<p>The highest I got to in high school is college algebra. I'm not sure what the math requirements for econ are for the UCs but I find the subject interesting. Should I major in econ or a less math intensive major?</p>
<p>Im not an econ major, but I did take micro and macro. Those two classes weren’t too math heavy, but from my understanding there’s quite a bit of calculus and other formulas involved. So yeah, I would say it’s somewhat math heavy. If you like math and are good at it, econ or finance is probably something to explore. I personally was never a heavy math person, but I am an accounting major and I love it.</p>
<p>I took intermediate levels of micro and macro. Both were pretty math intensive at my school. Especially micro.</p>
<p>If you are weak at math, intermediate microeconomics will rip you apart.</p>
<p>The main advantage econ has over business is that its quantitative and thus more difficult. Therefore, its advised that you take challenging, quantitative classes if you major in econ. If you can’t handle it, I’d go for a traditional business major, since, for whatever reason, people who major in econ are typically seen as the “business school rejects” if your shcool has a business school as well.</p>
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<p>This “business school reject” motif intrigues me, how in the hell do they get rejected from business school? It doesn’t even make sense. Have you actually heard this outside of this board? As far as econ goes, it depends on your school. The math in econ is simple enough, but some schools force you to take several semesters of calc and stats, which are not simple and are filled with math majors (but my understanding is that math majors are all B-school rejects as well)</p>
<p>^I don’t understand why they automatically assume the moniker, but that’s generally the case at most state schools with business schools. I have friends at UT, Michigan, who can confirm this and even at my school, a lot of the average econ kids are business school rejects that want to do something related. I’d agree that the top econ kids are probably as smart or better than the best business school kids, but that’s the way it is. Hell, even if you go to UPenn, the kids in econ there don’t do as well as Wharton kids simply because employers don’t think they are as good.</p>
<p>You can still do well with an econ degree (esp if you take lots of math), but you’ll have to work harder.</p>
<p>I’m currently taking my second quarter of intermediate microeconomics. I don’t know if I’d say it will “rip you apart” if you’re not great at math, but at least at UCSB (where we use Varian’s “Intermediate Microeconomics” for the course), it just requires the kind of basic understanding of calculus that you get in the “Mathematics for the Social Sciences” sort of courses. Of course, if you’re severely math-challenged, it would definitely get in the way of you doing really well in the major.</p>
<p>As for the “business school reject” thing, I’ve seen that play out in facebook messages (seriously) from friends at Cal - one brought up how if he didn’t get into Haas under the business administration major (which he was sort of stressing out about), he’d just major in economics there.</p>
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<p>How, exactly, are they being “rejected”? It makes no sense, man!</p>
<p>Creamgethemoney is right on the money about many econ majors being business school rejects at schools with restricted access to the business program (meaning you have to apply and admission is competitive). This is how they are “rejected”. </p>
<p>At UT Austin, with McCombs, many economics majors are “business school wannabes or rejects” because economics is an open major at the school of liberal arts. I would agree with him that the top students in economics are probably as smart or better than the best business school kids (although many of them are business school double majors, enrolled in a liberal arts honors program, or engineering double majors). From my observation taking upper-division economics classes, this has significantly reduced the rigor of the economics undergraduate education because of the dearth of strong students. The calculus needed in classes is minimal or even non-existent. </p>
<p>Back to the OP. At the majority of schools, not being good at math will NOT hinder your ability to major in economics. However, most programs will require calculus, and if you find that difficult, you might want to reconsider.</p>
<p>So do you need a 3.0 in these schools for the B-school, or is it just like the best ~500 GPAs?</p>
<p>More like a 3.7+ to have a shot at internally transferring to the B-school from liberal arts at UT-Austin. </p>
<p>The B-school is the most competitive school in terms of freshman admissions. </p>
<p>I’m not sure how it is at Ross or Haas where there is no freshman entry to the business school.</p>