<p>Is it just me or does Columbia University have an overwhelming emphasis on Humanities? Although I do plan on majoring in something related to Humanities, I want to be around a diverse group of people--not just a bunch of liberal-artsy people. I like a lot of things about Columbia, but I definitely would like to go to a school with a lot of different types of people--too many artistic types can definitely get annoying.</p>
<p>Columbia has the most nobel prize winners in the Ivy League, so they must have good science as well.</p>
<p>well there's CC and there's SEAS, although CC outnumbers SEAS by alot but you can stil find non art-sy people from SEAS.
Columbia does have a large empphasis on humanities as seen from its core subjects.</p>
<p>I think your characterization is inaccurate. Not only do you have SEAS, but the hard sciences at Columbia are fantastic. The physics and chem departments are legendary, and the bio department is also stellar. There are plenty of non-artsy people in CC. Most people are pretty well-rounded.</p>
<p>I am a perspective Econ/Philosophy major at Columbia and my schedule this semester is as follows:</p>
<p>Literature Humanities
University Writing
Calculus III
Principles of Economics
Elementary Logic</p>
<p>The Calc and Econ classes are not humanities classes. You will find many CC kids with non-humanities classes. Most people here are very well rounded.</p>
<p>To echo jaug1, econ is one of the largest -- perhaps the largest undergrad major at Columbia College.</p>
<p>I definitely identify with you Bhikku. Fu is getting to be pretty well renowned, and Columbia College (as well as Barnard) are really strong in the humanities. I'm applying as an econ major (like the other 29438932 people), but I am really looking for a balanced mix of people with a variety of interests.</p>
<p>hey why are so many people going for an econ major anyway? what can you do with an econ major? go to business school?</p>
<p>Business school, law school or get a masters/phd in econ. </p>
<p>As for job opportunites, one could work for investment firms or mutual fund companies.</p>
<p>Econ majors have tons of opportunities that await them.</p>
<p>I don't understand the econ craze at Columbia, but it seems that sophs declaring their major have the impression that econ is the best way to get rich quick. Sure, Columbia has an outstanding econ program, but you should just major in what you like. All of the opportunities that are available to an econ major (law, business, ibanking, consulting, etc.) are available to a physics or history major.</p>
<p>I agree with you about studying what you like. But I think the econ craze is only partly fueled by the desire to work on Wall Street. The other element may be that global issues these days -- globalization, sustainable development, even global warming -- make an economics background useful for people ultimately interested in international relations or politics, or even for just understanding the news. I'd give some students the benefit of the doubt, in any case.</p>
<p>That's a reasonable answer, and something I never considered. But is there an econ craze at other schools? At least some of it has to do with the "Columbia is in NYC and all the great Street jobs are right here" mentality.</p>
<p>Yes, econ is burgeoning as a major across the country. Wall Street jobs are part of it, you're right. Law-school bound students looking for a major they think will be impressive but not kill their gpas are part of it. But I've also read that the issues surrounding globalization have made people more aware of economics. Majors wax and wane. In my day, political science attracted students interested in public policy issues and computer science was drawing the quantitative students who didn't want theoretical math. I'd guess that some of both those groups of students these days gravitate to economics instead.</p>
<p>The Columbia econ department website, by the way, has an interesting page on which they list different electives according to the types of careers students might ultimately see themselves choosing. It shows how many different directions you can go with econ. I'd guess that is part of its popularity as well -- you can choose it as a major even if you have very little idea of what you ultimately might do with it, but with the assumption you'll probably be able to do SOMETHING with it.:)</p>
<p>What did you major in, by the way?</p>
<p>If you think Columbia is too "humanities" focused, I think you'd probably think the same thing of most top-tier colleges and universities. I know Berkeley has a the "7 course breadth requirements" and practically all of the breadth requirements are in the humanities/social sciences. Examples of this include the philosophy/values breadth, the international studies breadth, and the behavioral sciences breadth. Even the campus requirements are all in the liberals arts (American cultures breadth, reading & composition breadth, etc). If you're averse to the humanities or social sciences, you might want to consider applying to schools that focus specifically on the physical sciences and engineering fields. These schools include Harvey Mudd, RIT, MIT, and CIT (Caltech).</p>