<p>What is the career objective of economics majors in your life. I tend to think of econ as being a good major for a strong, well-rounded education--perhaps preparation for a specialized (but often unrelated) grad degree or prep for law school; but it seems nowadays I'm hearing more and more about kids who hope to 'strike it rich' on Wall Street or in the investment banking world with a degree in economics and their charming personality. NOT passing judgement on econ majors, just curious if others see this trend. BTW which schools (other than the Ivies) are outstanding in econ?</p>
<p>Claremont Mckenna arguably has the top econ program among LAC's.</p>
<p>DD is at McCormick (NU) double major in engineering and econ. She wants to work in real estate aquisititions.</p>
<p>Econ has always been the quasi-business track for schools without a business major. There's nothing new in that. I'd say a conservative estimate would be that at least a quarter of Ivy football players at least start off as econ majors. </p>
<p>Often there are two tracks--whether or not they are official. One is for anyone who might want to go on to grad school and requires lots of math. The other requires less math, but still a substantial amount. </p>
<p>Actually, at my kid's college, a lot of econ majors were originally math majors but found math too theoretical for their liking. They then switch into econ. The end result is that by senior year, most people majoring in econ are either in the bottom quarter or the top quarter of the class. Almost no average students seem to end up in it.</p>
<p>D is an economics/journalism (emphasis advertising) major. Trying to fit a business emphasis in there as well. Have no clue at this point specifically which direction she'll go, job-wise. I don't know if she does either - trying to prepare herself to work either in the finance or advertising fields. She was a high school valedictorian and is just fascinated by all of these economics graphs/charts she has to learn (better her than me -I'm bored to tears when she tries to explain one!), as well as the theories that go with them.</p>
<p>Well, as a theorist, I'd say it depends on what you are looking for -- for free market economics, i.e. Austrian or Chicago school, UChicago, George Mason, Clemson, Grove City (von Mises papers are here), and Hampden-Sydney are great.</p>
<p>If you are looking for grad school admissions rates or where i-banks recruit that may be different.</p>
<p>You can do anything with a degree in Econ- great prep for public health careers, anything in government, urban planning, journalism.</p>
<p>Economics often fits the bill for kids who like both social sciences and analysis. My D started out thinking she might be a government major at Smith. When she took econ she discovered the field that seemed to best match her combination of interests and talents. </p>
<p>She is currently employed in the research department of an economics consulting firm. Her work is both interesting and challenging. It has turned out very well for her so far. Her plan is to work for a few years and then do grad school. </p>
<p>I have heard that it is somewhat common for engineering majors who "flush out" to move into economics as well.</p>
<p>My kid is an economist. He went to UPenn. He started out as a PPE major (Politics, philosophy, and econ) but realized he wasn't going to be able to get deep enough in any one area. He has loved economics since 10th grade. In college he took a wide variety of courses - from music to languages to literature - and said that consistently, economics courses ended up being his favorites, helping him feel confident about his choice. He also discovered that his favorite part of economics is the part where you "get to tell other people what to do" and therefore is hoping to move into policy via grad school this fall. He is currently an economist with the government.</p>
<p>I don't think he fits the "business" model, or the "football" model, or the "failed at something else" model. He scored a 5 on AP Calc B/C, and a perfect score on the math portion of the GRE; however he just isn't crazy about math. (Loves certain parts of economics that deal with math - eg. statistics, or game theory....) So took the BA via the college vs. the BS via Wharton. </p>
<p>When he started college, certain conservative members of our family (who shall remain unnamed) had concerns about "what to do with an economics degree." (Since his - oops, gave it away - other two children ended up being music majors, he now looks back on economics as one of the more sensible choices.)</p>
<p>We found this list from Penn of where their econ majors to be helpful:
Career</a> Services, University of Pennsylvania</p>
<p>Here is the BLS take on it (which was undoubtably written by economists!)
[url=<a href="http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos055.htm%5DEconomists%5B/url">http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos055.htm]Economists[/url</a>]</p>
<p>My D is thinking about econ and premed for a future in international health issues.</p>
<p>My H is an econ. prof. His students often double major in fields such as journalism, math, accounting, physics. Some go on to law school, some for MBA, some for graduate school, including education grad. programs at those very few ed. colleges interested in doing technical research, some go to work for non-profit research organizations, some go directly into journalism, including very well-known publications. It really is a flexible undergraduate major for those interested in policy, learning analytical skills, and good at math. The math is increasingly important.</p>
<p>Our DS is a Math-Econ major. Econ with a heavy emphasis in math. He falls into that group that has lost enthusiasm for the math part of the major. Once he finishes all his math requirments for the major (this semester), he plans to augment the econ classes with finance and accounting classes. His goal is to go into investment, banking, investment or business type career fields.</p>
<p>An incredible young man on the pre-med board was an UG at Duke in Economics while also completing the pre-med curriculum. He attends a top ranked med school (very near the tippy-top) as an M-2 and now has to decide on which top 10 law school to attend for his J.D.. The Tippy-Top or a full-tuition Scholarship at a mere TOP 5. ;) ............Gee. I didn't realize my kid was shooting so low. What a lollygagger. ;) </p>
<p>My point being : don't overthink it. A degree in Econ seems not to be limiting to this (incredibly impressive) young man.</p>
<p>Jyber description fits my son - a sophomore recently declaring a double major in math and econ </p>
<p>S. recently explained his decision - </p>
<p>Last fall, after taking my first proof course, I realized that my true interest lies in applied mathematics. In addition to math, I am majoring in economics because I want to know how to apply math to real world problems by analyzing problems quantitatively and abstracting the most important elements of a system numerically.</p>
<p>Hoping this translate to a to marketable skills in a couple of years!</p>
<p>My daughter started out as a bio major but is changing to environmental science and economics in the fall. She took two econ classes this year and found that she loved them. She's thinking of some kind of public policy or compliance if she doesn't teach.</p>
<p>I also had a friend who was a pre-med economist. At the time he thought he might do something with hospital administration or public health. Mostly I think he just liked economics better than a science major. He ended up as a straight doctor though.</p>
<p>mathmom, my D may fit this profile, too.</p>
<p>I was an Econ major, for the reason stated earlier that it was the closest thing to business in my LAC. I had come into college thinking law or journalism, but ended up in Econ because it was closest to business, which seemed practical.</p>
<p>DS is an Econ major because he really likes the social sciences, but doesn't want to be a teacher or lawyer. Econ was the most "practical" of the social sciences, and it ties in with history, gov't, sociology, etc. He likes learning about cause and effect. Not sure what he'll do with it (he's a frosh).</p>
<p>S graduates next month with a BA in econ and has accepted a job in management consulting which will tap into his analytic skills.</p>
<p>My d graduated two years ago with a degree in economics--she opted for a quantitative focus in this major and she also minored in math. She took a year off--traveled and worked as a waitress in a great resort area and then got serious about looking for a job. It took her more time than she expected, but she did get a job with a consulting firm that works with companies on environmental projects--permitting, engineering, etc. She works in the energy group and helps with the research/writing/analyses needed for various permits. She loves the work and recently got a small project where she's in charge of the permitting.</p>