<p>As a prospective economics majorer, I wish to get a more detailed insight towards the amount of number and quantative vigour in the Economics major? For those who are participating in this; are you struggling with the Mathematical content? If you are, how good would you say you were already at Math?</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>I was an Econ major at Princeton (graduated already). There are two paths you can take as an econ major - math track and non math track. The non math track is very easy mathematically. As a result, recruiters might not be too impressed by it. I did the math track and found it pretty manageable. If you did well in AP Calculus BC, then you are definitely mathematical enough to handle the math track major. Also, you should think about what you want to do with your degree. if you want to get an Econ PhD or if you want to get into wall street or consulting or any quantitative business jobs, I would highly recommend math track.</p>
<p>How do economic majors do financially after college? Like, how much do they make, what do they do, etc.?</p>
<p>Well, it's not a question of major. It's a question of which industry you go into. For example, a person from any major can go into banking. and they will make the same amount regardless of major. A history or engineering or politics or econ major can all become bankers or lawyers or whatever. </p>
<p>A lot of people from the econ department end up entering the business world. And of those people, most start out in consulting or banking. </p>
<p>In both consulting and banking, you make around 55-60k base salary in their first year. But the bonuses differ vastly! I did both those jobs at one point or another. The lifestyles are vastly different too.</p>
<p>whats the difference between those in terms of lifestle anne? Is the competition at Princeton fierce for a wall street position? Is the math track you are talking about operations and financial engineering?</p>
<p>Well, bankers work from around 8am till around 2 or 4am six to seven days a week. Consultants work from around 8am till around midnight, five days a week with a few hours on the weekend. </p>
<p>Yes, the competition for wall street jobs is tough, but there are many ways to prepare and a lot of people just don't prepare enough. I think that if you know what to do during your four years and during recruiting, getting a wall street job can almost become formulaic. </p>
<p>No, math track econ is not the same thing as Operations Research and Financial Engineering (ORFE). Within the econ department, there is a math track and non-math track. Basically the difference is that you take a more math-heavy macro, micro, and statistics class. Both math track econ and ORFE look great for most business jobs.<br>
But as I said before, you don't need any particular major to work on wall street. But if you choose a totally non-quantitative major, you have to somehow show that you have quant skills in other ways on your resume.</p>
<p>What do the people do at Princeton who don't land wall street jobs? Do they go to less competitive firms, etc?</p>
<p>I think you may be mistaken about the definition of "wall street". Wall street is just a street in NYC and most of the very best firms are not on that street. Also, wall street is basically just the finance industry. So that's where you go if you want to do banking, sales and trading, etc. But consulting, which is the biggest thing people do after graduation, does not fall into the category of "wall street". The single most prestigious firm to enter after graduation, McKinsey, is a consulting company and does not fall under the category of wall street (physically or metaphorically).<br>
Also, even in banking, many of the best jobs are not located on wall street itself. </p>
<p>People who don't get jobs at the top 10 or so firms, still have hundreds of firms to choose from. There are so many firms that recruit on campus. And even if they don't get a job through campus recruiting, they can still network on their own. Don't worry, everyone gets a job!</p>