<p>Ok, by no means am I saying Econ is easy but I was wondering why is it considered hard? I've heard it being lumped in with engineering, science majors, etc... as majors that are nearly impossible to maintain a 3.5+ in, unless you are a natural genius in it.</p>
<p>Why is this? Is this because you need a lot of math or something? I know it depends on the school and the individual, but I was wondering about other people's take on this.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>its not hard if u noe ur stuff but if u don't ur screwed</p>
<p>because its more critical thinking and analysis than just memorizing combinations or formulas</p>
<p>it has real math as opposed to business which has joke math</p>
<p>
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it has real math as opposed to business which has joke math
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I thought it [econ] has a joke math as opposed to engineering?</p>
<p>As taught at most schools has a rigorus math basis, and also tends to attrack very bright students who often don't want to do a business curriculum.</p>
<p>look, let's be honest here</p>
<p>people love to say that THEIR major is harder than everyone elses major. it gives them a sense of superiority over their peers, even if its not true. </p>
<p>economics is no where near the realm of engineering, the hard sciences, mathematics, or computer science in terms of difficulty. anyone who says otherwise is a bold-faced liar. at most schools I've seen a student needs no more than calc II--if that--to get an economics degree. people who make it out to be such a math-intensive major are flat-out full of it. you may use math in all of your classes, but that doesn't mean its HARD math. </p>
<p>at the graduate level, economics is a different story--it becomes much more math intensive. but at the undergraduate level, I would honestly say its more in the middle range of difficulty. Having taken four econ classes as an undergrad, it felt no more difficult than my operations management, finance, or accounting classes.</p>
<p>so overall, in my experience, its a great degree, but people tend to greatly inflate how much work it actually is.</p>
<p>I don't want to offend anyone, but I do think haoleboy makes a good point, at least that it's only graduate level economics which is really intellectually a solid challenge. Being a math major, I do rather frown upon when people say "Oh god, it's a ton of math, it's hard..." or "YEah econ and engineering are all math.." </p>
<p>Not the whole story. In engineering and econ at the undergrad level, the math used is not even mathematics - it's a basic language in which to discuss things. And it's quite accessible to basically anyone. Engineering can get hard just because of the nature of the subject, not because of the math, and economics is probably similar, though I am of the opinion, from talking with experienced sources about it, that it really isn't terrible....mainly requires good critical thinking and some very, very basic math language.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to say econ majors have it easy either =] so don't flare up please.</p>
<p>OK the following sentence: "...is really intellectually a solid challenge" is incomplete. It should be completed by "in terms of mathematical rigor."</p>
<p>I think the point is clear. Econ classes can cause trouble because there's some critical thinking which needs to happen, not because the math is oh-so-rigorous.</p>
<p>i think engineering is hard b/c of the physics concepts, not because of math (i simply find physics to be much harder for me to understand than math)</p>
<p>Not saying the math in econ is that of a math major, but several quantitative econ degree programs involve as much math as engineers, through multivariable/linear algebra</p>
<p>Economics is easy. That's why all the economists know exactly how to improve our domestic and global economies. Easy stuff.</p>
<p>anything with the term "quantitative" in front of it is probably going to be harder. quantitative finance programs are much harder than just general finance. we're talking about general economics here, and in my experience it was never as hard or epic as people made it out to be.</p>
<p>Econ can be as "soft" or "hard" as you want to make it. Some people at some schools just take Calc I and II and basic stats, then get out. Others will do linear algebra, differential equations, probability, theoretical stats, stochastic calculus, econometrics, etc. Then there are the ones who double in math and econ. The upper level classes you take may or may not require all that, but it's definitely valued, especially if you're pre-Ph.D. Generally, the basic math requirements to just graduate are nothing special. Many will say econ is hard because of the theoretical concepts (and applying them to cause+effects), not the math directly. Of course it also depends on the school you go to. I'm sure almost no one will say that UChicago econ is easy.</p>
<p>i think it really depends on the program at a specific schools. the schools with more of a math approach to their econ programs are probably harder.</p>