<p>is there any rankings of the econ program at berkeley?
and how are jobs and salaries if you have a BA in economics from Berkeley?</p>
<p><a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Econ.stm%5B/url%5D">http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Econ.stm</a>, for your second question</p>
<p>i found the jobs and salaries
<a href="http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Econ.stm%5B/url%5D">http://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Econ.stm</a></p>
<p>but i still cant find rankings of the Econ program? </p>
<p>Also, just to make sure, if i apply to Haas business program and get rejected, i heard i can use Economics as my backup major, does this mean i can still graduate in 4yrs and the classes i took in my 1st 2 years would count towards the Econ major?</p>
<p>sweetdreams87- thks i took a long time while to post my second comment, srry for wasting your time</p>
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Also, just to make sure, if i apply to Haas business program and get rejected, i heard i can use Economics as my backup major,
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<p>Not so fast. Economics is also impacted, which means that it rejects plenty of people too. There are people who apply to Haas and get rejected, then apply to Econ as their backup and get rejected from that too.</p>
<p>how do you know Econ is an impacted major? also i thought you dont need to apply to a certain school for Econ major?
is Econ something you apply to in 2nd year just like Haas School of business?</p>
<p>Econ is an impacted major because they have a cap on the number of majors admitted.</p>
<p>You apply for econ having after finished your major prerequisites.</p>
<p>Check the website out.</p>
<p>Mass comm is also impacted.</p>
<p>there are no rankings of undergraduate programs, but I found some interesting conversation being had on this website:</p>
<p>you can scroll through the various posts there and decide for yourself whose input you trust. </p>
<p>as for rankings that are more official, I don't know of any done on specific undergraduate programs. so the next best way (I think) to judge the program would be to look at the grad program rankings which can be found at:</p>
<p>since the two programs generally have some overlap, you can get a general idea of where Berkeley falls (and it's very near the top)</p>
<p>Are you sure that no rankings exist for undergraduate programs? People seem to cite certain sources, at least lists of schools that are supposed to be pretty good in certain areas (and that don't usually number "best" to "worst") from different reports.</p>
<p>I think there are generic sort of rankings like "top undergrad economic programs" with a group of schools, but in no particular order. I've never seen a detailed ranking similar to what exists for grad program ratings or for an entire undergraduate school.</p>
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how do you know Econ is an impacted major?
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also i thought you dont need to apply to a certain school for Econ major?
is Econ something you apply to in 2nd year just like Haas School of business?
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<p>It's all spelled out here.</p>
<p>*Students may apply to the major when all prerequisites are completed or they are enrolled in their final prerequisites. Because of large enrollments and limited resources, it is necessary to restrict the number of students accepted into the major. Many factors are considered in determining admission. The main criterion is academic performance as measured by GPA in the prerequisite courses. The average GPA in prerequisite courses for students admitted to the major in recent years has been a 3.4. *</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the avg GPA on campus at Cal is a 3.25, so you'll have to be only slightly above avg to get into the econ major.</p>
<p>Another option is to study whatever you want with an Econ minor. No impact on salary. Banks, consulting cos and other bus ad employers don't view undergraduate majors as a big issue, as long as you show motivation for a business career. They want people who know how to write, communicate, think and interact with other people. The only employment option that would be difficult to achieve immediately after college without a bus ad degree is accounting. They hire tons of people from schools that don't even have a business major.</p>
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Keep in mind that the avg GPA on campus at Cal is a 3.25, so you'll have to be only slightly above avg to get into the econ major.
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<p>I would like to see some evidence that 3.25 is indeed the average Cal GPA.</p>
<p>Furthermore, I would also point out that whatever the average GPA at Cal is, it has to do with ALL majors. Some majors are graded harder than others. I would say that Econ is one of the harder-graded ones. So what should really matter is not the GPA of all Cal students, but the GPA of only the Econ students (or the wanna-be econ students). Just like you can't conclude that just because some cheesepuff major is easy, that means that Berkeley Chemical Engineering must also be easy. Far from it, in fact. </p>
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Another option is to study whatever you want with an Econ minor. No impact on salary. Banks, consulting cos and other bus ad employers don't view undergraduate majors as a big issue, as long as you show motivation for a business career. They want people who know how to write, communicate, think and interact with other people. The only employment option that would be difficult to achieve immediately after college without a bus ad degree is accounting. They hire tons of people from schools that don't even have a business major.
