<p>Hi
I am a prospective transfer student and I want to find out more about Columbia. I want to major in economics and I have a few questions~</p>
<p>1) Is is easy for students to have close relationships with professors? </p>
<p>2) How large are most economics classes? </p>
<p>3) Are there many research opportunities as an econ major? </p>
<p>Thank you so much guys~</p>
<p>I'm a parent, but my son is an econ-math major.</p>
<p>I'd suggest you look at the directory of classes online. You can click onto individual classes and see actual enrollments. There are many new faculty in econ this year, and so things are changing in the department. You might start with CULPA, which is the online student review of profs. (If you go to the CULPA main page, you can click onto the directory of classes from there, too). There are some research opportunities, including getting credit for assisting a prof, and the opportunity to do an honors thesis working with a prof. There are also many research institutes around campus, some of which might employ undergrads. On the downside, econ is the second largest major, so my sense is you have to put in the effort to emerge from the crowd.</p>
<p>thank you so much for the reply~!
wow didn't know i can check the actual enrollments even if i am not a current student
so there are research opportunities.. that's great~</p>
<p>To put the research opportunities into perspective, check this link about the Honors/senior thesis:</p>
<p>and note the requirements. Only 13 students (out of ~ 250 economics seniors) are actually writing senior theses.</p>
<p>What's the largest major? Political sci? I assumed econ was #1.</p>
<p>This is a bit different every year. See these statistics:
<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/opir/abstract/students.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.columbia.edu/cu/opir/abstract/students.html</a></p>
<p>and click on Undergraduate Degrees by Certificate Type for the 3 undergraduate colleges.</p>
<p>I read in the Spec, I think within the last few days, that poli sci is first, econ second and history third. At one point, I think history was the largest CC major, but econ has grown at most colleges.</p>
<p>do the new professors in econ department teach undergraduate classes too? or just graduate level?</p>
<p>thanks~!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Only 13 students (out of ~ 250 economics seniors) are actually writing senior theses.
[/quote]
Yes, that's why it's good to look at enrollments. I think the number is somewhat self-selecting though, and not an indication that only 13 econ majors got the required gpa to write an honors thesis. Most econ majors are headed to law school, into business after graduation, ultimately to get an MBA, or something other than a PhD in econ. They don't need to do research or a thesis, therefore, to achieve their goals, and opt instead for a senior seminar.
[quote]
do the new professors in econ department teach undergraduate classes too? or just graduate level?
[/quote]
going by the directory of classes, most seem to be teaching both undergrad and grad classes.</p>
<p>The important question for you to ask, I think, is whether you could complete all the requirements in two years, if you transfer in as a junior. Look at both the departmental requirements and the college core curriculum requirements in detail -- it's a lot of units. You'd also need to get an idea of how many courses the department would let you transfer over -- their website does not make it sound particularly easy.</p>