UCLA or University of Maryland (in state). UCLA is ranked higher but would like to be on the east coast for a job/grad school. Also have a couple LAC options (Colgate, Wesleyan).
Is your family fine with the $75,000 a year cost of attending UCLA? Plus UCLA isn’t on the east coast.
Are your costs a consideration at all?
These analyses, which are based on faculty scholarship in economics, should help you research your options further:
https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html
https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.usecondept.html
Based on your indicated criteria, Colgate might represent an excellent choice for your intended major and post-graduation goals.
Thanks, that is helpful. Costs aside, UCSD is another option.
You have done very well in terms of acceptances.
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One can make an argument for any of these.
Obviously Colgate and Wesleyan are far different than UCLA or UMD - size, environment, day to day.
UCLA and UMD are going to be vastly different - campus, weather, surroundings, etc.
You can end up East with any of them but more likely from UMD than UCLA - but plenty of UCLA will come East. At the same time, anyone can start with any organization and be told they have to relo - and you don’t know where that would be.
I’d personally look at budgets first - and consider those schools you have comfort with.
Then look at - do I want an LAC or large flagship? That should get you down to two - and then you can decide.
Is UMD in state? If so, from an ROI POV, it’d likely prove superior - but that’s unlikely your concern.
The crazy thing about UCLA and UMD - starting next year - same athletic conference - so you might see the other school one way or another - if you choose to attend one of those. UCSD is excellent too btw - and will have a much different vibe than the other two flagships. Any reasonable person may pick UCSD over UCLA, given their personality, etc.
Congrats - so many choices which is great…and then so many great choices which always makes things difficult.
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The OP is in-state for UMD.
My two cents, Economics is a broad field, and widely taught by frankly an oversupply of highly qualified professors, and therefore for most purposes you probably don’t need to worry about which college you choose within a broad range. Instead, you can focus on things like cost, location, format, size, and so on.
If you like data, though, I think it can be interesting to look at things like this Phd Feeder study:
Only a very few Econ majors actually go on to PhDs, but this gives you some idea of which departments have the sort of faculty who can help their top students get into PhD programs, which is kinda a proxy for departmental strength.
For publics, I tend to more look at the raw numbers (left column) because I think there is way too much noise in the per capita numbers. UCLA was at #12 with 24 PhD Students (this is in a 5-year window, so yeah, not a lot), Maryland was at #24 with 19, and frankly that is not nearly enough of a difference to really matter. So again, I would feel free to pick for other reasons.
For LACs I then like to start with the per capita numbers, but then I like to redo them using NCES data about the number of graduating students with that primary major. But in this case, Colgate was #44 with 7 (by the way, think about how favorably that compares with UCLA or Maryland given the relative sizes), and Wesleyan didn’t make the list. That doesn’t really mean much because it could have been close anyway. So let’s check the NCES data:
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=colgate&s=all&id=190099#programs
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=wesleyan&s=all&pg=2&id=130697#programs
OK, so 126/746 (about 16.9%) did their primary major in Econ at Colgate that graduating year, 105/763 (about 13.8%) at Wesleyan. Not much of a difference, but maybe just enough to help explain how Colgate could make a top 50 list and Wesleyan might not (in a given window). So I would call this all pretty inconclusive, and in fact I am pretty sure all those people choosing Econ at Wesleyan are doing it because they are finding it is working well for them.
OK, so that is a lot of data that more of less just confirms to me there are no bad choices here. I will say if you go with the big university route and you want to do something like a PhD program, likely you will find it just a little more challenging to develop the sorts of professor/departmental support you would need for that path–not impossible, nor actually easy at a LAC, but maybe a little less difficult at a LAC.
And really that is a truism for other sorts of highly selective next steps, like top law schools and so on. Kids will definitely get there from UCLA and Maryland and such, but maybe with less margin for error, particularly early on.
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OK - thanks - then it’s the:
What’s my budget ?
Or what’s my desired budget?
Since they named the UCs, I guess they are willing to spend whatever - and that’s a personal choice.
But UMD is likely the best return on investment (which really can’t be known) - but doesn’t mean it’s the best school for OP.
