<p>I always hear that economics and engineering get props for being quantitative but how come not chemistry?</p>
<p>Chem majors have to that calculus 1-3, linear algebra, and differential equations. They have to also take calculus based physics and p-chem.</p>
<p>That is certainly more math than an econ major would take and almost just as much as a engineering major.</p>
<p>I don't get why chemistry majors don't get their respects as a quantitative major?</p>
<p>What makes business employers more willing to hire an econ/engineering major over a chem major? What make chem majors so unattractive for business employers?</p>
<p>Economics is more than just the knowledge of math. Statistics is really important to know as a economist, analyst, banker, etc. I’d say it is the bread and butter of economics. Anyways, economics majors are valued because they learn material relevant to the business field. Investing, micro and macroeconomics, world markets, finance and so on. Companies, small or large invest an enormous amount of money, and they need someone who knows how the market is going to react to a situation, what the best stock is to invest in. A chem major isn’t going to know these things, even though it can be taught. However, an employer is going to assume that you know about trading or banking when he hires you. If he hires a chem major that doesn’t know about commodities or statistics or about global markets aside from what you watch on CNBC, then the employer risks losing alot of money by hiring you.</p>
<p>I kind of don’t understand it either. The courses for econ. majors tend to be significantly easier and require less of a workload. Not to mention, now-a-days, the math in many econ. courses is more or less watered down (think B-calc. what a joke!). Many of those classes are so lame/easy that the student will be exposed to the material, but will certainly not retain enough to be exactly competent when entering the workplace. A chem. major supplemented with a stats. class or some key business pre-reqs on the side should be enough. As for bio, some schools require exposure to data and statistical analysis. Like, for example, we have a life sciences calculus series that integrates normal calc., linear algebra, differential equations, and a 1/2 semester of intense stats. Not to mention, if done right, the bio major will have courses that involve case studies or data analysis (we have several teachers employing this approach). They could at least make business and econ. majors take the calc. based statistics series (which I hear is pretty tough). It’s amazing that we have a top undergrad. business school, and even though the school has grade distribution requirements, their GPAs somehow come out higher than the college. Let’s say it like this, some of those classes are so easy that a 96 will not warrant a solid A(A- instead) even though 35-45% of students can be awarded an A grade (and like 15% an A). </p>
<p>Hah. You would be surprised about what students don’t know after taking all of those econ. and business classes. Perhaps business classes are more practical, hopefully. A chem. degree may be worthless to businesses (oh, wait, one can go into pharmacology/pharmaceuticals), but certainly not to academia, medicine, or professional schools. You’ll notice the amount of econ. majors that supplement their major with a major meaning that even they are skeptical. </p>
<p>And then you have to explain the amount of potential scientists hitting wallstreet and finance of various sorts (I was told that an abnormal amount of MIT students for example, choose this path).</p>
<p>1) At my school, business majors and Econ majors are required to take a statistics class.
2) Sschoe2 is absolutely right. If you’re naive enough to major in something like Bio and Chem you won’t survive in the world of business. Just watch The Apprentice and see how fierce the competition is. These people who choose Science majors just because they were most familiar with them in high school or they want to look intellectual sadden me. If you’re smart enough for Science, you should major in Engineering.
4) On the other hand, there are many Econ majors who major in it because it looks as “cool” as a business major and end up actually hating their major.
3) Wall street jobs for scientists often require a Ph.D in something like Engineering, Physics, or Math. Not all science majors end up with Ph.D or even apply for science grad school. It’s true about 1/3 of Engineering graduates from MIT get into investment banking and consulting because… they have the name “MIT” on their diploma.</p>
<p>Economics majors seem to come in two types:</p>
<p>A. Wannabee business majors at schools without a business major, or who did not get into the undergraduate business school. These typically take a year of “calculus for business majors”.</p>
<p>B. Math-oriented economics majors, who take two years or more of math courses that are the same ones that math, physics, and engineering majors take. May be double majored with math or statistics as well. Probably more commonly found at schools which offer or require an intermediate microeconomics course that requires multivariable calculus.</p>
<p>At schools where both “more math” and “less math” versions of intermediate microeconomics is offered, the “less math” version (for the wannabee business majors) is more popular.</p>
<p>I think most people that do econ as a dual degree are doing econ as their second program since it’s a way to fill their humanities distributions.</p>
<p>Quit fooling yourselves, an undergrad chemistry degree is NOT quantitatively challenging at all, the most you’ll you use is a little bit of linear algebra, ordinary diff eqs, and some calc, most of it is just simple algebra. </p>
<p>Most chemistry majors probably don’t even have the fainest idea of what the formal definition of a limit even is. They only get the watered down version.</p>
<p>^
Honestly it is still more than an econ major will get. Most of the math you get in econ will be algebra and water-downed calculus. The only plus is that they take statistics and econometrics.</p>
<p>I took the intermediate econ classes for students with a calculas background. The only difference from the regular class was the prof could say derivative and integral rather then slope and area under the curve. None of the math was more complicated then linear equations. I assume the more advanced classes got more quantitative, but I didn’t take any.</p>
<p>"Quit fooling yourselves, an undergrad chemistry degree is NOT quantitatively challenging at all, the most you’ll you use is a little bit of linear algebra, ordinary diff eqs, and some calc, most of it is just simple algebra. "</p>
<p>Huh? A little bit of linear algebra? How about a year’s worth of quantum mechanics and a year’s worth of statistical mechanics? How about intense group theory? How about applying the method of moments?</p>
<p>Do you even know what chemistry is?</p>
<p>But what would I know? I’m just a humble chemical physicist pursuing a PhD…</p>
<p>I know quite well what chemistry is, and know quite well what mathematics is, I majored in both. </p>
<p>We are talking about the undergraduate level, no undergrad student takes a full year of statistical mechanics and most schools don’t even make chemistry undergrads take a full year of quantum, so quite kidding yourself. An undergrad chemistry degree is not quantitatively difficult. </p>
<p>And no one is impressed by how big your self perceived mathematical D is either. </p>
<p>Modal logic, linear operators in hilbert spaces, game theory, hey look at me, I can spout off worthless quantitative and theoretically heavy classes I’ve taken too! No one cares.</p>
<p>Economics majors take watered down math (depending on the program). Unless you get some significant experience with statistics, you are no better prepared to work in the quantitative business world than anyone else. In fact, a math/physics major is probably the best road to go down or a math with statistics emphasis. Simply put, if you want to major in a science that will provide you with very applicable skills, go with Physics. Physics is on another tier with respect to chemistry/biology. At my school, Physics majors take Stat Mech and a year of Quantum Mech on top of everything else, chem majors just have to get through Physical Chemistry which won’t touch the difficulty of the courses mentioned above. There is a reason that Physics majors get hired in the business world and chemistry majors don’t.</p>