<p>I was unable to find a good grad student economics forum so I'll post this here, hoping we have some economics grad students around.</p>
<p>How much math is required for masters in economics?</p>
<p>I have a degree in psychology, looking at career options. In one college career website, I put in my info (e.g. MBTI: INFP; interests: Investigative, artistic; minimum avg salary: >60k, etc) and one of the few options that met all my criteria was becoming an economist.</p>
<p>But the site said that economy requires "medium" amount of math. Here, "low" means, for instance, counting out change to a customer; "medium," calculating the size of a house in square footage, and "high," creating a new mathematical model to solve a complex engineering problem.</p>
<p>I did exceptionally well in high school math (A+) but undergrads was quite a bit harder (As and Bs in my two first year calculus courses and four stats courses in 2/3 year required for my psych degree). But I don't have the math aptitude for engineering or complex mathematical modeling or something like that. </p>
<p>I keep hearing conflicting accounts of the level of mathematical skill required for grad school in economics. But if it's doable, it would be a good fit for someone like me who is an introvert, intuitive, and interested in work that pays well, allows flexibility, and has good working conditions. I would just need to take two years worth of undergrads in economics, then a single year of grad school. </p>
<p>That’s probably the best resource out there for a general outline of which math courses might be useful for various post-graduation options. Specific graduate programs can give you more concrete information about the exact math background recommended for their program.</p>
<p>What sort of economics work do you see yourself doing?</p>
<p>B@r!um: I’m not sure, probably something to do with microeconomics and psychology of the buyer. </p>
<p>If I may share a little more: For the longest time I was averse to doing anything business related. Not only I don’t have the enterprising attitude, I just saw business as a heartless manipulating machine, creating false needs, lying about being able to fulfill those needs, etc. I wanted to do clinical work and help people, poor people, immigrant and minorities, the disabled, etc. But once I got some exposure to that, I realized that I get overwhelmed quite easily because I have a tendency to be very receptive to people’s emotions. In addition, I realized I could not really help these people much because often enough money was a big part of it. On top of that, in this line of work would make little money and probably get burned out too. And in fact I did, when dealing with some emotional family stuff in the past. </p>
<p>So I decided to try to curb my idealistic tendencies and get more practical. So first, I need to make more money and do the kind of work where I won’t get burned out the first week into it. So proper fit with my personality is key. It has to be the kind of work I can actually do, so that’s where this “math question” comes in. Once I am making decent money, then I can try to help others, be it through charity, directly through my work, or in some other way.</p>