Should I take Vector Calculus?

Graduate School
1

<p>Hello internet people,</p>

<p>I'm an undergrad in my junior year majoring in environmental studies and economics with a minor in math. For my math minor I need one more course, and I was originally going to take vector calc (in addition to the much needed Linear Algebra) next semester, even though I'm slated to take real analysis and ODE (ordinary diff eq) my senior year. </p>

<p>I'm interested in either applying to Epidemiology PhD or Development Economics PhD programs for grad school. My school's development economist says that for my interests, vector calc wouldn't be very useful, and it would only stress me out with the rigor of my other classes (econometrics, international trade and finance, and linear algebra). She reccommends that instead I take Economic Anthropology or a Globalization based class to round me out more and learn new ideas that will be useful for either of the fields I'm going into. </p>

<p>Personally, I agree with her and Economic Anthro sounds actually pretty fun, but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by not taking vector calc.</p>

<p>So, my question is, which class would you guys take and why? And would I still be set for grad school?</p>

2

<p>Vector calc really isn’t helpful unless you’re thinking about moving into physics or applications of physics in other fields like chemistry. It’s a very niche subject.</p>

<p>If you want to stick to math, take as high a level of stats as you feel comfortable with. Epidemiology is basically Stats in Public Health, so getting as much background in that as possible would be very useful. I don’t know anything about economics PhDs, so I can’t make a rec for that side of things. However, both of those classes sound like fun undergrad stuff that would fit nicely into either field.</p>