<p>I'm really interested in majoring in economics at Notre Dame, but how strong is the program and how does it compare to peer institutions. I have a friend a upenn, and her program seems amazing. How does ND compare?</p>
<p>It's hard to make a comparison. I don't think using qualitative adjectives is really useful.</p>
<p>Notre Dame econ is noticeably different than every other school in the country because there are actually two departments. There's a long and convoluted history behind that, but suffice it to say that it is not an indoctrination department. Historically, Notre Dame was one of four schools that practiced heterodox economics but that has changed with the two departments. Are there good professors? Yeah. They're extremely approachable and open to helping at office hours. One actually tried to buy me a beer when I was a sophomore. That being said, if you are really into economics and want to go to grad school (and be aware that your idea of economics after high school is not what college economics is) then Notre Dame probably isn't amazing. Few ND econ grads go on to get PhDs in the subject. Most get good analyst jobs (starting salary of $54000 a year according to the careercenter) or go to law school, though more and more seem to be doing PeaceCorps and ACE and stuff like that. There aren't many wonks that will go off and end up being econ pofessors in the future. There are good opportunities to study development econ and the economics of poverty through CSC and Kellogg and basically anything that Professor Warlick touches. And I don't know what you consider peer institutions but I've been told by a professor who used to teach at a well known public university that his classes at ND were much smaller, better prepared and more active than at the former institution. As for other privates like Penn, who knows?</p>
<p>As bpayne1 mentioned, there are actually two "different" departments that teach economics. The newer department runs the graduate program and teaches undergraduate as well, where the older department generally runs the undergraduate program. You need 8 classes above the two introductory classes. As a general trend, (not saying this holds 100% of the time), the newer department's (called Economics and Econometrics) professors are younger and are more technical/mathematical in their instruction and produce research, where the older department (Economics and Policy Studies) has more of a focus on heterodox economics. Generally, the undergraduate Economics major at ND isn't too highly regarded at other schools and departments.</p>