I love economics, but I'm horrible at math and got a C in 101.

OHgiraffe · 04-28-2008, 01:37 AM

I LOOOVE economics (when paired with political science and philosophy). The only problem is... I SUCK at math. I got a C in econ 101 (intro to micro), but loved every second of the material. I don't know what's wrong with me.

I'm thinking of majoring in polisci—but as an aspiring journalist, and later, a lawyer, I think an econ major will help me "stand out." I find that my talent lies with writing... and definitely not with math.

What can I major in, or do? I love freaking econ, but I suck so badly at it.

OHgiraffe · 04-28-2008, 01:42 AM

..and by suck, I mean that I can clearly understand the material. When it comes to talking about, I know economic theory well. It's just applying it to a mathematical problem. That is when I fail.

quirky · 04-28-2008, 08:15 PM

Well, economics is a combination of quantitative and social sciences, and while knowing the theory may be enough for the basics, you'll need to crunch some numbers for the more in depth stuff.

What math courses have you taken in HS? How did you do in them? How much experience do you have with algebra and calculus?

colberTreporT · 04-28-2008, 08:45 PM

Considering economics is a quantitative analysis of human decision-making, and that you don't like or are having difficulty handling the "quantitative" part, I would suggest you look into psychology, which is more of a qualitative analysis of human decision-making. But be aware, psychology requires a lot of heavy reading--but you should be prepared for this anyway if you previously had an interest in an economics major. Economics has the heavy boring reading plus the math, whereas psychology has the heavy boring reading alone (I think), so psychology might actually be easier in general, too.

Oiram · 05-02-2008, 08:45 AM

I'm going to disagree with the poster above, but at the LAC I attend the Psychology majors have to take 3 semesters of statistics.(Well at other colleges and university it may be 2 statistics classes followed by Research Methods, which is the capstone class for Psychology Majors) This may be the case with OHgiraffe, so if he or she were to follow your advice, most likely he or she would have to take a math classes.
To OHgiraffe, what is your math background? Would the school have tutoring services available? Have you talked to your professor about what you can do to succeed in economics? Just do not give up on something you may love...you could latter on regret your decision....

Rob54 · 05-02-2008, 10:49 AM

You could probably get by the undergrad econ major without knowing too much math. You do need calculus though for intermediate micro/macro and statistics for econometrics.

OHgiraffe · 05-03-2008, 11:15 AM

Sorry, but Psychology is not my thing.

I've never been good at math. I would still need to take college calculus, because I didn't test out of it... and it might just kill my gpa. The courses for the econ major start getting more calculus intensive after 102. To salvage my gpa, I think I would just stick to polisci. My non-math related grades are A's and B+'s.

afruff23 · 05-05-2008, 01:43 AM

You need to definitely change your major. Econ is HEAVY on the math. And no, I am not exaggerating. I see a few choices: polisci, political philosophy (is that an undergrad major?), or philosophy.

Also, you could get some study in Austrian economics which is way toned down on math and more focused on logic and politics since it rejects the use of econometrics. But I doubt you'd like Austrian economics since it is seen outside-the-mainstream and is ultra-free-market. For more info, see the Ludwig von Mises Institute website. It is not taught in many places, so I'd suggest seeing if anybody on this list teaches at your college and asking them about Austrian economics as well as telling them you are bad at math:
Mises Institute :: Faculty Members

EDIT: I see that you go to UMich and nobody on that list teaches at UMich. I'd suggest just posting on the mises institute forums for information about studying economics with little math.

OHgiraffe · 05-05-2008, 11:34 AM

^You're amazing. Thank you.

afruff23 · 05-05-2008, 04:57 PM

No problem. Do you have any more questions I can handle?

tetrishead · 05-05-2008, 06:34 PM

...

You know you can always just work on your math, right? Like, spend time with tutors, spend 2 hours on it 5 days a week/1 hour on it 7 days a week even if you're not taking a math class? You can fill up your next semester with a bunch of easy classes and one math class to give your GPA a boost, and so you can focus on the math for a full semester, allowing you to then get back to taking econ courses the semester after that. If you're just taking introduction to micro I have absolutely no idea what it could contain besides algebra and extremely basic calculus to make you get that C.

OHgiraffe · 05-07-2008, 12:16 PM

^ You're absolutely right. I don't think it was the mathematical calculations. I just suck at econ, maybe.

tetrishead · 05-07-2008, 12:22 PM

At the introductory level no one should suck at anything. Talk to the professor, ask what he thought your weakness was, ask what you got wrong the most. Work on that. There's a book out there called Economics: A Self-Teaching Guide by Steve Slavin, and I've heard people rave about it (as well as some of his math books for precalculus topics). Take a semester off from econ, work on the skills that need work, and maybe go through that book.