Hi all,
I’m currently a senior applying to colleges and Yale has stood out to me. While I understand that Yale only has an economics or economics and mathematics major, and it does not have a major in finance or management, I’m interested in learning a little more about the whether there is a real world application aspect of the major and how “hands on” the course is. Thanks!
Is there a question here?
It is important to understand that economics and finance are very different majors. Economics is a liberal arts course of study and gets very theoretical at the upper levels. In contrast if you go to an undergraduate business school you will take a business core with introductory classes in subjects such as accounting, finance, IT, marketing etc. and then you will major in one of those disciplines. I’m not saying that one path is better than the other, but they are different. I would take the time to look at the coursework (can be found online) for both a finance and an economics major and see if one path is preferable to you. You may also want to reach out to the placement office and see where economics majors from Yale get jobs.
Sorry, I wasn’t very direct. My question is: Does the economics course cover the business fundamentals that a business major/path would cover? How would career opportunities differ (from a business school) if I were to take economics at Yale?
Thanks happy1, I will reach out to the placement office.
@Dragonight - SInce most liberal arts colleges don’t offer business majors, anymore than they offer pre-med majors, the majority of students who want to work in fields such as marketing, human resources, accounting, operations management and finance, think they have to major in Economics (and regret it). Those are not subjects that are addressed or taught in college econ courses, which use theoretical, mathematical, statistical and econometric tools to study how the interaction of markets and government policies (in capitalist, coporatist or mixed economies) affect the decisions and behavior of consumers and businesses. For example, in macroeconomics, you would study the effects of taxation on individual consumption and business investment; the effects of unemployment on wage growth; how the rate of business investment and educational attainment of the labor force affects the growth rate of an economy. In microeconomics, you would study how the degree of competition between firms in a given market affects prices of products and profits of corporations; the factors that lead someone to enter, or remain outside of, a labor market; the effects of immigration on wage levels of less-educated workers; the economic effects of pollution, whose cost to society isn’t accurately reflected in the prices of products that consumers buy, etc.,. So if you want to study business, go to an undergraduate business school, like Wharton, Stern, UNC, Babson, etc., but if you want to understand how an economy works, go to a liberal arts college and study economics. Both routes will make it possible for you to work in marketing, human resources, finance, management, and so on when you graduate. But so will studying any other subject in college, since most businesses have to train their employees - teach them skills specific to their job - and look for motivated, disciplined, articulate, personable, intelligent people who have studied an extremely wide variety of subjects in college (and taken some econ, finance and accounting courses prior to graduation). Best of luck!
@zoebrittany wow…what a fantastic contribution. I’m going to copy and paste this to share with my daughter
No.
By the nature of this question, it’s clear that you don’t understand what Yale is all about and how careers are made. First thing you need to know if that you do NOT have to study “business” to have a “business” career. This is especially true if you go to a school like Yale, Harvard, Brown, Cornell, Stanford, Williams, Amherst, etc. You can major in art history at any of these colleges and be recruited by Goldman Sachs for an investment banking position. Big banks just want smart people. Indeed you might have a greater chance of being recruited by GS as an art history major at Yale than as a business major at, say, Mendoza College of Business at Notre Dame. That’s the advantage of going to T10 liberal arts schools. You are there to study a discipline, not to train for a career.
The coursework for an economics major will be very different than a b-school program. I will repeat my recommendation that you take the time to seriously look at online course catalogues. Compare the courses you will take as an economics major at Yale (can be any school but since this you posted on the Yale page…) to those you would take as a business major at a college such as Wharton (or any other undergraduate b-school). You will see notable differences in the curriculum.
I can guarantee you that the Economics major at Yale will not cover business fundamentals in the way you expect. They will have a heart attack if you suggest that in fact, it is a point of pride, Yale believes strongly in the fundamentals of liberal arts education. You might want to read up on that a bit, I don’t think you fully grasp the implications.
I think the data on careers out of Yale is fairly well known
For what it’s worth, my kids both majored in the sciences (physics and biology) and are both employed in what most would consider the “business” field.
Edit to clarify - Neither went to Yale, but did attend schools that attract the same recruiters.