I am an early action admit to the class of 2021 and am still deciding on a major. I am drawn to economics, as I have a strong political science background, due to its practical advantages in the legal world (aspiring lawyer) over the study of political science. However, I am not the most skilled at mathematics. So my question is: how math-heavy is an econ major at Yale? Will I struggle to maintain decent (law school worthy) grades if math is not my strong suit? I know economics majors at some schools are driven more towards philosophy, and others towards mathematics, and I am curious about Yale’s.
I am not a current econ student or parent, but I hope that posting this brings some of them out. Yale says:
It does sound as though the department at least wants non-mathy types to begin studying econ.
Re math skills, and knowing that the timing is different, my DS was in almost remedial math until his second year of HS, and then woke up to it, and is now considered a strong math student. Some of this was because of maturation, some was due to the quality of instruction.
Fwiw, you have two years to declare a major, and there’s no penalty for dipping your toes in different subjects. Good luck.
I daresay that all economics programs at Yale and its peer schools are pretty heavily rooted in mathematics, especially once you get past the introductory courses. Most will require some knowledge of calculus and linear algebra, though not at a level expected of a math major.
The electives tend to be more diverse in terms of math prerequisites, with some that are heavily quantitative (e.g. Game Theory or Time Series Econometrics) and others that focus more on readings and writing papers (e.g. Economic History).
Note that there’s also an Ethics, Politics, Economics Major which might match your interests more closely.
The core intermediate classes (micro, macro and econometrics) require calculus, as do many electives. It may be possible to do an economics major focusing on policy electives, but I don’t think you’d be doing the major justice, especially as Yale has arguably the strongest mathematical finance department in the US.
Looking at your interests, I’m also not too sure whether economics by itself is the best fit. I would say that EPE, political science, history and global affairs would be a better fit for your interests and objectives. Any essay heavy major would prepare you well for law school.
You have to the end of sophomore year to choose your major so you have plenty of time to sample classes and see what it to your liking. The great thing about Yale is that students are not locked in. You may find that some other area is of interest to you and you may take off in that direction. My D went to Yale with a very specific major in mind. As a junior, the major she choose we didn’t even know existed prior to her getting there. There are no “tracks” at Yale, especially for the more social science type majors. If you do end up an Econ major, there are many ways to get there. Welcome to the family!!!
80% of getting into law school is about 2 numbers: LSAT and GPA. If you’re math challenged, you’re unlikely to be able to pull off a high gpa in economics. If you’re better at poli sci, you might end up with a higher gpa in it.If you will, my advice would be to go for the poli sci major. I think it’s a good idea to take some econ courses; I just don’t think it’s necessary or even advisable to major in it.
You say
I honestly don’t think that majoring in econ rather than poli sci makes any difference for most lawyers. I can only think of a couple of areas of law in which the choice of major between these two would matter.
You don’t have to make any decisions now. However, if you want to investigate further, read through the descriptions of the two majors and the courses that are required.
As others have said…you don’t have to decide for at least 3 semesters. You may decide you’d prefer to pursue a different major all together. You can major in anything and go to law school.
My son is ansecond year student planning to declare his Econ major at the end of the year. He says that the introductory classes are difficult and demanding and intended to weed out many students. Don’t know if that speaks to the mathy-ness, but it may be useful to you.
I think there’s also the question of interest in the subject to consider. Even though economics at the undergraduate level is in general not as highly math intensive as engineering for example, it still by nature involves a lot of equations, graphs, etc., so it could be a challenge in terms of interest for someone who’d really rather be doing something less analytically oriented. If that makes sense.