculty research.”
The study’s overall top ten:
- Williams
- Wellesley
- Colby
- Trinity
- Wesleyan
- Colgate
- Middlebury
- Hamilton
- Claremont McKenna
- Bowdoin
- Hobart & William Smith
- Union
When adjusted for department size:
- Hendrix
- Colby
- Trinity
- Hamilton
- Claremont McKenna
- Grinnell
- Wesleyan
- Middlebury
- Swarthmore
- Agnes Scott
(Hartley and Robinson; Economics Research at National Liberal Arts Colleges: School Rankings; 1995.)
It’s a little like asking, Gucci or Prada?
That OP is asking about an alumni network suggests that OP is more interested in finding a career after graduating rather than going to grad school. The publications may not be as relevant in that case.
Middlebury’s econ department is one of the best among LACs. You can’t beat it. Unless you want something more urban, desperately want a consortium, or are strongly opposed to the alternately sporty and preppy/ crunchy granola vibe at Middlebury, I would pick it over Haverford.
Middlebury has an impressive alumni network. First, as one poster has already pointed out it’s much larger and therefore has many more Alumni. Second it consistently ranks in the top ten, often top five, in alumni donations. This suggests a strong level of satisfaction and respect by graduates. Alumni want to support the school. One great way to do that is by hiring recent grads. I don’t have the link, but it was posted in another thread about investment Banking. LikedIn ranked schools based on the percentage of alumni in particular fields. Middlebury was the 17th ranked school for IB. That placed it amongst the very top LACs and ahead of all but a tiny number of National Universities. Getting a job as an Econ major out of Middlebury shouldn’t be too tough.
Middlebury has David Colander.
The schools in the top 15 of that survey are equally good as citations can fluctuate. Really the top 25 are all excellent schools.