<p>I did a search on this but couldn't really find what I was looking for.</p>
<p>After completing an undergraduate degree in economics at a small LAC like Pomona, Swarthmore, or Amherst, what are the job opportunities like? If you did well in college (good GPA and extracurriculars), will you most likely have a job when you graduate?</p>
<p>I'm just wondering, because I recently became interested in LACs and this is what my mom first asked me when I told her about them. She wants me to go to a school like Harvard because she feels it would be easier to get a job after graduating (because of the name recognition), but I feel that places like Pomona must be pretty good with job placement, too, since they're so academically reputable. Thanks in advance! :)</p>
<p>It will be easier to find a first job, but the job you get doesn't really depend on what the prestige of the undergrad education is. What matters a lot more is work experience. Many employers have never heard of places like Pomona, even though it's well known in academic circles. Make sure you get internships in college, wherever you go.</p>
<p>At a liberal arts schools, getting a degree in economics means that you've been taught to think like an economist, not to be one. There's a difference.</p>
<p>It will be harder to find a job out of a small unknown school, but the argument for liberal arts is that eventually you will be a better thinker, problem solver, more analytical, and that will help you out more in the long run. As one Princeton alum said, in the work world, the importance of prestige from Princeton "lasts about fifteen minutes." Happy trails.</p>
<p>Lu, employers know the top LACs and recruit at them. I can't speak for every LAC but when you're talking about Pomona, Williams, Swarthmore, Amherst, I can assure you that the career counseling services are very proactive both for internships and for jobs post graduation.</p>
<p>I can give you a specific example in a friend of my son's who recently graduated from Pomona and is about to start a job at a top-ranked investment firm. My son and his friends who graduated from Williams last year all found positions in their areas of interest.</p>