blackcoffee

I got into six schools but right now I'm considering mount holyoke, gwu, and uf. I also got into smith and wellesley. because this is a women's college thread, would anyone know about the reputation of the math and economics departments at any of these places? i know many women don't go into math so it's been somewhat difficult to find anything about it.
thanks

SimpleLifeAnn

Wellesley has the best econ department

college_query

Wellesley also has cross-registration with MIT - and that opens up even more mathematics and economics possibilities.

college_ruled

Wellesley's econ department has a great reputation in academic circles and with employers. If it's not the biggest, it's one of the biggest departments on campus. I have been really impressed with Wellesley's math department/ instructors too.

For what it's worth when I was in the process of transferring, an econ professor at my old school commented that Wellesley's econ department was really really good, but the econ departments at Smith and Mount Holyoke weren't particularly note worthy.

mtholyoke2010

The math and economics departments at Mount Holyoke are excellent. A large number of students in both fields go on to competitive jobs in banking. Several of my peers in those field graduated with six-figure salary job offers... that alone should speak to how great the training is on campus, and to its reputation. The best thing is that if you don't think the courses on campus are enough to give you the background you want, you can always cross-register with one of the other four schools in the consortium. Needless to say, you have some excellent offers - and I'm sure you'll make a great choice, no matter what. When I was a student (2 years ago now...), there was a big issue with the econ department because there weren't a lot of professors, but there were a lot of majors. I believe that has since changed... one of the greatest benefits of the consortium is that UMass sometimes allows you to register for graduate courses, which benefits you in the long run.

Don't just think about what you want academically. Think about what you want socially from a school. Smith, MHC, and Wellesley are all women's colleges, but each is very different (though not so to the naked eye). It goes without saying that GW and UF are nothing like any of these three schools. Go where you think you'll be happiest. You end up where you're supposed to end up... and if you don't, you'll have the opportunity to transfer. Good luck!

rocket6louise

Math is a super strong department at Smith! We have a biostats concentration that just got funded by NSF, and our center for women in mathematics was named one of the top programs in the country for women studying math.

I'm a math major at Smith if you wanna PM me, but I would say our Econ department is very very strong as well. It's more about what you want in a school. Wellesley might give you a tiny bit more "wow" factor on the name, but you couldn't have paid me to go to Wellesley. Noho and the town of Wellesley are quite different as are the student bodies and the culture of the campus.

Consolation

NoHo and the town of Wellesley are quite different, but Wellesley students have very easy access to the student mecca of Boston/Cambridge via a bus that runs hourly in both directions. The Smith Mafia will try to tell you that this is not convenient. They're wrong.

The econ dept at Wellesley is tops. I don't know much about the math dept these days, but cross-registration with MIT gives you as much access to math as your heart desires.