<p>If the idea of higher, challenging math sounds kind of dreadful to you - then yes, another kind of major/PhD would probably be best. Economists use different levels of math but advanced math (the entire calculus sequence through multivariable calculus, linear algebra, probability and statistics, and real analysis) is pretty essential to economics at the doctoral level.</p>
<p>If you are interested in behavioral economics, a PhD in psychology might be a good choice for you. It completely depends on what you mean by behavioral economics, though. If you’re interested in why people making purchasing decisions, how marketing works, how to improve management and operations within organizations - then yes, a psychology major with an economics minor is a good bet. I went to an Ivy League that had a top 10 business school attached for grad school in psychology, and <em>many</em> of the business school professors actually had PhDs in psychology and studied behavioral economics issues from that lens. And many of the top behavioral economists are psychologists by training. Dan Ariely at Duke has a PhD in cognitive psychology (and was an undergrad psych major); Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky are also cognitive psychologists by training. Paul Slovic also got his PhD in psychology, and Herbert Simon is actually a political scientist by training who also studied economics and psychology. (You can find profiles of these folks on the behavioral economics page on Wikipedia.)</p>
<p>You’d want to get a PhD in psych at a place that had a somewhat flexible curriculum that allowed you to take significant coursework in the economics department and the business department, and work with psychologists who do behavioral economics work as well as folks in other departments. My alma mater, Columbia, is a good place to do that. I would also encourage you to seriously look into the possibility of a PhD in business, as there is a great need for business professors and thus it is far easier to get an academic job in that field - AND business professors get paid a lot more than psychology professors do. You can become a business professor with a psych degree, but it’s far easier to do it with a business degree.</p>
<p>I will warn you, though, that advanced degrees in psychology (and all of the social sciences) do require a grasp on math and statistics - and the more math you take, the better your job prospects and the cooler the studies you can do. Behavioral economists/organizational psychologists use advanced statistical methods to analyze their data collected from studies. Of course, some psychologists still do mostly experimental studies and the statistical techniques necessary for that are much simpler. And it’s nowhere near as math-heavy as econ - you wouldn’t have to take calculus, for example…but if you DID take calculus, that would be useful to you. You will have to take statistics, both at the undergrad level and the graduate level, although in psychology the statistics won’t be calculus-based (at least unless you wanted to get more advanced).</p>
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<p>As for your questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In general, I think many students choose to do an MA because they are not ready to go to a PhD program, or they want to work for a few years before they attend a PhD program, or because they feel that their application package needs a boost - either better recommendations, a higher GPA, or more research experience. I will say that in psychology there are few reasons to get an MA before a PhD. The only good one is if you have a truly abysmal undergrad GPA and you need to prove that you can do graduate-level work. In most cases it’s far better to work as a research assistant or a lab manager for 2-3 years post-college (and maybe take a few graduate classes as a non-degree student). (This is not true in economics, though, as there’s a lot of use for an MA in economics.)</p></li>
<li><p>The answer above already addressed the math requirenents. Remember that different fields require different things, so what someone tells you in one field won’t necessarily be applicable in others. So for the language thing - most humanities fields (including history) require reading proficiency in two languages, because many scholarly and primary works in those fields are written in other languages. I don’t think that’s the case in economics, though.</p></li>
<li><p>Some - it depends on the professor, their level of ongoing connection to the program, and who they know. Let’s say that your undergrad econ professor went to UChicago for his PhD but studied environmental economics and worked with a couple of environmental economists. And as a professor at a small liberal arts college, he might be very bright but not necessarily famous or influential in the field. He may not know the behavioral economists at UChicago very well, and although he could speak directly to your ability to achieve in UChicago’s program, he might not have a lot of influence with the particular people you need to get on board. It’s just like - if I recommended a student more broadly to my alma mater’s PhD program, that might get the application looked at more closely, but not necessarily tipped in.</p></li>
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<p>But let’s say that Professor Y is a behavioral economist and worked under Professor X at UChicago, who is also who you really want to work with. That DOES matter - because Professor Y can call up or email Professor X and say “I have this student who is amazing, and I think he’d be a great fit for your research group, please take a look at his CV.” If Professor Y was a great student (which, if he’s teaching at Reed or NCF, he probably was) then his evaluation matters to Professor X, and now you have a professor who has some curiosity in your case. I do know of several cases in which the Professor X has come to know the applicant through a colleague and/or former student of theirs, and the applicant’s profile was raised in terms of getting accepted to a program (and I’ve helped facilitate this kind of connection myself before).</p>
<p>Or even if Professor Y didn’t necessarily go to UChicago - but maybe he and Professor X went to grad school together, or worked on a project together, or see each other every year at some conference and Professor X has a high opinion of him. That can work in your favor, too. Basically, personal connections and networking are just as important in academia as they are everywhere else. BUT it is important to note that most graduate students get admitted without these personal connections. I didn’t know anyone at Columbia before I was admitted, nor did anyone I know know anyone there. In my cohort of 12 in the psych department, I think only 2 had a pre-existing connection before they were admitted.</p>
<p>The economics faculty at Reed have gone to the very best places - Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, and UIUC. The psychology faculty at Reed also have an impressive array of alma maters. The same is true at NCF in both departments.</p>
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<p>I also just want to note that while I applaud you for thinking ahead, I also encourage you to kind of go with the flow and let your interests rise to the top. Don’t stress about grad school too early. Do the things to prepare, of course (if you want to go into a psychology PhD, you will need research experience, and the earlier you start the better), but don’t think overmuch about what kinds of programs you want to go to until your junior year.</p>