<p>I'm thinking about a double major in poli sci and economics, but my prior experience with economics is limited, so I'm not sure if I'm going to like it. Should I take the statistics requirement along with macroeconomics my first semester of fresh year, or wait until later to see if I really do enjoy econ? I'm worried that if I don't take a math course, it will be harder to get back into quantitative work after 3-4 months of poli sci, history, and introductory econ. </p>
<p>Also, if any current or former JHU students who have taken the introductory Statistical Analysis course that I will have to take as a econ major, could you tell me a bit about the class? (workload, nature of the course, difficulty, etc)</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I'm taking Statistical Analysis I, it's a core requirement for the Psychological and Brain Sciences major as well. Professor Fishkind is a great professor, very enthusiastic and helpful. (I'm not sure who the professors are for the Fall, you can check on ISIS.)</p>
<p>The course is 4 credits, and for this semester, it met MWF and I had a Thursday 'lab' session, where we would review the main concepts and turn in homework assignments. I honestly found the course a bit difficult, but that's my biased opinion because I'm slightly math challenged. </p>
<p>We reviewed about 1-2 chapters a week, and they are weekly assignments consisting of about 10-15 questions due at your lab session. The assignments for me would take about 2 hours to complete, but that's because I'm obsessive and would write out questions/answers and do a bit more work than required to really reinforce the concepts.</p>
<p>There were 2 midterms and a final, and homework counted for about 10% of the grade.</p>
<p>IMO, if you are on the fence regarding economics, I would wait a semester, they usually offer Stats I during the spring and fall, and the course involves a decent amount of work to complete (at least that's how it was for me), if you aren't really going to end up going that route... If you feel you are a math superstar, and love probability and logic, then maybe just go for it, it will be an easy A.</p>
<p>Other students, especially in the economics/poli sci field might be able to shed more light on the topic. Hope I could be of some assistance, lol. :)</p>
<p>I'm a math/economics major, and while I didn't take stas 111 (i took 310) I'd recommend taking it first semester, unless you have some real compelling reason not to. It's not a difficult course (nor is elements of macro) but it is a prerequisite for econometrics, and you don't want to end up with scheduling and registration problems your sophomore of junior year. Again, if you have a really compelling reason not to--like a great political science course overlaps with it, etc, take it in the spring with Micro, if you decide to go that route. Don't worry about being "out of shape," mathematically speaking. 111 is an introductory class, and doesn't have the complexity a mathematical statistics course would have. If you're confident mathematically, you should have no problem whenever you take 111.</p>
<p>Gracias coolguy. :)</p>