School of Business or Liberal Arts for Economics?

My S19 is interested in studying economics and is applying to numerous schools this month. We are now trying to decide if he should apply to the business school or to liberal arts. The business schools are more competitive for admission. What are the differences between the two schools in terms of the study of economics? His stats are such that he would be competitive to apply to the business school, but not sure if he wants to lock himself in. I do realize he could always move once accepted, but we want to understand the differences. Any insight is greatly appreciated!!

Here are my thoughts.

If the school has Business School and Economics in Liberal Arts School, choose Business. More likely, the Economics department is on theoretical basis teaching.
OTOH, a lot of top schools do not have Business school, so the Economics department is acting like a Business School in that environment. And they are recruited like a business school.

Exceptions will be some professional degrees such as Accounting, it is only offered in Business school.

If an economcs major is offered in the b-school and liberal arts school (which is not always the case) I would look at the online course catalog (on most college’s websites) and see which curriculum/path is more appealing to you.

Absolutely depends on why Econ. Econ majors are 10 a penny right now, lots of them kids who don’t really know what they want to do- except something business-y- & think Econ gets more respect than bus / bus admin type majors (or want to go to schools that don’t have a business major obvs). What’s the (current) goal / thinking?

Economics may be more preprofessional or more liberal arts oriented. A subset of the latter would be with a stronger math emphasis for pre PhD students.

In the business division, it is expected to be more preprofessional oriented. Otherwise, it may be any of the three, or may be acceptable for more than one of the three.

@collegemom3717, thanks for your insight. The current thinking is not that thought out lol!! He is taking AP Econ this year and really likes it. He is VERY strong in math. He is also very interested in data science, but for the schools he is applying to that don’t have that program, he is thinking econ. My gut tells me he should take it in the LA school because I feel he will have more opportunity to do some intellectual exploration there. He is very cerebral, philosophical, and good at math. Interesting combo. Honestly, I can’t picture him in the business school.

If unsure, then start in business with the understanding that switching majors to economics is an option. Often more difficult to switch from economics to business due to intense competition.

Any career goals ?

Also, which schools are under consideration by your son ?

P.S. Financial considerations are also important. Many view business as a more practical major while the study of economics is soon as a bit of a luxury which will require orlead one to an MBA program down the road once reality hits home.

Thank you @Publisher. He is interested in data science and math, but not all the schools he is interested in offer that. Notre Dame is his first choice, and that school does offer the data science major. If he doesn’t get into ND, he would either craft the curriculum for data science or find another major, like econ. I think he needs the freedom of the LA school to explore a little. Financially we are healthy. His college tuition is already funded. FWIW, he has excellent stats – 36 ACT, high GPA, strong EC’s, National Merit Commended Scholar.

Maybe you might find a major like Math/Econ to be of interest: https://www.math.ucla.edu/ugrad/majors/mathecon

@WineLover : Is your son interested in computer science ? Seems as though math & data science/analytics & machine learning might be of interest to him.

Universities with strong masters programs in these areas include:

Carnegie Mellon University
Stanford University
Georgia Tech
Univ. of Washington

Columbia
NYU
Univ. of Minnesota
North Carolina State
Northwestern University

Cornell
Texas-Austin
UMass-Amherst
UC-San Diego
Penn

USC
Chicago
Univ. of Colorado-Boulder
Texas-Dallas
Rutgers-N.B.
Univ. of Maryland

With respect to undergraduate programs in economics, consider the Univ. of Chicago & Northwestern University.

If he likes math and is interested in data science, then he may prefer a more math intensive economics program (e.g. one where math more advanced than single variable calculus is used; most economics and business majors use only single variable calculus).

University of Chicago may be a good option here, since its economics program is math intensive. It also offers options in data science and business economics.

http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/economics/

My D is an Econ major at an LAC. She also will have a strong math minor (just a couple of classes shy of a double major) and a data science REU thrown in. She’s early in the application process to pre-doctoral programs and getting a lot of interest from highly regarded programs. Math and Econ with some CS thrown in seems to be a good combo for a kid who may head to grad school. I’d have your son look at the course offerings for majors offered by the different schools and see what appeals to him most. My kid was fairly uncertain about her interests when she entered college but she wasn’t interested in a business school either.

Another parent of an economics-math double major student here. My daughter went to an LAC, worked for two years, and now is in an economics Ph.D. program. Her propensity for math definitely has helped; more math would have helped even more.

Doubling down with the posters who are suggesting LACs with strong math/ds/econ program. ND looks like a goof bet, but there are other. If he likes ND, I like his odds, but also look at places like Wes - well rounded, but strong in math / econ, and full of thinkers.

Fast Company magazine listed the following ten schools as talent factories for data scientists (September 2018 issue):

Stanford
Berkeley
U of Washington
Northwestern
Michigan
UIUC
MIT
Columbia
UT Austin
GA Tech

Note that most data science programs are graduate programs but these schools may have courses available to undergrads. Also, these schools all seem to have strong programs in related fields such as management science and industrial engineering (data science is a interdisciplinary field).

I’d check out MMSS at Northwestern. This is a well regarded program popular among those that like math modeling for social sciences, especially economics.

https://www.mmss.northwestern.edu/

@WineLover One more thought: I would look at the data science “program” at the undergrad level carefully. Look at the courses; most of them may already be offered at stats or industrial engineering departments in other schools (they just don’t put together a program like a salad bowl for marketing purpose). In addition, given that the schools that offer data sci programs at the undergrad level, based on what I’ve seen so far, aren’t really known for industrial engineering, stats, and math - fields that contribute the most to or form the backbone of data science, I wouldn’t necessarily prioritize my search for those schools.

Wesleyan:
https://www.wesleyan.edu/qac/certificate/index.html