<p>I want to do something fun for my undergrad since my main objective is Medical School. Anyways I really am leaning towards economics, here is the thing though I am not the greatest in math, I took 12th grade Pre-cal in 11th grade and my final was 60%.. I am in my senior year at the moment and decided to take Intro-Calc, i currently have 93%. Anyways how much math is involved with a BA in Economics? I just don't know if I could handle to much math! I can do basic math just fine, it's just when you get into all the complicated math I have to focus a bit more to do well.</p>
<p>So then focus a bit more and you will do well.</p>
<p>you have to know calculus at the upper levels…both derivatives and integration…derivatives especially for microeconomics.</p>
<p>You’ll probably need a first semester calculus course to complete the econ degree, and a few classes like intermediate microeconomic theory will likely use first derivatives to find rates of change and maxima and minima. Don’t let the math requirement scare you away from a perfectly good major!</p>
<p>I’m not an econ major, but I think that the answer really depends on the college. Some programs emphasize math much more than others. Check with your college.</p>
<p>It depends. At my school, you have to take 3 terms of calc (I don’t know the specific math courses, but I’m guessing 3 terms means 1 term of calc one with basic derivatives, 1 term of integral with integrals/iterated integrals/infinite series/etc., and one more term with slightly more complicated calc), but at other schools, I’ve heard that only 2 terms, for example, are required. And I’m sure at some place like UChicago, you’ll practically be minoring in math to get an econ degree.</p>
<p>The basic rule is, the better the school in terms of prestige, the more math you’ll have to take, and quite honestly, the more math you need for the program, the more legit the program will be in terms of placement. If your school only requires 2 terms of calc, I’d tread carefully because that doesn’t sound like a very solid program to me.</p>
<p>It completely depends on the school.</p>
<p>For example, my school has three economic degrees:
B.A Econ- Have to take super easy calculus course and never have to apply calculus in your classes.Stat class required but never applied in econ. Ignores that math beyond Algebra even exists.</p>
<p>BS Econ- Just enough math. Calc 1-3, ODE recommended. Stat and Differential calc are used extensively. One econ class using integral calculus is required.</p>
<p>BS Economic Mathematics- Ridiculous amount of math. Calc 1-3, Real Anyalsis, Matrix/linear Algebra, ODE, discrete/continuous modeling, more advanced stat class than BS/A econ, Math reasoning, linear/nonlinear optimization, two computer programming classes. </p>
<p>I hope I’ve made the point that there’s as much math as you want there to be. I don’t even think half the Economic Mathematics math requirements would be useful in economics at all.</p>
<p>I agree with those who said it depends on the school. One of my college majors was econ (through the business school). I had to take two semesters of calculus as well as statistics as part of the department requirements, but frankly, I don’t remember actually needing calculus in my economics courses. My program wasn’t very math based.</p>
<p>It does depend on the school, sometimes you can major in Economics in the business school and or another college/department. Those outside of the buisness school usually require less math.</p>
<p>You need to research this at the schools to which you’re applying and find out what they require.</p>
<p>At U Texas, for example, a BA in Economics has to complete 12 hours of full-blown calculus, the same material that engineers take.</p>
<p>^I think that engineers take much more math than 3 terms of calc. Unless you mean they take REAL calc (not the BS “Business” calculus that biz majors take at some schools). Generally though, econ has harder requirements and the classes are much more difficult than business majors’ classes, so I really wonder why, outside of the ivies, econ majors aren’t recruited as heavily as the business schools. I’d wager that the best Econ students (i.e. the ones that really love it and aren’t just there because they couldn’t get into the business school) are as smart if not smarter than even the finance/accounting students.</p>
<p>I’d also wager that the average econ student is smarter than the average business student.</p>
<p>I’d take that wager^^^</p>
<p>Sure there are some economics classes with difficult material, but it’s often a group of business students on top of the curve in those classes anyway. It’s no wonder the business students are recruited first. There are top universities that don’t offer undergrad business, but the reality at those that do is that the econ majors simply are (more often than not) the rejects from the business school.</p>