<p>What are the LACs with good economics program?</p>
<p>wesleyan, wellesley, williams, washington & lee. All the “W” schools.</p>
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<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1567410-post13.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1567410-post13.html</a></p>
<p>West Coast biased answer: Pomona and Mc Kenna.</p>
<p>I am a bit concerned that LAC’s Econ departments are not as resourceful as those of the large schools.Could someone clarify it for me?</p>
<p>To be honest 99% of undergraduates would not and/or are not capable of exploiting the resources available on many the top research campuses. The goal is to find a program that covers the key topics in any discipline and also have strong faculty. Access to faculty and resources is ofter better at the topic LACs compared to some of large research universities. Look at the admission data for both graduate and professional schools. Graduates from Williams, Pomona, Bowdoin, Swarthmore, etc. do very well. You need to think about potential career options and then do some research in an effort to confirm that each school has what you will need.</p>
<p>at the undergrad level the strength of a department hardly correlates to the strength of the education you’ll receive. An econ undergrad from Swarthmore could easily receive just as good of an education as an econ undergrad at Chicago. The strength of econ department in combination with the strength of the overall undergrad institution correlates to the sort of peers you’ll have studying econ with you. Most often a professor will push a good class or create a class to be challenging but still possible for the students in it.</p>
<p>Going to a top lac that attracts top students will give you a rigorous and challenging econ education that can definitely prepare you as well as any for a phd / anything else econ related.</p>
<p>Colgate, Williams, Holy Cross.</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna!</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna! Absolutely outstanding department :)</p>
<p>Since everyone is repeating rather than adding suggestions (one of them four times :rolleyes:), I second Davidson. 50 people of a recent graduating class (~10%) are doing finance-related work in NYC.</p>
<p>The econ program is excellent, and Davidson has superb placement in Charlotte, Atlanta, and yes, NYC. The campus is attractive and compact, and the town itself is quaint and extremely friendly. Many Davidson students had the stats for Duke but wanted a smaller school. It’s one of the few D1 LACs with great athletics, and the social scene as a whole is pretty good. As a bonus, it’s loan-free!</p>
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<p>No, don’t listen to johnwesley. Clearly it’s Carleton, Colgate, Claremont McKenna, and Colby. All the “C” schools.</p>
<p>What about “M” schools? Middlebury is supposed to have an excellent econ department. Macalaster?</p>
<p>Or does it really matter which school I choose since they all have strong departments? Aka is the environment (people + geography) more important than the departments themselves?</p>
<p>Some of the most influential PhD economists I know went to LACs. Swarthmore in particular is one that comes to mind.</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna too</p>
<p>what about bard and its levy econ institute?</p>
<p>Which program is best depends on your goals. If you want to pursue a Ph.D. in economics, you might be interested to know which schools send the most students to graduate school. Here is a table from the THE UNDERGRADUATE ORIGINS OF PH.D. ECONOMISTS, by John Siegfried and Wendy Stock. They took the number of students who went on to get an economics Ph.D., and then calulated the rate per 1000 undergraduate degrees awarded. Most of the top schools are LACs. </p>
<p>Swarthmore College 15.12
Agnes Scott College 9.08
Grinnell College 9.04
Carleton College 7.04
Williams College 6.96
Harvard University 6.88
Macalester College 6.49
Princeton University 4.78
Trinity University 4.55
MIT 4.46
Stanford University 4.40
Yale University 4.28
Wabash College 3.92
Bowdoin College 3.91
University of Chicago 3.77
Oberlin College 3.77
Wellesley College 3.66
Earlham College 3.53
Kalamazoo College 3.48
Beloit College 3.27
Pomona College 3.21
Illinois Wesleyan University 3.16
College of William and Mary 3.09
Amherst College 3.09
Columbia University 3.02
Rice University 2.93</p>
<p>This table gives the rate based on all undergraduate degrees, not just economics. One reason for doing so is that many Ph.D. recipients were math majors. If you want an economics Ph.D., you should consider majoring in math. At the very least, you will want to take multivariable calculus, linear algebra, real analysis, and differential equations. </p>
<p>As always, your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>Not an LAC but rated 14 by US News and World last year is Boston University. Worth a look and is in desireable college town.</p>