I’d assume that first cut is easy though - large vs. small - and if they student is less - about about energy/spirit, etc. of campus - UCSD might end up a better spot even though it was mentioned as an oh by the way.
Best of luck to them.
Have you visited Colgate/Wesleyan?
Did you qualify for FA there?
Were you admitted to any special program at UMD?
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Visited Wesleyan, not Colgate. Got a small gift aid from Colgate which would bring the total similar to UC schools. Accepted to Honors College at UMD with Dean’s scholarship.
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Of course, the LACs tend to do poorly in the overall rankings that are based on research and publications, which is not surprising. For example, Colgate is the #6 LAC, but #126 in the overall rankings.
Whether research and publication output is relevant to the student’s interests depends on how much the student is interested in doing undergraduate research in preparation for PhD study or some other research-focused post-graduation path.
But then perhaps more important are the basics of each economics major program:
- Math intensity of intermediate economics and econometrics courses (some departments offer more than one level of math intensity – note that even more upper level math and statistics is recommended for pre-PhD students):
- Low math: calculus not required or used.
- Moderate math: single variable calculus.
- High math: multivariable calculus and/or linear algebra.
- Upper level elective courses in economics. Some departments have greater or lesser coverage of some subareas. Depending on the student, this may make the program more or less attractive.
Random comment, but while I have not entirely figured out how to really use this yet, you can tell in NCES College Navigator that some colleges are opting to classify their main Econ major as Econometrics and Quantitative Economics. As I understand it that is in part a visa thing, but I do wonder if it could be useful quick-hit information for college list builders.
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https://www.aeaweb.org/conference/2023/program/paper/6N77EBRA gives a comparison of requirements for economics major programs.
| Requirement | Total | STEM | non-STEM |
|---|---|---|---|
| single-variable calculus | 67.1% | 93.0% | 63.7% |
| multi-variable calculus | 9.5% | 50.0% | 4.7% |
| basic econometrics | 54.2% | 85.5% | 50.3% |
| advanced econometrics | 2.5% | 11.6% | 1.4% |
Seems odd that 7.0% of STEM-designated economics majors do not even have single-variable calculus, although the math level of STEM-designated economics majors is on average higher than in non-STEM-designated economics majors. Also, some STEM-designated economics majors (“econometrics and quantitative economics”) apparently do not require any econometrics, although econometrics is more likely to be required for STEM-designated than for non-STEM-designated economics majors.
Regarding the specific schools of this thread, Maryland offers BA and BS versions of the economics major. The BS version requires intermediate microeconomics with a multivariable calculus prerequisite, so it counts as a high math program. The BA version requires single variable calculus.
https://www.econ.umd.edu/undergraduate/econ-major-requirements
UCLA intermediate economics and econometrics courses do not require math higher than single variable calculus, although UCLA does offer a math economics major with substantial upper level math courses, presumably for pre-PhD-in-economics students.
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Fascinating. So, no substitute for actually looking at department pages, but maybe a good way to find some leads to explore.
UMD is a highly-regarded flagship university. Prestige-wise, the Presidential Scholarship + Honors College at UMD more than makes up for the perceived reputational difference between UMD and UCLA. If your student were yearning to be in California, it would be a harder decision; but it doesn’t sound as if that’s the case. To spend the very-large cost differential between UMD in-state with merit, and UCLA non-resident, no merit, just out of concern that maybe she should go to the “better” school? No. That is giving way too much weight to what is really an incremental difference in reputation. No school on her list would hold her back in any way.
As for whether it’s worth paying for a private LAC experience… that’s a different question, and different students and families could reasonably come to very different conclusions. I still think that what’s on offer at UMD would be tough to turn down given the very large cost differential, but at least you’re talking qualitatively different experiences. To give up one large, very-well-respected public flagship, with scholarship and honors college, to pay six figures more to go somewhere you don’t want to live, just for rank? No. I know UCLA has “mystique” for a lot of people, but it isn’t a magic happiness-and-success generator - it’s another big flagship university, when your own is excellent and is offering compelling perks.
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