<p>I'm looking at schools for a college freshman client who is an econ major. Ideally 5000-20,000 students; decent sports, greek, nice kids. Kid should have at least a 3.8 GPA after first college semester at a liberal arts college in the west; 3.97 hs gpa, 2020 SAT. Looking for an intellectual, fun environment, great econ dept. Help, and any suggestions for tackling transfers at those particular schools are welcome!</p>
<p>Cost constraints (including state of residency if state universities are under consideration)?</p>
<p>Many of the most transfer-friendly schools are state universities, but many of these tend to prefer transfers coming in as juniors ready to declare their majors.</p>
<p>An economics major should have had introductory economics, calculus, sophomore math if considering graduate school in economics, and statistics by the end of sophomore year.</p>
<p>Econ major with the hopes to do what after college?</p>
<p>UCB, I don’t believe money is an issue. Kid took college calc (at a liberal arts college) as a senior in HS, is taking intro to micro right now (getting an A); entered as a different major, but has always enjoyed the numbers side of things. Should he try to get stats second semester at his current college? Or Intro to macro?</p>
<p>Introductory macroeconomics should help him better gauge interest in the economics major.</p>
<p>If graduate school in economics is under consideration, continuing with math beyond freshman calculus (i.e. multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations) should be scheduled. Of course, statistics becomes important as one gets into more advanced courses like econometrics, so including that within the next three semesters is necessary.</p>
<p>Other social studies subjects like psychology, political science, and sociology overlap with some areas of economics (e.g. psychology in the area of behavioral economics), so taking some courses in those areas may be of interest. (Statistics knowledge is generally useful in these areas as well.)</p>
<p>Is the reason for wanting the transfer primarily academic (i.e. weak economics, math, and/or statistics departments or majors at the current school) or non-academic (social fit and the like)?</p>
<p>Several UCs (but expensive if out-of-state) and Minnesota (less expensive) are good schools for economics and math.</p>
<p>Reason for wanting the transfer is both - unfortunately fairly non-intellectual community (which the kid didn’t realize would be as important as it is) and the social scene is more suitcase on the weekends than it appeared. Just not a fit. Also didn’t go in seeking econ, but likes it. Family full of math/econ/computer science people, so the gene pool is there, and numbers of all kinds are in the blood. I don’t think the UCs are going to be a fit–do you know any smaller universities or larger privates you’d recommend?</p>
<p>U of Dayton, Miami U.</p>
<p>I love Truman State in Missouri. Might be worth a look. Sounds like a good fit for size, Greek, not a suitcase college at all, etc. Their math and business departments are VERY strong and amazing internship opportunities there. On the numbers side, he may want to consider a career in actuarial science :D.</p>
<p>Thanks Steve and Erin’s Dad. What about Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, UVA, U Vermont, Michigan (prob too big), Duke, Cornell, Dartmouth (prob too reachy)?</p>
<p>Check the colleges to see how many transfers they take, and at what level (sophomore or junior level). Some privates take very few transfers; some publics prefer to take transfers at the junior level and prefer those from in-state community colleges.</p>
<p>The reach/match/safety assessment may be considerably different compared to what it was when applying as a freshman.</p>
<p>I will advise the student check all that out–mostly, I’m trying to find good schools for Econ with this student’s profile.</p>