<p>I know the job prospects for Econ/Stats would be pretty good, but what about Econ/Poli Sci with a math minor? Or Poli Sci/Stats? Let's assume the school is a good but not super amazing school, like UIUC. Or what about at a school like Columbia?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Any combination of Econ and Stats is pretty good. If you do Poli Sci, make sure you double major with something quantitative like Stats and Econ.</p>
<p>There’s a LOT of jobs you can get. You can go into auditing, tax, financial analysis, equity research, investment banking, etc.</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen in people with economics majors, most take courses in accounting and go into auditing and the rest get financial analyst jobs at some random company. Starting pay is usually mid 40s to mid 50s. Pretty solid.</p>
<p>‘Financial analyst jobs at some random company’. Yep, you nailed it. Definitely accurate with that, and with the salary range. Tons of econ majors go this route, or the auditing route if they’ve also taken accounting classes, or the ‘IT Analyst’ route (tons of people that work in IT don’t have IT backgrounds). </p>
<p>However, a big warning: if you love economic theory, love writing econ/poli sci papers, love debating ideas, there’s a decent chance that you’ll find being a ‘financial analyst’ or ‘database analyst’ at the “XYZ Pipefitters Company” to be a pretty boring job. The majority of companies that exist are pretty uninteresting, at least for my taste (having been a consultant and worked at a variety of companies / offices over the last 5 years). Still hoping to find a job at a company / organization that I find interesting.</p>
<p>cobra: my HS senior’s interests fit your description perfectly.</p>
<p>he loves economic theory, loves writing econ/poli sci papers, loves debating ideas, loves discussing constitution related issues (his team will be competing at the state level next week, hoping to win and represent CA in the national). </p>
<p>he loves math, statistics, but hates computer science. Do you think Econ+Math or Business + math is a better option for him? his is a match for UCBerkely, low reach for Northwestern/Cornell, high reach for Columbia/University of Chicago.</p>
<p>If he hates comp sci, then don’t study it. He’l be fine with just an econ degree, and in better shape with an econ + math degree. All those schools are phenomenal, so it doesn’t matter which of those 5 he goes to. What matters far more is what he does once he gets there. </p>
<p>The biggest mistake that I made was not having a full understanding of what I was most interested in, and not relentlessly pursuing the jobs / industries that interested me most. Throw in the worst economic environment since the Great Depression, and the fact that an industry that I had planned my life to be in (investing/financial services) had far fewer jobs than it did pre-recession, and I was sucked into a job/industry that didn’t interest me. Five years after graduation, I’m still trying to get out of that path.</p>
<p>Cobra, would you say the job prospects for stats/econ are substantially better than stats/poli sci? Right now I’m facing the whole passion vs. practicality conundrum. Political science is definitely my passion. I enjoy looking up the courses and different concentrations within the major. I’m interested in econ, but more econometrics than theory. I absolutely cannot stand economic theory; I find it too dry.</p>
<p>I would love to maybe work in the government or go to law school. To that end I’m currently applying for internships at my senator’s office and one at the Department of Energy for over the summer. My only fear is, can I still get a good job if I don’t end up going to graduate school?</p>
<p>I’m in a similar position, however, I have confirmed within myself that I’ll be an economic/poly sci major. I too want to work in the government and feel that if I go into stats/econ I will lose sight in my ultimate goal. Stats/Econ is great if you want to go deep into business, or maybe crunching numbers in a government office, but if you the more “social” aspect of economics, then that’s not for you. You can get a decent job if you don’t go to grad school - it’s not a requirement. I myself think I’ll go to law school because I feel it would be a better “in” into the government than just my Economics B.S., but it’s up to you. It may be somewhat easier landing a position as a “financial analyst” for xyz company than what you may be looking for in government, but don’t let that deter you.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input! I was actually reading this guide made by a think tank of sorts on how to get into public policy. There was a section dedicated to what to study for your undergrad. In discussing economics, political science and other social science and liberal arts degrees, it was more pro-economics but even then quite hesitantly. The guide suggested quantitative coursework or statistics, so at the moment I’m leaning toward political science and stats. My only fear is I won’t be able to get a good job in my hometown (Chicago) once I graduate, whereas if I do stats and econ I likely can.</p>
<p>No one in the real world takes poli sci seriously. It doesn’t really get you any job. It’s interesting to study, but that’s it. … Studying poli sci will not make you any more qualified to work in government, go to law school, work in politics, than if you just study econ/stats. Econ/stats will make you far more employable in the ‘real world’ than poli sci. </p>
<p>Study poli sci if you have the time to do it, and if you find it interesting, but don’t think that it will do anything for you.</p>
<p>Ok, thank you! I’ve been thinking about it quite a lot recently…I think stats/econ would be best. Like you said, it makes me more employable in the “real world.” I really don’t wanna limit myself with a poli sci degree, even if I have the stats degree along with it. If I don’t go to grad school it would be the end for me.</p>
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<p>Hey, hey hey! Let’s not make blanket statements like that. As a political science - and only political science - major, I must disagree with you. My polisci degree is about as worthwhile as any other social science degree - it taught me how to think without (directly) teaching me any portable skills. It was helpful in my job search to have experience in Excel, which I gained through a couple of papers and some paid research I did.</p>
<p>A couple things to think about…</p>
<p>People often think political science is essentially preparation for politics. Not true at all! The major combines history, philosophy, economics, communication, statistics and psychology and presents it in a way that explains the relationships concerning governments and government-like entities. There are five real, distinct types of political science: political theory, American politics, international relations, comparative politics, and political economy. Within each type is an array of different things to study. For example, if you are interested in American politics, you could focus on history - how did we get to where we are, who were the major players in each different era of our history, etc. You could also focus on statistics - prove the relationship between, say, support of marijuana legalization and support of Democratic candidates.</p>
<p>Don’t be fooled into thinking that economics is somehow more “useful” than political science (or vice versa) because they are equally useless in the job market. What really matters are your interests. If you are fascinated with economics, then it makes sense to major in it; if you are fascinated with political science, you should major in that. What you don’t want to do is major in something that bores you and hurts your GPA, since your GPA matters a hell of a lot more than which social sciences major you choose.</p>
<p>I’m quite interested in both, which is turning out to be an issue because I’m just afraid of the job market, hence the stats and econ instead of stats/poli sci or poli sci/econ. Although I have a stronger interest in poli sci, I’m eager to study economics because it can provide a bit of poli sci while learning something completely new. I want to study poli sci because it’s my passion whereas I want to study economics because I feel like I can directly learn something which will be helpful in getting my foot in the door of something public policy related.</p>
<p>Starting median salary for economics: $50,000. Starting median salary for political science: $40,000. [url=<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-Degrees_that_Pay_you_Back-sort.html]WSJ.com[/url”>WSJ.com]WSJ.com[/url</a>]</p>