<p>I took AP Macroeconomics in high school and a Microeconomics course in college and I aced both of them without much effort. I also got a 5 on the AP Macro exam. These classes were as easy to me as the liberal arts classes were. I was really surprised to hear other students saying that they were having difficulty with the exact same Econ classes that I took. </p>
<p>My Microeconomics professor also bragged about how Economics was more difficult, higher-paying, and more impressive than other social sciences, yet to me they seemed equally easy. Does this imply that I have natural talent in Economics? Or do the classes get much harder when I go beyond the two introductory classes that I took? I know that introductory lower-division classes may not be representative of the major as a whole. I don't think the math can possibly be that hard though because at my university for a B.A. in Economics you only need to take three quarters of Calculus, and you can get away with taking the easier sequence intended for life science majors (although the more difficult sequence for engineers is recommended). Taking that into account I guess I am somewhat overqualified.</p>
<p>Looking at salaries though, I'm surprised how high-paying it is compared to many science majors which are much more difficult (as far as I can tell) and require more years of education. Can someone shed some light on this?</p>
<p>I did Economics in High School A Levels, I got an A and I thought it was so damn easy, I hardly studied and most of my knowledge came from reading Newsweek or the Economist… Yet people in my class FAILED. They are so bad, for some reason, they can’t grasp these concepts that come “naturally” to me.</p>
<p>So yes, I do think it depends on the person. It is a hard subject, its an either you have it or you don’t subject</p>
<p>I don’t think introductory economics classes are really representative of what you’ll take as an econ major. These are meant to be survey courses for anyone who wants to fulfill a social science elective. </p>
<p>I think the hardest course for an econ major is econometrics. And if, as an econ major, you really want a challenge, get a copy of Mas-Collel.</p>
<p>Economics is not really considered to be an easy major, although it isn’t particularly hard either. I’m an international relations and economics major, and while I like economics enough to stick with it, it does not come naturally/very easily to me (compared to my other social science classes). </p>
<p>Economics as a subject matter deals with a lot more mathematical concepts (that social science majors generally try to avoid at all costs)…especially when you get into econometrics. FYI entry level college econ classes or AP econ do not address econometrics concepts at all. You won’t be able to get by college econometrics classes by reading The Economist and Newsweek, I promise you that. </p>
<p>A main reason why economics is so high-paying is that a significant portion of economics students go into law school or the business world, both relatively high-paying career choices (compared to most social science majors, who tend to go into the relatively low-paying public, research or non-profit sectors) .</p>
<p>There is a quote that says economics is just “common sense in a language you can’t understand,” so it’s likely you’re able to make those connections using economic terminology and so it comes relatively easy.</p>
<p>It does get more difficult at higher levels when everything isn’t so simplified, but even then simplifications are still made. More math is used, but it generally is just used to show how the stuff you learned in intro classes works on an analytical level, not just conceptual. For example, a lot of concepts in intermediate micro makes use of calculus (mostly differentiation). </p>
<p>In terms of salary figures, you need to be careful. One of the posts above was right in mentioning the people who go into business and law. Many are the ivy kids who go into investment banking and similar jobs, so that tends to inflate the numbers. Not sure what the figures are for econ grads who are doing econ work i.e. data analysis, forecasts. </p>
<p>And not sure why people are so caught up on econometrics. It’s just statistics applied to economics and if you learn basic stats concepts from an intro stat class well enough you should be fine. Combine that with linear algebra and you’re really set for econometrics.</p>
<p>IT IS NOT AN EASY MAJOR!
It may be easier than say, biochemistry, because there are no labs, but it requires to be competitive and pay great attention to what the professors are talking about.</p>
<p>(I was too lazy to read anything but the title, so sorry if I am irrelevant.)</p>
<p>No, it’s not. Take an upper level micro class, not the lower level ****, at a quality university and let me know if you think it’s easy. If you do then you’re in the minority.</p>
<p>It is not an easy major at the University of Chicago, I can promise you that.
Otherwise, I am not familiar with the degree requirements of other universities.</p>
<p>^but you’re too preoccupied with the other ones you’ve got going in the dozens of threads where you’ve belittled the liberal arts and tried to convince everyone that engineering is the only valid major. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I don’t believe in studying engineering when other people are perfectly happy getting involved in what I consider the most boring subject I’ve ever encountered. It’s not about wasting money at all, I don’t want to waste my life dabbling in a subject that is irrelevant to my varied interests and talents. The opportunity cost of taking on engineering as a major is too great when the other option is my happiness…and money certainly doesn’t buy happiness…I think even non-economics majors can understand this concept.</p>
1/ much easier than most science majors? Go google “intelligence quotient by majors” and tell me what you can find out.
2/ you’re naturally good at it? Go take differential equations, real analysis or topology, the pre-reqs of higher level econ and tell me what you think. Or maybe something much easier: intermediate micro and macro
3/ requires much less time to study than most science majors? You gotta be kidding me…
4/ high pay? It’s extremely low for the efforts that we put into. Econ deserves much higher salary, given our “un-observable” and “unwritten” responsibilities with the whole world population.