<p>Hi
I am a prospective transfer student and I want to find out more about Swarthmore. 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>1 ) Yes, very easy. I'm a freshman, I'm in large (25 person) classes a lot of the time (since I'm doing poli sci and ed, which are popular classes), and I still think I am getting to know my teachers quite well. And one of my classes (Issues in Ed w/ Herb Kohl) is taught in the professor's living room. For 3 hours. Every week.</p>
<p>2) Intro Econ was about 30 people. Stat for Econ is about 40 (though only 20 or so show up...Hollister isn't the most popular) but the others are, form what I understand, much smaller.</p>
<p>3) I do not know. Sorry.</p>
<p>You can find a lot of useful information here:
<a href="http://community.livejournal.com/swarthmore/%5B/url%5D">http://community.livejournal.com/swarthmore/</a></p>
<p>If you make a Live Journal account, you can also post questions. There are more "active" current students on LJ community forum then on CC.</p>
<p>With the exception of just a couple of courses, the Swat Econ department has a max. cap of 25 students per class. One exception is the Intro to Macro which is a lecture course with conference sections (limited to 14) conducted by the same professor. The other is the Stat for Economics class.</p>
<p>Close relationships with professors is a Swarthmore trademark. Having said that, Econ is one of Swarthmore's three largest departments. The students taking the Honors track probably get additional attention in that particular department, as is the case in Political Science.</p>
<p>I don't specifically know about research jobs in the Econ department, but Swarthmore produced more future Economics PhDs per graduate over the most recent 10 year period than any other college or university in the country. So, something must be working when it comes to grad school placements and academic/research career tracks in Economics.</p>
<p>I haven't been a current student for some years (class of '03) and if there's such a class as Intro to Macro they've changed the curriculum a bit since I was there. I was an econ honors minor, and I my experience was that the econ professors were a bit less accessible than the professors in physics (my course minor) and philosophy (my major). That's not saying a whole lot, though: in physics and philosophy, I could walk over the department and talk with the professor pretty much whenever I wanted, even if it wasn't office hours. In Econ I'd have to email the professor first and set up a particular time, but it would be the same day (or, rarely, the next morning).</p>
<p>Very different from Stanford Law, where I've had to wait a week to speak with a professor.</p>
<p>Oops. Good catch. I meant to type Intermediate Macro.</p>
<p>Physics and Philosophy are two good examples of smaller departments. </p>
<p>It's probably worth "calibrating" a large and a small department in Swarthmore terms: Economics has been averaging about 50 majors per year. Philosophy about 13. Physics under 10.</p>
<p>thank you guys for the replies~
so a close relationship with professors and small class
size can be found at Swartmore for sure..
anyone know about research opportunities in economics? because on the website, it says there limitless research opportunities. Has anyone participated in research projects in economics?<br>
thanks in advance~ ^^</p>
<p>I can't speak to Economics specifically, but my freshman D was asked by a professor to assist in his research in another department, and she wasn't even looking! So the opportunities are there. However, as ID has pointed out, Economics is a very popular major, so keep in mind that you'll by vying with more people for those research jobs. But at least you won't be competing with grad students!</p>
<p>Physics under 10.</p>
<p>Not anymore. The current soph and jr classes of physics majors is considerably larger (don't really know how many physics grads there'll be this year).</p>
<p>thank you so much for the replies guys~!
what was her major sius? </p>
<p>any econ majors here help me with finding out about research opportunities?</p>
<p>thank you all~!</p>
<p>bump~</p>
<p>anyone?
so students in any major can contact professors and become involved in research projects? like working as assistant?</p>
<p>Thanks~!</p>
<p>Yes. I know econ profs often have students as research assistants during the year or in the summer - even as soon as second semester freshman year.</p>
<p>well</p>
<p>which colleges did you reject for Swarthmore?</p>
<p>how long does the snow last?? <333</p>
<p>Philadelphia does not typically get much snow. Over the past couple of years, maybe one or two good snow storms each winter.</p>