<p>I want to go into law school in the future, and I was just wondering what would be the best major for me at NYU. At other schools I was looking more into the poli-sci major, but what about NYU?</p>
<p>There is no set pre-law major. You can major in whatever you like. If you like sciences, you can major in the sciences. Major in what you are interested in and get high GPA. </p>
<p>At NYU politics is statistically and game-theory based. We use a lot of different forms of game theory to predict actors preferences and actions. It’s all basic algebra. If you’re at least decent at math, it won’t be a problem. If you find that interesting and aren’t afraid of math, as some potential politics majors are, then I would suggest to take a politics major.</p>
<p>Personally, if I were pre-law and a politics major (which I am) I would either do a double major or minor in philosophy. (I’m biased since I’m a double major in both). Philosophy at NYU is ranked #1 in the world for graduate study. However, undergraduates get to takes classes from those people who are at the forefront of their respective fields. The professors I have taken classes from are all frequently published and cited or argued against by other philosophers and they teach very good classes. But, philosophy can be a lot more complex than people originally assume it to be, so don’t underestimate it.</p>
<p>NYU politics purports to be statistics and game theory based, but as much as I can tell from public info, it does not require calculus. IMHO, game theory without calculus is basically jargon. I think history, or any other major that is honest about its aspirations is a better bet.</p>
<p>Kayf ^^^
Honest about it’s aspirations? NYU’s politics department is one of the only ones in the country that uses a mathematical approach - game theory/stats, etc. And there is a specific course for quantitative politics (optional, but required to graduate with honors). Graduate level courses do use calculus. Do you even know how politics uses game theory? Have you studied it?</p>
<p>Yes, I understand game theory (in the context of economics), and I stand by my statement that without calculus it is so watered down it is gargon. The graduate program may, and very likely, is meaningful. But to focus undergrad on game theory without calc is a less than meaningful. Its spending class time on learning the words, but not the underlying substance. I think class time should be spent on substantive matters. If you are going to study something, study it. </p>
<p>By aspirations, I meant that programs should be meaningful. That they should aspire to ask questions. Not just to learn phrases.</p>
<p>My read – if you want to deal with game theory, take calc and major in econ and take some poly sci classes. If you dont, find another major or another school.</p>
<p>^^^
Right… So you’ve never studied politics. So… You actually have no idea what you’re talking about. So you just assumed. And everyone knows what happens when you assume. </p>
<p>Next time, don’t go around acting like you know everything. Because you don’t. Game theory that we use is real-world applicable. And we use it to understand actors behavior, rather than just theoretically basing it; we use game theory to prove it.</p>
<p>I didnt assume anything. YOU are the one saying how NYU Politics is oriented toward game theory and statistics, yet does not required calculus. I accept what you say as the truth. I stand by what I said, that game theory without caculus is so watered down it is not meaningful. I never said game theory was not real world applicable – go back and read what I wrote. I said without calculus game theory is just not the real thing. Same with statitics. Thats my opinion. You are entitled to yours.</p>
<p>The game theory we use is… Extended form games, probabilities, utility calculations, regression lines, etc. None of which requires calculus. You CAN use calculus to solve extended form games and probabilities. We just do it without it instead. Because using calculus in what we do is useless. It over complicates something that’s logically deductive. Calculus is used in our game theory and a lot the theories we use are based calculus. We just don’t use them that mathematically intensively. For example, there is no point in using calculus to solve an extended form game tree, where nature makes the first move. For that we just calculate the probability of which side the player is on and determine what moves make the most sense based on the probability of a certain expected utility pay off. You CAN solve that with calculus. But there’s no reason to.</p>