Hi everyone! I’m a recent admit, and although I was admitted under the ORFE program, I’m interested in what attracts so many to the economics over ORFE. I don’t think making the change would be too big of a deal at this point, and I’m pretty curious as to how the two relate to each other.
Thanks!
First and foremost, ORFE is in the engineering school. ORFE (as the name suggests) is more focused on things like data, numerical methods/algorithms, and quantitative finance. Standard coursework includes topics like optimization, probability/statistics, stochastic calculus, mathematical finance, and programming. Here’s the website: https://orfe.princeton.edu/
Economics, which is my department, is exactly what you’d expect. The focus is on microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, and related topics. It’s more policy-oriented. There are plenty of finance courses (offered through the Bendheim Center for Finance). The difference is that ORFE’s asset pricing class might study asset pricing for its own sake while BCF’s studies asset pricing within the context of the broader macroeconomy (this is just one example). The econ courses a little less mathematical but several of the courses have more advanced versions.
Graduates from both departments tend to have a lot of overlap when it comes to job prospects (banking, trading, consulting the standards) and many econ students take ORFE courses and ORFE students take econ courses. Do what interests you.