I’m an Economics major but my school only offers a BA in Economics. I only need 51 credits worth of Economics classes to get the degree. Will double majoring in something increase my job opportunities or is it just a waste of time? Double majoring will probably lower my GPA since major classes are always harder than GE classes.
Economics is plenty enough
Without necessarily needing a second major or minor, you could select out-of-major electives based on your interests and how they may relate to post-graduation goals. For example, you may find additional statistics and math courses, courses in other social studies subjects, and computer science courses useful for your post-graduation goals.
IMO, it depends entirely what you need the second major for, but I still think it’s not really that worth it.
For instance, I’ve read a lot of graduate admission profiles and tracked their progress. It seems like a lot of people just care that you majored in subject X and don’t really care that you also majored in Y or Z.
Agree that it doesn’t need to be a second major. Economics can be a great framework for looking at other disciplines like sociology. Foreign language can be helpful for many careers. If you’re interested in political science or government, economics is key but so is an understanding of government. Good data skills tools, from programming to math, are helpful. Many businesses are in fields that are science based, so that could be helpful. It’s really a matter of what interests you and what you think you might want to do with the degree.
What are you planning on doing that you need to protect your GPA at the expense of your education itself?
As others have suggested, taking classes outside of your major will help round out your knowledge. Some classes, such as art history or literature or creative writing or horticulture or environmental science or geology – it all will help you think differently. It all will inform your love of economics.
It may come as a bit of a surprise, but that’s the glory of a liberal arts degree. You will discover new perspectives with a broad-based education. You will use that new angle and apply it to whatever else you are studying. Really and truly. You will make connections between things that seem impossible to connect, like painting and computer science, or dance and chemistry, or theater and game theory.
I strongly suggest branching out and finding a course that you never in your life imagined that you’d take, one that just seems fun, or interesting, or cool.
Or take some Psychology courses like Behavioral Economics.
I would not double major but take classes in an area of interest.
Now I know learning new things should be good and all, but most employers won’t ask for my transcript so they won’t know I’m taking thse extra classes unless I double major or minor and list it on my resume. I’m not a fan of just taking classes just for fun and extra knowledge. Would it be better to just take easy classes like basketweaving to boost my GPA, since afterall GPA is important when trying to get a job?
Since psychology and sociology were mentioned, would it benefit in me in terms of getting a job right out of undergrad if I double majored in one of them along with my Economics degree? If so which would be better Econ+Psych or Econ+Socio? Or would they not benefit me at all if I double majored and I would get the same job opportunities if I simply just had an Economics degree?
You certainly can list some disciplines that you have taken classes in on your resume. You don’t need a minor or double major. Both of kids had a line on their resume with “Related Coursework” and a list of some subjects that they took a number of courses in that they felt would be beneficial for employers/grad schools to know about