i’m looking for a smallliberal arts college, and i’m interesting in majoring in econ with a double major/minor in either math, polisci, or history. which colleges have the strongest econ dept?
By economics faculty publishing, Williams, Wellesley, Claremont McKenna, Middlebury, Wesleyan, Barnard, Hamilton and Colgate appear highly even when compared to much larger schools:
Very few don’t do this well at the undergraduate level, imo. What you may want to consider is the structure of the program. Some are very math based and geared toward the student who wants to do graduate work. Some have a more practical bent and will be great for a student who wants to work in finance. Still others may have more of a policy bent ( health care, etc.)
From your other threads, it looks like you have 3 front runner schools, and they all are good for econ. Look at the department websites, courses offered, and requirements for graduation to get a feel for what appeals to you. Given your interests, you may also want to look at how study abroad factors into the programs.
At the undergraduate level, faculty publishing rates may have a positive impact if you can help with research, or it could simply mean faculty are less available to teach. If you see someone publishing in an area that interests you (i.e., game theory ), see how many classes they teach to get a sense of whether you will have the kind of access you’d like.
Agree with the above. Many many LACs (including the ones you appear to be targeting) will be strong in your areas of interest.
@joy12345 Regarding
The renown Toulouse School of Economics and Vassar have partnered to offer one of most prestigious study abroad programs in economics in the U.S
http://economics.vassar.edu/students/study-away/
Although Vassar ranks in the top 10 on the ideas.repec.org list, I agree with gardenstatagal that “at the undergraduate level, faculty publishing rates may have a positive impact if you can help with research, or it could simply mean faculty are less available to teach.”
Also, be cautious regarding the information provided on the repec.org website.
N.B.
For what it’s worth, below is a list of LACs (“baccalaureate colleges”) whose alumni generated 10 or more economics PhDs between 2006 and 2015 (according to NSF/webcaspar data):
41 Williams College
31 Swarthmore College
26 Wesleyan University
24 Wellesley College
16 Carleton College
16 Macalester College
15 Amherst College
15 Grinnell College
14 Pomona College
12 Colby College
12 Oberlin College
11 Davidson College
10 Colgate University
10 Furman University
10 Lewis & Clark College
10 Reed College
10 Whitman College
(the first column shows the number of alumni earned econ PhDs for that decade)
Regarding the presence of active faculty research in economics, the authors of an older study offered their assessment of its potential benefits:
That study’s overall top ten:
- Williams
- Wellesley
- Colby
- Trinity
- Wesleyan
- Colgate
- Middlebury
- Hamilton
- Claremont McKenna
- Bowdoin
- Hobart & William Smith
- Union
When adjusted for department size:
- Hendrix
- Colby
- Trinity
- Hamilton
- Claremont McKenna
- Grinnell
- Wesleyan
- Middlebury
- Swarthmore
- Agnes Scott
(Hartley and Robinson; Economics Research at National Liberal Arts Colleges: School Rankings. 1995.)
So 22 years old?
Haverford for sure! They when I visited everybody seemed to be going to top MBA schools such as Stanford, and everybody seemed to go to Wharton or do the two and two Harvard MBA program. Also, Haverford undergrads have a great acceptance rate in Wharton business school than UPenn undergrads. It also seemed like everybody was working in a top Investment bank after graduations. Overall, super impressed.
Sorry for the grammar above. It should say when.
@rman0070: You can edit your posts for 15 minutes should you want to correct for typos in the future.
Re #7: I initially introduced the study for its general comment on the value of research. I included the schools themselves because, to a notable extent, those included comport with current data (https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html). In combination, these studies may indicate, to the extent that it can be measured, the perennial strength of some LACs in the field of economics.
Thanks for the info. However, that link is ranking colleges based on professors that have had publications. Most of the time those professors aren’t ever around because they are promoting their books or giving talks elsewhere. That’s why liberal arts colleges like Haverford have the best professors that have amazing publications but are also part of the full time faculty and students can learn from the well renown professors.
I am in agreement with rman. Haverford in my opinion had by far the best economics department with the most qualified professors. Scroll through the Haverford economics department and they all have amazing Ph.D degrees from ridiculous schools. Plus, you can take finance courses at u of penn which is a great supplement to what you will be learning in economics.
Why do I suspect that rman0070 and gdude333 are the same person?
Hmmm… they joined within two days of each other, they both promote Haverford with hyperbole while tearing down other LACs in the process, they write in the same style… The best part is when “they” agree with or even compliment each other. It’s really fascinating to watch.
I’m a big fan of Haverford, but I don’t think these “two people” are doing it any good on CC.
@ThankYouforHelp @rman0070 I was looking into Haverford but it’s a bit too small…I’m really looking at schools that are 1800+. Thank you for your help, though!
Bates and Holy Cross would certainly be counted among the elite LAC’s with Econ. Whether a school is ranked 5th or 13th out of the entire group of LAC’s is meaningless.
Given that 2/3rd of courses are not in your major and you may switch, don’t be obsessed with the actual program unless it is so tiny that resources are an issue. The overall reputation of the school and whether it suits you is much more important. This is undergraduate school, don’t forget.
Also, Economics is a field of study that the vast majority of high school students have very little to no exposure to, so they don’t know much about it. It is a hard, hard field of study and the more selective you go, in general, the more math heavy it is. So beware. I am going to guess that at an elite school the difference between an Econ major and Math major is just a semester’s worth of classes And successful Econ majors will take additional Math classes anyway because they do well in them.
@HootieA i was thinking of double majoring in math and econ anyways so that’s fine with me
Sorry for the misunderstanding. That is my cousin (also a Haverford fan) but by no means was I tearing down other liberal arts colleges. I agree it is small. There are many great liberal arts schools that are very comparable (Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin, Carleton, etc.) if Haverford is too small those would be great options as well. Hope that helps!
OP, all of the schools in posting #6 are great choices; I am most familiar with Hamilton’s Econ program as I have two DD’s there - it’s a very popular program with great alumni recruiter involvement.