<p>Can you guys talk more about University of Rochester's econ program - how good it is (i'm going to u of r , may look into econ) based upon prestige, and how possible it is to get successful jobs in the business market -- investment banking..a possibility? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins ' economics department should be a controversial topic,hahaha
Could you please suggest me some factors I'd better consider when choosing colleges for economics departments?</p>
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Penn, MIT, Northwestern, Harvard, University of Rochester, and other top LACs (particularly Smith, Carleton) are also good but I'd personally place them a notch below the first list.</p>
<p>In general, look for smaller schools that aren't overrun by econ majors. The prestige of a Ph.D. program isn't nearly as important as the quality of undergrad education, access to profs and class sizes.
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<p>While I can't speak for the other schools, I think I have to stick up for MIT here. I would argue that MIT is perfectly comparable to the other schools you mentioned in the metrics that you named. First, I think we can all agree that the MIT economics department is elite. However, what may be less well known is that there aren't that many MIT econ undergrads. Let's keep in mind that the department confers only about 30 or so economics bachelor's degrees a year. That's less than most LAC's. </p>
<p>Also, you should compare the number of bachelor's degrees granted to the total number of faculty in the econ department- MIT has about 40 full-time economics faculty members, without counting associated faculty, visiting profs, and other such 'extra' faculty members. So think about what that means. It means that the econ department at MIT actually has about 1/3 MORE full-time faculty members than the number of undergrads it confers degrees upon to every year. I think very few schools, even the ones that you named as the 'premier' schools, can make such a claim. </p>
<p><a href="http://web.mit.edu/registrar/www/stats/degfinal.html%5B/url%5D">http://web.mit.edu/registrar/www/stats/degfinal.html</a>
<a href="http://econ-www.mit.edu/faculty/index.htm%5B/url%5D">http://econ-www.mit.edu/faculty/index.htm</a></p>
<p>The point is, given the small numbers of undergrads relative to the number of faculty, I don't think that MIT econ takes a back seat to anybody when it comes to prof access, class size, and so forth. Honestly, how large can the class sizes be when you have more profs than undergrads? How bad can the prof access be? </p>
<p>So now you might say that perhaps the MIT econ department is swamped with graduate students. The numbers belie that assertion. MIT grants only about 25-30 or so graduate degrees (almost all doctorates) every year, and has only about 140 total graduate students. So again, even if you were to include the graduate students into the equation, how bad could the prof access be? Even if undergrads were to take all classes with the graduate students (which they don't), how large could the class sizes be? </p>
<p>In general, I agree that you want to get intimate contact with profs through small class sizes and so forth. However, I think it is hard to argue that the econ department at MIT does not offer that. MIT is a pretty small undergrad school to begin with (only ~4000 undergrads, which is only twice as big as a typical LAC), and the econ program is not only highly prestigious (arguably the most prestigious in the country), but also has relatively few undergrads. Hence, you could say that it's really a LAC clothed in a research university. </p>
<p>Put another way, the MIT econ department grants a total of about 60 econ degrees (bachelor's, master's, and PhD) per year. I would suspect that that's comparable to the total number of econ degrees granted by most LAC's, and in fact, is probably less than that granted by many LAC's. Hence, when you look at it that way, it could be argued that MIT can offer just as intimate of an econ education as the LAC's can.</p>
<p>As shocking, twisted and disturbing as this may seem, I actually agree with Sakky. MIT's Econ program is as good as Chicago's.</p>
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Finally, Cal does indeed have large classes, but the professors I have spoken to at Chicago and Harvard have told me that consistantly, some of their best graduate students completed their undergraduate studies at Cal. So obviously, Cal is doing something right.
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Probably because Cal gets some very smart kids, including those smart enough to have made the rational economic decision that, for California residents, it's the greatest undergrad bargain out there. :) Not everyone needs small classes, and I'd always choose a lecture class with someone excellent over a seminar with someone who is not. But if you can get a seminar with someone who is excellent, and can afford the tuition, that would be the best of all possible worlds.</p>
<p>Sakky, you're right - MIT should probably go on the "premier" list.</p>
<p>alexandre , any opinions on my above post? thanks.</p>
<p>Thank you,Sakky,I will consider the MIT even though I hear that it is the place for insanely intelligent students :D</p>