<p>I'm graduating next spring with my Bachelor's in Finance, and I want to start looking at graduate schools, but I'm not really sure that I want to continue with finance or if I even want to get an MBA at all. </p>
<p>I really like economics, especially applied economics, but I haven't found any schools that have an MBA with an applied economics focus, most schools just offer a MA in economics or something similar. </p>
<p>Can anyone suggest schools/degrees that I might want to look at that have graduate programs in applied economics or similar?</p>
<p>Would an MA in applied economics with a bachelors in finance be less "prestigious" in the business world than if I just got my MBA?</p>
<p>I have a friend who did the Duke Master of Econ, and he said that it was far too theoretical to be useful for most jobs. Granted an “applied” program might be a bit more useful, but I don’t know of any good ones. Generally a masters in econ will prepare you for research work or for a PhD. MBA’s, etc are more practical in nature. </p>
<p>So - to answer your question - yes a MA in Econ will not get you as far in the business world.</p>
<p>Although not always true in reality an MA in Econ is basically a signal that you failed out of a PhD program and received a Masters as a consolation prize. This is why you don’t see many Econ departments offer a terminal MA in Econ (I think NYU and Duke are the only two notable exceptions).</p>
<p>From the Duke MA in Applied Econ website:</p>
<p>"The Duke Economics MA is designed to be one of the most quantitative of all North American masters programs. It aims for a narrow segment of the market:</p>
<ul>
<li>Students preparing for PhD programs, either by taking advanced mathematics, statistics, and theory, or gaining intuition and exposure to economic issues;</li>
<li>Students preparing for careers in technical financial analysis;</li>
<li>Mid-career research economists seeking to brush up on econometric and modeling skills, and to undertake a research sabbatical;</li>
<li>Aspiring lawyers who want to gain a solid grounding in game theory, microeconomics, econometrics, and cost-benefit analysis; and</li>
<li>Aspiring policy analysts seeking to gain modeling and econometric skills prior to embarking on a career in government, think-tanks, or consulting.
"</li>
</ul>
<p>If you don’t fit perfectly in one of those, you would be much better off with an MBA with an economics concentration (like from UChicago, Wharton, etc.), which are very applied in nature (often called Business Economics for Managers or something like that)</p>
<p>Try University of North Dakota. They offer a great Applied Econ degree (M.S.); it’s affordable and available through distance learning (web with some web live classes).</p>
<p>It seems very good. About $388 / credit hour after all fees.
Ron</p>
<p>This is older now, but in case anyone stumbles upon this like I did. A Masters in Economics is more about theory, and offers you the ability to take economics electives in fields that interest you, but it is still just theory-driven. As someone stated above, it might be too theoretical to be practical in the real world. However, an applied economics degree goes very in depth into how to conduct research and gather data to use in conjunction with economic models to analyze basically anything. It is much more specific and can be used in a lot of careers. Whoever said that an Economics degree is impractical in the business world is incorrect. An applied economics degree will give you the tools required to gain insight into the market at a very specific level. An MBA teaches you to be an administrator (manage people, organize, etc.), but doesn’t go nearly as in depth into how to read the market and understand the fundamentals of cost-benefit analysis like applied economics does. Banking, trade, consulting, etc. These are the guys that companies hire to consult with them on trends in the marketplace. Everyone and their dad has an MBA, so unless you go to a top-notch school, you aren’t likely to find a great paying job. Schools you’ve never heard of have MBA programs. Not many people have their Masters in Applied Economics.<br>
the Masters degree in Applied Economics is a practitioners degree. A PhD in Economics is a research degree. You get your masters if you want to use economics and data in the real world as part of a career. You get your PhD if you want to teach and do research in an academic setting. So while I agree that a MA in economics may not be very useful in the world, the Applied Economics definitely is. It is less of an Economics degree and actually more of a degree in advanced statistical analysis. it simply uses economic models as the means of applying the statistics to the business world. Remember, business relies on economics principles. Supply? Demand? Revenue? Cost? Every heard of that stuff? Having someone on your staff that can look in depth at the market and your current business model and develop applications to maximize your profits and streamline your costs is very useful. If that’s what you want to be doing, an MBA is not the route. APPLIED economics means that it actually applies to things. It goes beyond the theory.<br>
One other way to think about an MBA vs Applied Econ is that you can use economics to in multiple capacities. The only thing you are doing with an MBA is running a business. Besides, ask any business person and they will tell you that you don’t need a degree to successfully run a business. So wouldn’t you serve yourself better by having a degree that gives you the knowledge to fully understand the intricacies of a business? If you are a good businessman, you are so because you make good decisions. You make those decisions based on facts. You get those facts from the guys with the degrees in applied economics.</p>
<p>Thanks for this post drj1485. I am a junior majoring in Economics right now. I am trying to decide between MS Finance, MS Financial Math, or get my Masters in Econ. Leaning towards econ at this point, just wanted to find out a little more about job placements for Econ Masters graduates because I definitely do not want to go for a Phd. It sounds like Applied Econ might be what I am looking for.</p>
<p>I love Econ too! I was a LAS Econ Major and wish I pursued the discipline further. My alma mater University of Illinois at Chicago has a dual MS Econ/MBA degree program that I think is a great value. UIC is an up-and-coming b-school and they had a really strong Econ department. I would take a look at UIC. It’s a school that is attainable, affordable, and of good quality. </p>