<p>Is it supposed to be the easiest major at Swarthmore or something?
Is there an even easy major here, given its reputation?</p>
<p>Social sciences, in general, and Econ in particular, are traditional strengths at Swarthmore. The College produces more Economics PhDs, per 100 graduates, than any other college or university in the country. Same is true for Political Science and for social sciences overall. </p>
<p>I’ve never heard any suggestion that Econ is an easy major. It’s a popular major at all of the elite colleges and universities and a particularly strong department at Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Do you consider that a good thing?
The job market for PhDs is pretty terrible.</p>
<p>Back in the day, majoring in Economics in Honors was not at all easy. A course major in Economics was considered one of the easier majors on campus. Many of the “jocks” were Econ majors in course. But easy for Swarthmore is a relative term.</p>
<p>The job market for PhDs varies quite a bit by the field and desired employment. Looking for a tenure track academic job in Classics is probably very difficult, though it was probably always tough. If you have a PhD in materials science and want a job in industry, I think the job market is much better, and probably fundamentally better than a BA in English Lit. Economics is somewhere in between. Academic jobs are probably difficult right now, but economics is one of the most popular majors across the country and there will always be a need for econ profs. There are more non-academic jobs in economics (the Fed, etc.) than in the MLA fields, but not as many as in the physical sciences.</p>
<p>The fact that Swarthmore has produced so many economics PhDs is, I think, testament to the strength of the department in the classic liberal arts sense. Swarthmore, and the other LACs, are not trade schools - they do not slot you into a specific career like accounting, nursing, etc. Those are great professions and we need accountants and nurses, but that is not the education you will get if you choose a LAC like Swarthmore.</p>
<p>I’m sure there are “easy” majors at Swarthmore–all judgments are relative, I’m sure no one would nominate engineering as “easiest,” for instance–though I don’t know what exactly they are.</p>
<p>As far as I know–and I know a lot of Econ majors, given the probability of encountering one–it’s not a particularly easy department, just a popular one. I assume that’s because Econ is the liberal-arts equivalent to business/finance?</p>
<p>Also anecdotally, it’s true that course is easier than Honors in Econ–same goes for English and I suspect most “popular”/large majors. Getting an advanced degree in econ is also somewhat useful.</p>
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<p>I have. I knew a double major in econ and math, and he said econ was way easier. I knew a double major in econ and physics, and he said “econ was a joke.” To answer the OP’s question, I think it is popular both because it is easy and it is perceived as a major that can lead to high-paying jobs.</p>
<p>^Honors or course? (Though comparisons to math and physics, which are both relatively difficult majors everywhere and at Swarthmore, is a bit disingenuous.)</p>
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<p>Honors, not that it matters. Honors to honors or course to course, econ is going to be significantly easier than many majors, not just math and physics. This is a big reason that people choose econ. In any job where GPA matters and recruiters don’t fully understand/appreciate the difference between econ and majors like engineering, physics, math, chemistry, etc., it probably looks better on your r</p>
<p>^Honors isn’t always significantly more difficult than course, though (within the same major; cf. linguistics). I agree that econ is probably popular for “practical” reasons, but I don’t think it’s a significantly easier major than, say, English or Psych. Or really, any other humanities or social science major I can think of, though there are surely exceptions.</p>
<p>OK, I can agree that psychology is easier than econ at Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Besides being somewhat more employable right out of college, an econ major is a good preparation for postgrad studies in professional schools of business, law, public policy, and international studies. Econ majors are among the highest scorers on the LSAT, for example. I don’t know how many Swarthmore grad choose those paths, though.</p>
<p>I know a Swat econ major who got a GREAT job - and he has not even graduated yet. Maybe the bad economy is making people with some skill in economics / econometrics more in demand?</p>
<p>Right now there is a very high demand by large corporations and companies for economics majors and more so for economic graduate students because the companies require them to do economic forecasting, which allows the companies to determine when and where to invest their money. Since the economic is what it is now, the companies need these economic forecasters more than ever to predict sound and safe economic changes and investment opportunities. Also, if you look at the average salary for an economics professor at good academic colleges it starts at 200k and goes up because these people are in high demand by businesses.</p>
<p>thebull,
I have been a professional business economist my entire career, and I see no evidence that there is a “very high demand” for economists to do economic forecasting. I have spent my career doing economic forecasting, both for large corporations and consulting companies. The membership in our professional association, the National Association for Business Economics, is far lower than it was in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and we have been able to sustain what membership we have by adding academics and government employees to our membership base.</p>
<p>Economics is a great liberal arts background for someone who may consider a business career, but there is not a very high demand, even for economics PhDs, to work for large corporations doing economic forecasting.</p>
<p>I also am quite dubious about the average salary for an economics professor starting at $200k. In the 2006-07 academic year, the average salary for an assistant professor of economics at PhD granting institutions was $96k, while at BA and MA granting institutions it was $80k. A full professor at a business school might get a salary of $200k, but a full professor in an economics department at a LAC might have a salary in the $110 - 125k range. These are quite good incomes - even a starting salary of $96k is very good, but it is far from a salary that “starts at 200k and goes up.”</p>
<p>More salary info for those interested in economic forecasting:</p>
<p>The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) has done a salary survey every 2 years for at least the last 30 years. Its most recent survey, for 2010, has good data on salaries for professional business economists. I would expect that a large number, probably the majority, of economists employed by large corporations as economic forecasters are members of NABE.</p>
<p>For a starting salary, the median survey response was $58k, typically for someone with a MA in economics. The median salary for someone with 0-1 years of experience was reported as $67,500. The median salary of all survey respondents was $120k, with a median length of experience of 20 years.</p>
<p>NABE also has a jobs site. In the past 3 months there have been 9 listings for economist jobs with large corporations. Many of these require an advanced degree.</p>
<p>I would not want to unnecessarily discourage anyone from majoring in economics. I have thorougly enjoyed my career so far as a professional economist. But it is just not true that there is “a very high demand by large corporations and companies for economics majors and more so for economic graduate students because the companies require them to do economic forecasting” as thebull stated in post #13.</p>
<p>dadx3, not THAT’s an educated answer. The swat grad (BA) I know is starting at around 70k.</p>
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<p>I don’t think this has much to do with why people view an economics degree as a vehicle to a job with a good salary. I think places like investment banks or professional services firms are very open to hiring people with economics degrees. Those are the places where you can land a good salary early and, if you put your head down and work 100 hours a week for a few years, you can end up with a great salary.</p>
<p>You are right, most economics graduates do not get a job doing economic forecasting for large corporations. I was trying to correct the impression left by thebull in post #13 that the reason that economics was a popular major was that there was such a huge demand for economic forecasters working for large corporations.</p>
<p>By the way, S1 confirms that economics (in course) is considered a relatively easy major at Swarthmore. He’s a math/physics major.</p>
<p>Blame on the Wall Street. We are not making much tangible stuff today. Majority of our GDP comes from the Wall Street, by trading and playing with other folks’ money.</p>