Ind Engineering and Economics Double Major

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

Hi everyone,

I’m an incoming freshman to Northwestern Weinberg SAC. For as long as I remember I wanted to major in economics - and I still do. However, the more I look into it, the less attractive the major seems (I very much love the subject though) because so many people have it. I noticed that NU offers a dual major in Econ and IE - how hard would that be? I heard that NU engineering is notoriously time consuming but perhaps someone could share their own experiences, especially with the course requirements to double major and how hard/easy it is if you get to it from your freshman year. Also, I definitely want to get the Kellogg certificate b/c I want to go into investment banking for a few years after college.
I have a solid background in economics and math (7 in IB HL Math).

Thanks!

2

I’m an econ major so I don’t know a lot about the engineering side of things, but I can tell you that IE/Econ is a very common double major, and is certainly very doable. Not to say that it won’t be a challenge, but there is a decent amount of overlap and this is a combination that a lot of people do. It’s also very common to add a Kellogg certificate on top of this (the most common is for IE majors to do the MA certificate, but you certainly could do FE if you are more into investment banking). I recommend trying it out, the worst that will happen is you decide it’s too much for you, and you can pick either IE or Econ and still do the Kellogg certificate on top of it

3

Thanks! Do you know how much the Econ/IE courses overlap?

4

IE/Econ is a relatively common major combination and very feasible.

In my opinion economics is a very vanilla major that alone will not separate you much from other students at NU. A double major in IEMS, major/minor in math, Kellogg certificate, MMSS will allow you to stand out more. If you want to do IEMS you will need to transfer to McCormick as your primary school. You should genuinely enjoy the work of engineering if you want to do IEMS.

If you are interested in investment banking, the major will not matter so much. More important is your GPA (must be high), extracurriculars, networking, and interviewing ability.