<p>I've just been accepted int Uchicago EA and I've started to look at possible majors an was wondering how math intensive the Econ Major is. I'm currently taking BC Calc. AP, however math is far from one of my favorite subjects. Also, one other thing I was looking into would be an Econ/Sociology Double Major. How difficult would that be?</p>
<p>Thanks so much for checking out my post :)</p>
<p>I can’t speak to the double major, except to say that it’s a bit of an unusual combo, and in general economics/sociology departments have very different views on the world. Which may make combining the two a great idea or a terrible one, I’m not sure…</p>
<p>Econ at UChicago ranges from slightly math intensive to very math intensive. The major is very customizable, and for every requirement there are basically two tracks, one of which will be easier / less math intensive and the other more difficult and math intensive. For the main sequence (ECON 200-203) you can choose the regular section or the Honors section, with the Honors requiring more math and in general looking at things more rigorously. For statistics and econometrics there is a choice between the STAT 234 & ECON 210 path or the STAT 244 & ECON 209 path; Econ 209 is honors econometrics while 210 is the regular econometrics class. In the Stat department 244/245 are the intro classes you would take if you want a rigorous treatment; 234 is the basic requirement for econ majors that is very simple and doesn’t involve much math. Among electives, there again will be some that are more intense than others; for example in game theory, there is a regular and intensive section.</p>
<p>The math requirements are the same way, too; you can get away with basic calculus and then Math 195/196 (multivariable calc & linear algebra) or you can fulfill the requirements with Analysis. </p>
<p>So basically, it’s all up to you. If you are interested in pursuing economics academically, then UChicago provides a full sequence of classes that are very quantitative and will prepare you for graduate study. If not, then you can avoid a lot of the hardcore math - but even taking the basic sequence, UChicago is still much more math intensive than most other schools. If you really don’t like math, then you might not enjoy economics here - it is not going to involve much qualitative thinking, at least in the core sequence.</p>
<p>Economics and sociology are much closer than most people think. The biggest difference is really that sociology professors (and their students) tend to be leftish on the political spectrum, while the median economist is somewhat right of center. Also, economists tend to do a lot of theoretical modeling (hence the sophisticated math), while sociologists are always trying to find ways to measure what’s actually happening in the real world. Economists do a lot of that, too, though. Gary Becker, one of the leading figures in the Chicago School of economics for decades, actually had a joint appointment in the Sociology Department. When you look at the current fashion for behavioral economics, or the kinds of research Steven “Freakonomics” Levin does, a lot of it looks a lot like sociology. </p>
<p>And, from the other direction, the great expansion of business schools and MBA programs in the 60s and 70s was really led by sociologists studying business. Fields like “leadership,” “management,” “entrepreneurship,” and even marketing are at the very least heavily influenced by sociology (and depending on a particular scholar’s approach may effectively BE sociology).</p>
<p>Chicago is prominent in both fields, and thanks to the Core every student there has some basic fluency in both.</p>
<p>That said, it’s not all Kumbaya between the two departments. Once, when I was in the Sociology Department office at Chicago, the then-Director of Graduate Studies was hanging out wearing a t-shirt that said “I Am Being Fisted By The Invisible Hand.”</p>
<p>Sorry to butt in on the discussion, but I was wondering if you hear of people who double major in Computer Science and Econ or Computer Science and Applied Math. Is it feasible if the student is pursuing the BS in Computer Science? If so, what have they thought of the combined curriculum? Thanks. </p>
<p>Econ/CS is very feasible. I’m a second year with the hypothetical possibility of completing econ/CS in 3 years and a quarter, but will most likely go for the joint Bx/MS program in CS and stay for the full fourth year.</p>
<p>There’s some overlap, in that knowing programming makes the statistics software easier to use, but they’re largely separate. If you’re going for econ/cs, it’s a lot easier if you place out of the intro econ courses with the exam (econ 198/199) and start econ 200 at the start of your second year, having completed the math requirements for it (math 153 end of calc first quarter, 195 multivariate second, and linear algebra math 198 3rd quarter). At the same time, you should start your cs sequence right away and take CS (13/15/16)1 and 2 first two quarters, and 154 the 3rd.</p>
<p>Plan your schedule out in advance and it’s quite easy to do econ/cs.</p>
<p>Thank you for the answer. ho do you like the CS curriculum and were you able to get a summer job after first year?</p>
<p>I meant, how do you like the CS curriculum. Sorry for the typo.</p>
<p>OP, since you’re taking Calc BC now, then I assume you’ll take Math 153 in the fall. You’ll be fine for at least the regular ECON 200-203 sequence. In my experience, the kids who struggled in ECON 200 had difficulty with the 150s sequence, or had taken the 130s instead. </p>
<p>Is an econ / English dual major at all plausible? Alternatively, an economics major and an English minor? Vica versa? Thanks in advance. </p>
<p>Merzbow - Doing a double major in two unrelated subjects is very feasible, even without lots of A.P. credit. Here is the college catalog in case you want to start planning all your classes :).
<a href=“http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/”>http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/</a></p>
<p>Fantastic, exactly what I was hoping to hear—appreciate the help, @waddlingnarwhal!</p>
<p>In response to CTLawyer, I actually really like the CS curriculum, but it is a little theoretical. It becomes useful after the first year, but be aware that the two intro courses, no matter the sequence level, are taught in a functional (and not object oriented language as I assume most other colleges do it) language - it makes you think more but its a less marketable skill. Most but not all classes after that are taught in some variant of C, or Python. </p>
<p>As far as jobs goes, I personally have had no trouble. I got a highly desired job in finance during my summer (commodities trader over at the board of trade), and had 1-2 part-time software gigs basically at all points in time so far at the college - primarily either research or finance related, i.e. i’m currently a developer for a company which analyzes tweets and sells market sentiment data. There is an active CS jobsboard (<a href=“https://jobboard.cs.uchicago.edu/”>https://jobboard.cs.uchicago.edu/</a>) and university groups are always hiring. If you know how to code, its trivially easy to become a research assistant for a professor or someone over at the center for decision research.</p>
<p>However, because UChicago doesn’t have a well-regarded CS program from an industry perspective, Google is the only major company that actively recruits on campus. That isn’t to say it’s not easy to get a job in CS if you’re from Chicago, but there are fewer systemic supports in place for you to do so, and if you know you want to do CS and only, go to Berkeley/Stanford/CMU/MIT.</p>
<p>If you want to work in private sector in CS after UChicago, you need to have the pro-activeness to learn a lot of things on your own.</p>
<p>Thank you for your very informative and detailed response to my question. I have been writing on behalf of my son, who was just admitted EA. He was also accepted to Michigan EA. He is applying RD to CMU, Harvey Mudd, Yale, Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, Princeton and Northwestern. As of now, he seems to be favoring Chicago over Michigan. Do you think the CS Department at Chicago is making any significant changes that will bolster its reputation over the coming years? </p>
<p>I forgot to include Dartmouth in that RD list.</p>
<p>CTlawyer - The CS Department is in the process of expanding. Five new faculty were hired just this year. I’m not sure what this means for its reputation since I’m “out of the loop” concerning academia. There have also been recent hires in related areas like computational mathematics and machine learning.</p>
<p>You can read about the new hires and find out other information about the CS department at their webpage.
<a href=“https://cs.uchicago.edu/”>https://cs.uchicago.edu/</a></p>