I am a high school student going into junior year with a 4.0 and take AP and honors courses. I made a mistake and took two regular classes my freshmen year but those will be my only regular classes. I have found a heavy interest in economics and economic theory, which schools have strong economic programs and are selective/highly selective? Thank you in advance.
Many schools are going test optional this year but I would wait to suggest schools until you have an ACT or SAT score.
Also need more info like what can you afford? Geographic location? School size preference? Your in-state flagship is usually a good place to start.
There are so many colleges with excellent economics departments. We need more info as asked in #1.
Are you interested in a good sports scene? Greek life? More liberal, more conservative, laid back, preprofessional, competitive, intellectual? And we need to know what you can afford. Are you looking for merit awards or financial aid? How far from home do you want to be? Are there any EC activities that are important to you? What’s absolutely nonnegotiable? The more you tell us, the more we can help.
If you intend to go on to PhD study in economics, look for an economics department with greater math emphasis in its economics courses, and good math and statistics offerings.
For intermediate microeconomics and econometrics, the different levels of math prerequisites, as listed in course catalogs:
- Low math: no calculus. Examples: Florida State, Penn State (non-honors)
- Medium math: single variable calculus. Examples: Penn State (honors), Harvard (less math option), UCB (less math option)
- High math: multivariable calculus and/or linear algebra and/or differential equations. Examples: Harvard (more math option), UCB (more math option), MIT, Chicago, Stanford.
Consider highly ranked colleges from these analyses:
https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html
https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.usecondept.html
For a few specific suggestions, look into Williams, Claremont McKenna, Hamilton, Vassar, Amherst and Pomona.
But note that economics departments can have different flavors. For example, Claremont McKenna’s economics department tends to have a more pre-professional flavor, while Pomona’s economics department tends to have a more liberal arts flavor, based on course offerings.
Beyond math courses that may be required within certain economics programs, students can elect courses in the above listed topics as well as in topics such as probability theory and real analysis. Economics courses with higher level math prerequisites can be taught at a level consistent with their prerequisites, however.