<p>I can't find any economics rankings. I am pursuing that subject in college and have applied to Northwestern, Chicago, etc.</p>
<p>However, I like Duke's campus and life the most. And.. I saw that Duke's most popular major is economics. How good is it? I never hear about it. Thanks.</p>
<p>It is my prospective major and I have heard very good things. I know an econ grad who is gainfully employed right now in Ibanking in Charlotte.</p>
<p>as far as I can tell, duke is not particularly well known academically for economics (i.e. its not Harvard, UChicago, MIT, etc.) but it certainly is a popular major (note: a lot of ppl double major with economics as a secondary major)</p>
<p>if you're interested in doing business/i-banking post graduation there are many people who have similar objectives and a lot of financial services companies come to Duke for career week</p>
<p>in terms of course selection, there are a lot of courses to choose from with electives divided into microeconomics, macroeconomics, history, and finance. there are also opportunities for research through junior/research honors research courses</p>
<p>however, some downsides are that I don't see too much extracurricular involvement with the economics department, or research opportunities outside those junior/senior courses...</p>
<p>It is one of the most demanding majors at Duke. There are about 4 or 5 core classes, plus a few electives. Dr. Leachman taught Econ 51 this semester and there were about 400 students in the class. She knows her stuff and can be pretty intimidating, but make sure you go to her office hours; she won't bite :) Many students at Duke want to go into I-banking, so of course there is always someone recruiting on campus. </p>
<p>But they don't teach much about finance if you're looking to get an internship at Credit Suisse or Goldman Sachs. We don't have a business major, but there is the Markets and Management certificate, which is also quite popular. Classes fill up fast. Hope that helps :)</p>
<p>So if there isn't much finance, is the Economics sufficient to prepare for those internships?</p>
<p>The big IBanks recruit at Duke as much as the Ivies, even though Duke doesn't have a business school like Penn. Same with consulting. Both companies recruit people who are just the smartest and the most ambitious, and even though Duke's econ department isn't as famous as that of other top schools the students are still highly sought after. I mean, most IBanks and Consulting expect your SAT score on your resume. They are looking for raw intelligence, not a strong academic background in economics (even though having good grades/coursework is a big plus). </p>
<p>Every year I think it would be fair to say that most people seeking a finance job get one, and many at top banks. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank recently sponsored a finance class....these are just companies that had presentations during the fall to encourage applications for the spring round of internships (look at their Careers site). However, don't think that majoring in Econ is the only path you can take...they recruit alot of polisci, public policy, english etc. if you show you can handle the type of work expected of you. Extracurriculars play a big role in demonstrating if you have communication skills - so more than just your grades matter, and major isn't all-important either.</p>
<p>Certain organizations will train you before the internship starts, so you don't have to worry. I am not an econ major, but that was the advice that was offered to me by a Duke alum working at Goldman Sachs. You could take finance classes as electives to compensate for that. As thethoughtprocess said, the big IBanks visit Duke on a regular basis.</p>
<p>there are plenty of finance courses - corporate finance, global capital markets, accounting I & II, behavioral finance seminar, financial engineering seminar, etc. what the previous posts might be referring to is that there is no business school so the finance courses are taught from an economics perspective</p>
<p>If you really want to do ibanking (which im not necessarily sure this thread is about) , wharton is the best place - duke and all the other ivy-like schools are next in line</p>