How great is Economics?

Transfer Students
1

<p>I really like Economics and will probably double in either that and finance or that and some sort of mathematics. I'm just wondering though, I want to and probably will get to go to one of my dream colleges, but they're all SO expensive. I have no problem taking out loans, I'm just wondering how well paid most economics majors really are once they get out of college. I've got grad school after that, so...%#@^@! </p>

<p>On a sidenote: Which major do yall consider to be the best paid and graduating with the least debt (i.e. medical would be considered very high paid but you graduate with a TON of debt usually).</p>

<p>I'm not gonna change my major since this is what I want to do, I'm just wondering.</p>

2

<p>econ pays crap at the BS level. it pays somewhat well at the PHd level. </p>

<p>Check out the government websites that have pay statistics for jobs. </p>

<p>It will also depend on what you do with your economics degree....some fields are very well paid, like actuary.</p>

3

<p>It really depends on what you are planning on doing so that's what you should be considering. You can become an investment banker and get a lot of money or work for the gov or something and not get as much.</p>

4

<p>an economics degree can lead to almost any business job, hell almost any major can get business jobs.</p>

5

<p>And this isn't the best forum to ask, you might want to look at other ones in CC.</p>

6

<p>for money and job stability I would go the accounting way</p>

7

<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b08M8ENvrVE&search=monty%20Python%20accounting%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b08M8ENvrVE&search=monty%20Python%20accounting&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

8

<p>I don't know what people are talking about when they say that an Econ BA/BS pays small. The statistics on Econ majors show average or above average income compared to most degrees, including higher income than almost all social science and liberal arts degrees. The only undergraduate majors that are yielding a lot more money are engineering fields, computer science and sometimes hard science. So really, if you're comparing Econ to the top 5 highest paid majors, then yes it's terribly paid. But if you're comparing it to the top 50 most popular majors, then it's doing pretty good.</p>

<p>Here's one source: <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/13/pf/college/starting_salaries/index.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/13/pf/college/starting_salaries/index.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

9

<p>I was comparing it to the income i would want, which is 100k</p>

10

<p>i've heard from a cousin who does finance, that 'economists are starving'...so i mean, the real money is not in economic degrees...but it mean duh its a good choice compared to almost useless majors like russian or geography or something lol so do it if you like, go to grad school or get ur mba or something</p>

11

<p>yes grad school/mba is on the list...so probably econ will be a good foundation for grad school which should be where the real money is</p>

12

<p>for money and job stability I would go the accounting way</p>

<p>being an accountant sounds like the most boring job ever.</p>

13

<p>yes therein lies the dilemma...i was kinda thinkin double major in economics/finance or economics/accounting OR economics/mathematics. Does math or finance pay well? My teacher said it's all about accounting and finance together.</p>

14

<p>i am majoring in math/econ.</p>

<p>you can make decent money with a BS in math simply due to the fact that few people are good at math, or enjoy math.</p>

<p>I also plan on taking the first 2 actuary exams prior to graduation, and hopefully minoring in accounting, so my options after my BS are actuary or accounting, which i can hopefully do part time so i can go to grad school.</p>

15

<p>lol very true...</p>

<p>thats a good plan...i may copy you haha thanks for the advice</p>

16

<p>btw, instead of double majoring, consider finding an interdepartmental major instead, you will get all the courses you need and a solid foundationg for grad school, but without so much tme.</p>

<p>my major is one major... and i was able to fit all the courses i found intresting without the need to actually double major. Also when you specialize in something like actuary or accounting your courses automatically become very specific, so its a waste of time for all those other filler courses that you would need for a double major.</p>

17

<p>what is your major that is considered a interdepartmental major?</p>

18

<p>my major is math/econ
its half math , half econ.</p>

<p>its a UCLA major, and i know a few other UCs have it as well, i dont know about the other schools.</p>

<p>For me, it really covered the main math things i wanted to cover, with enough elective options, and the main econ things as well, i think i am only taking one class extra, just for myself in order to take the actuary test... otherwise all the other classes cover what i need for accnting and actuarial science.
However, i would have to actually minor in accnt to qulify for the CPA exams and so on in California, so that is another set of courses.</p>

<p>Overall its about 7 upper division courses for each subject, 7 math, 7 econ, and for the minor its about another 5-7 i think. </p>

<p>It works out really well for me.</p>