Looking for good math/econ schools

Parents Forum
1

<p>I consider myself pretty strong in math, and have also recently developed an interest in economics. The ideal school I'm looking for should be realllllllly good in math, and have an above average or better program in economics, with many oppurtunities for research.</p>

<p>My list (in order of preference):
1. Caltech
2. University of Chicago
3. Harvard
4. Princeton
5. MIT
6. Michigan (if I get significant scholarships)
7. Penn (math is poor, but I've heard good things about business/econ)</p>

<p>Any other places anyone can suggest? Any school on my list that doesn't fit my criteria? Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Why do you only need scholarships at Michigan?</p>

3

<p>I'll be OOSer in Michigan.</p>

4

<p>University of Illinois, Cornell, University of Texas, University of California-Berkeley, University of Virginia.</p>

5

<p>Williams has an excellent math department, and a very strong econ dept. as well.</p>

6

<p>I'd place MIT above harvard...they have an amazing econ department and their math is incredible as well.</p>

7

<p>Columbia, Minnesota, NYU. Stanford, Wisconsin</p>

8

<p>Well, even as an out-of-stater U Michigan's cost will be less (not by much though) than all the others on your list. So, what is your plan to pay for the other 6 schools?</p>

<p>I see no safety schools on your list - financial or academic - so that needs to be your goal now, finding safety schools that you'd be happy at. </p>

<p>Of course, the fact that you've listed no stats make this impossible really.</p>

9

<p>I agree with Weenie. Finding the top math/econ schools in the highly selective category is easy compared to finding good math/econ schools in the safety range for your stats. Don't forget to spend a lot of time on the latter list--make that list as if the schools on that list are the only ones you'll get into. You never know--it could be.</p>

10

<p>Does caltech have strong econ program?</p>

11

<p>
[quote]
Does caltech have strong econ program?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It's small (but then Caltech is small overall anyway), but it has some very good people, especially in the up-and-coming areas of experimental economics and game theory, and there are excellent opportunities for Caltech undergrads to do significant mentored research projects in economics, resulting in jointly authored publications in some cases. Ben Golub, a frequent CC poster and stellar math student at Caltech (with strong interests in econ as well, if I recall correctly) should be able to tell the OP more about math/econ research opportunities for undergrads at Caltech.</p>

12

<p>Denison has a very strong math department. It also has a strong economics department. They give out great scholarships.</p>

13

<p>Go for UChicago. Their Econ department is world famous!</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_boys%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_boys&lt;/a>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_school_%28economics%29%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_school_%28economics%29&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

14

<p>One could contend that the school that is best in both math and economics is Stanford.</p>

15

<p>I hope you're also considering some schools that are easy to get into. That strikes me as a list of long shot for anyone schools.</p>

16

<p>To follow up on Weenie's and Ellemenope's recommendations re developing a list of safeties, perhaps someone could offer suggestions to the poster (and anyone else in the same boat) for some less selective schools with strong math and econ departments. Posts #4 and 7 include the names of some big state universities. What about LACs that would be easier to get into than Williams but have strengths in these areas?</p>

17

<p>There are so many. Probably the top (or close to the top) math LAC (at least in terms of future Ph.D. productivity) is Saint Olaf.</p>

18

<p>economics is harder to judge because schools have wildly varying focii. i can help with some solid mathematics liberal arts colleges, however. some of my favorites:</p>

<p>swarthmore
carleton
wesleyan
bryn mawr
bucknell
holy cross
st olaf
denison</p>

<p>this isnt how i would rank them. rather, i just went down the usnews list and picked out schools i felt 'stood out' from their peer groups.</p>

19

<p>Stanford is definitely very strong on both economics and math</p>

20

<p>Mini and ericatbucknell--you beat me to St. Olaf!</p>