<p>I'm going into Penn SEAS next year and I was thinking about picking up a minor in Economics. I'm not just another one of those engineering majors who wants to pick up econ because they think it will help them get into IBanking or something, I have a legitimate interest in economics. I took AP Micro my junior year(last year) and loved it. I even got a 5 on the AP test. My question is will a minor in econ have any practical uses for someone with an engineering degree? I'm not sure if I should try and pick it up if it doesn't because I would most likely have to take courses over the summer or spend more then 4 years in college to get it.</p>
<p>Not sure if it is worth it to stay an extra year but if you can do it with summer school, go for it. It is your chance to study something that is interesting to you and that is part of what college is about.</p>
<p>It’s not worth it (it being expensive private school tuition and a year of your life) if you’re going to work as an engineer. I don’t even know if it would really be more than a minor plus for an investment banking job, but maybe I’m wrong.</p>
<p>If you really love it that much, why not major in it instead of engineering?
It’s not worth it in the sense of helping you get a job, but is most certainly worth it if you will enjoy doing it.</p>
<p>You can minor in basket weaving if you are interested in it. That’s the whole point of college. If you want to do management later on in life the economics would prove very beneficial to an engineering major. (way better jobs for mech e then econ majors str8 outa undergrad)</p>
<p>OP - will it help your career? Not in engineering it won’t. It might help if you go into investment banking or some such, but in an actual engineering job it will be completely irrelevant.</p>
<p>That having been said, if you want to learn more and can handle whatever expense it entails, then go for it! College should be about broadening your horizons, and perhaps you will find you want to be an economist after all!</p>
<p>
How? Considering that most management in engineering companies lack any economics education, why would it matter?</p>
<p>I should have specified this in my original post. I really like economics, but I love math and physics (especially the practical aspects of both). I figured engineering would be the best field to go into for someone who loves the practical aspects of math and physics.</p>
<p>It seems like you want to minor in it because you’re interested in it, not because you think you will have an advantage in the job market, right?</p>
<p>In my opinion, minor in it if it doesn’t cost you an extra semester or year to graduate. Otherwise just take some econ classes for your general education requirements or read up on some books.</p>
<p>I’m really not sure if it’ll help you find a job over other candidates who don’t have an econ minor, depends on the job I guess.</p>
<p>@frosty7,
Economics at higher levels is almost entirely implied mathematics.
Those who are applying to top econ phd programs generally take more math courses than math majors.
It sounds like an economic research type position might be more to your liking than engineering.<br>
As soon as you can, you should take an econometrics course and a real analysis course. These will give you a taste of what economics is actually like in the real world. Much more so than an intermediate macro or micro course.</p>
<p>If you have a strong math background and are good at what you do, there will ultimately be much better job opportunities in economics for you than engineering. Keep in mind though that you more than likely haven’t really taken any true math courses. Until you’ve taken algebra and real analysis, it’s hard to truly say you enjoy mathematics.</p>
<p>“If you have a strong math background and are good at what you do, there will ultimately be much better job opportunities in economics for you than engineering.”-angryelf</p>
<p>Really? I was under the impression that engineering was the most sought after degree in the job market. I was also under the impression that people with engineering degrees had the highest starting salaries. Is there more varriance in the salary of people with engineering degrees? Could you, or anyone else who knows something about this elaborate on what angryelf said?</p>
<p>“Keep in mind though that you more than likely haven’t really taken any true math courses”-angryelf</p>
<p>Would you or any other poster consider statistics and Calc 101 a true math course? Last year i scored a 5 on the AP stat exam, and this year I have an A+ in AP Calc ab (I think this is the equivalent to Calc 101)</p>
<p>Actually, the applied mathematics (with the computer science emphasis) is the BEST major to take. Not only do you have the mathematician jobs available to you…you also have the whole software engineering industry as a “plan-B/back-pocket” career to do and if you applied math electives included operations research, optimization, etc, you can also do systems engineering work.</p>
<p>Of course, I am biased. :-)</p>
<p>Note: I am starting a “best major” topic, so put away your ice cream, LOL.</p>
<p>Frosty7: You should choose your major according to what your interests are, what you could see yourself sitting down to do 10 hours a day, five days a week, for the next 50 years. Forget about salary and opportunities day trading and speculation. Engineering has had a solid track record historically in these departments. To look at historical trends and the most accurate short-term predictions (your tax) money can buy, see the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. The current one’s projections are a little dated, but a new one’s coming out in March and the historical data is all there (and, of course, it’s good data). Real wealth of information there on job opportunities, pay, education requirements, working conditions, etc.</p>