<p>I agree with thoughtprocess.
Anyway, take Harvard off of your list...it has a core curriculum. Yale only has a distributional requirement system, which is a lot different--it means that while you do need to take some classes in every field, those classes can be any classes you choose. There aren't any "required classes" that everyone has to take, most yale people say its really easy to fulfill the distributional requirement and most people could do it without even knowing it... And of course the clear winner in this area is Brown which has no core or system like that at all!</p>
<p>most ivies have outstanding economics...here is a list from an old poster who knew a lot about this:
"if I had to "group" Econ programs, I would go with 5 groups. Even schools in the fifth group have awesome Econ programs mind you.
GROUP I:
Harvard University
Masachusetts Institute of Technology
Princeton University
Stanford University
University of Chicago</p>
<p>GROUP II:
Northwestern University
University of California-Berkeley
University of Pennsylvania
Yale University</p>
<p>GROUP III:
Columbia University
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor</p>
<p>GROUP IV:
Brown University
Carnegie Mellon University
Cornell University
Duke University
Johns Hopkins University
New York University
University of Rochester
University of Wisconsin-Madison</p>
<p>GROUP V:
Boston University
University of California-San Diego
University of Maryland-College Park
University of Minnesota
University of Texas-Austin</p>
<p>Although not listed above, many LACs also have excellent Econ departments. Chief among them are:
Amherst College
Carleton College
Claremont McKenna College
Colby College
Dartmouth College (not quite a LAC, but it does not offer graduate degrees in Econ either)
Denison University
Hamilton College
Haverford College
Macalester College
Middlebury College
Oberlin College
Pomona College
Reed College
Swarthmore College
Vassar College
Wesleyan University
Williams College"</p>