<p>How would you compare economics departments at Midd and Swarthmore? What about the experiences of students who major in econ at both schools?</p>
<p>Both schools have excellent econ depts. I'd say that Midd grads are more likely to go on to get MBAs or work on Wall Street, and Swat grads are more likely to earn Ph.D.s and teach.</p>
<p>It looks as though Swarthmore has a very strong econ department if your interest is academic (rather than business) oriented. </p>
<p>Go to this link: <a href="http://campus.lakeforest.edu/%7Elemke/%5B/url%5D">http://campus.lakeforest.edu/~lemke/</a>
Then scroll down to "Papers in Progess" and hit the link for a paper entitled "The Role Faculty Scholarship Plays in Producing Economic Ph.Ds from Liberal Arts Colleges." If you go to the bottom of this paper (about page 23), you will find a chart that compares the Ph.D production in economics of various LACs. According to this study, Middlebury is weak in this area while Swarthmore is the strongest of the LACs by far. (Caveat: the study looked at a very discrete time period (the fate of 1992 econ grads) so statistical anomalies are possible.)</p>
<p>I've posted this before, but it's a good read if you haven't seen it...</p>
<p>my high school has an alum at Middlebury studying economics. my scholars bowl coach (AP Econ teacher) made it sound like a pretty good program.</p>
<p>I would generally go with Swarthmore for just about any academic field (except perhaps languages), unless you prefer the overall social atmosphere at Middlebury. </p>
<p>For undergrad econ, though, in particular, Swarthmore is as good as anyone gets.</p>
<p>middlebury beats swat in international relations, languages, writing, and environmental studies. otherwise, take swat, which is particularly strong in the humanities</p>