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From what I understand, mostly all LACs or LACs-like colleges are good in Econ.
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<p>Not quite! While most LACs do OFFER a degree in Economics, very few spend sufficient resources to attract top faculty and build the program beyond the minimum critical mass for a competitive, let alone a selective program.</p>
<p>Fwiw, the exercise of measuring the value of undergraduate programs in Economics is mostly an exercise in futility and an obvious testament to one's bias and willingness to ignore most reasonable measurements. You could arm a monkey with twenty arrows, point him at the latest USNews report, and compile the results of his hits into a more meaningful list than what it usually posted on CC--tiers and all. :)</p>
<p>"Schools like Duke, Dartmouth, Holy Cross, Notre Dame, Williams have solid economics programs but also some of the best alumni networks that assist in jobs and grad school placement."</p>
<p>Holy Cross cannot even think about being on the same level as those schools.</p>
<p>I would think that Tufts would have a decent economics program as well because normally universities with a very strong International Relations programs have strong economics programs as well. Any comments on this?</p>
<p>Tufts can have a very good econ department. THe problem with econ departments is that EVERY university wants to be seen as having a good econ department, so they all pour lots of resources into it (Columbia went on a buying spree of top-notch economists lately like Joseph Stiglitz, but they don’t really give a rat’s arse about the undergrads).</p>
<p>there are certain core subjects in any college that are <em>so</em> core to a general undergraduate education that their strength in that core subject will never vary far from their general strength as a college –</p>
<p>economics (as a kind of applied math).
history
english
mathematics
Intro bio/chem/physic</p>
<p>Econ is so core that you cannot hope to rank it separately from the ranking of the entire school. Perhaps at Chicago, where Ph.D. level economics is top 3, you might make an argument that undergrad economics is superior to the school in general, but this is really splitting hairs.</p>
<p>Conclusion – you can’t separate econ rankings from school rankings.</p>
<p>I don’t… understand why certain people bring up employment in Business and Finance when judging whether a school has a strong Economics department. Economics does not prepare one especially well for the field, and one can major in pretty much anything to work in the aforementioned fields.</p>
<p>That being said, any top university or liberal arts college will give you substantial preparation in Economics.</p>
<p>kwu – I would bet that 60%+ students AND adults view economics as “business lite”, or a school’s surrogate for a business degree. Economic principles underly so many areas of business, but I agree that in the core competencies of a business education: Finance, Accounting, Econ, Marketing/Distribution, Operations research, Strategy – Econ is the weak sister of those six.</p>
<p>Just looking at course offerings at certain schools, the economics offerings at many universities without undergrad business schools will often contain many classes which are specifically geared toward finance/business. And at these schools the economics major is essentially a de facto business major.</p>
<p>Quite the contrary. Academically speaking, economics is far more math-oriented and heavier in theory than business; most students therefore see business as a lighter major.</p>
<p>ANY Good school is good for economics. Economics is the same riff raff for undergrads no matter where you go. Grads is where the difference comes in.</p>
<p>I agree, I mean who would go to UCSD or Wisconsin over Brown or Darmouth just because USCD and Wisconisn were ranked higher for econ, you’ll have better prospects undoubtably at Cornell or Brown</p>