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<p>The issue is that the Haas School has its own dedicated career-services office and interviewing process that is open only to Haas students. Yes, the big major banks and consulting firms like McKinsey will hire through both Haas and the regular Berkeley career services office, but there are many other boutique firms that will only hire through Haas. Hence, no bus-ad basically means no chance at getting those jobs.</p>
<p>In fairness, it should be pointed out that this is not specific to Haas. MIT-Sloan, for example, has a quite good career office that is dedicated only to Sloan. Nobody else at MIT can access a resource there, unless nobody in Sloan wants it. Same with UPenn Wharton.</p>
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the average cumulative GPA for Berkeley undergraduates was 2.50 and has increased to approximately 3.25.
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<p>There is a whole set of data that's published online every year by the UCB registrar, which includes GPAs, I'd have to look for it. But for now, the above confirms that the avg campus GPA is 3.25, which I am sure of from having seen tht figure in the UC registrar site.</p>
<p>I don't think the spread between econ and other majors is that wide. Besides, the econ intro classes aren't too hard, many non-majors take them as electives with the pass/not pass grading option (I know I did).</p>
<p>The main probelm with recruiting and placement at Cal IMO (from having been on both sides of the equation) is that the students aren't proactive enough. Recruiters like initiative and will usually listen to focused interest from students with good profiles regardless of majors.</p>
<p>Allright, let's presume that 3.25 really is the average for Econ, of which I have my doubts. </p>
<p>In order to get that 3.4 that is the average GPA of those admitted to the Econ program, I would say that you have to be in the 60th or 65th percentile of grades. Whether you think that is easy or not depends on how you define 'easy'. However, I would say that if it is the 60th's percentile, that obviously means that by definition 60% of the students will not be get it. </p>
<p>I would further point out that a 3.4 is not a guaranteed cutoff, in the sense that if you have a 3.4, you know that you're in. You could get above a 3.4 and STILL not get in. That is because there is uncertainty in the process. It all depends on how many other people are applying in the same year that you are, and how good those people are. You might have the bad luck of applying in an unusually competitive year. To truly guarantee yourself a spot, you would need far more than a 3.4.</p>
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The issue is that the Haas School has its own dedicated career-services office and interviewing process that is open only to Haas students. Yes, the big major banks and consulting firms like McKinsey will hire through both Haas and the regular Berkeley career services office, but there are many other boutique firms that will only hire through Haas. Hence, no bus-ad basically means no chance at getting those jobs.
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<p>Really? I thought it was only graduate Haas students (MBA, etc.) that get to utilize Haas's career center, while undergraduate still go to the general career center.</p>
<p>I'm personally not sure, but that was the impression I got.</p>
<p>Well, it was that way about a decade ago. But maybe things have changed. I will check it out.</p>
<p>Most people in the industry (be it I-Banking or consulting) didn't major in bus ad as undergrads, so I'd be really surprised if they had a bias towards Haas undergrads.</p>
<p>Allo rion: At the Career Center (the undergrad one), there are two full time staff members who work exclusivley to place Haas undergraduates. It is at the general career center, but there is personnel working there for Haas.</p>
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Most people in the industry (be it I-Banking or consulting) didn't major in bus ad as undergrads, so I'd be really surprised if they had a bias towards Haas undergrads.
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<p>I wouldn't characterize it is a bias towards Haas. Rather it's that the environment at Haas is geared towards getting people into business-type jobs, including IB and consulting. For example, there are more workshops devoted to the subject, advisors who can help you to prepare, and so forth. That's why it is easier to get into consulting or IB (especially IB) coming from the Wharton School at UPenn than from any of the other undergrad schools at UPenn.</p>