Econ major through the business school vs through CAS

moranges
Thu, 10 Jul 2014 20:37:09 +0000

Hi gtho,

I am a new graduate of VSB, so I have plenty of friends who have taken either of those options. As far as the programs go, the Economics degrees are the same – they have the same required Economics courses, the same faculty, and access to similar resources.

The main differences between the program lie in the non-Economics required courses. If you are in the business school, you will be taking more “practical” courses, such as introductory finance and operations, whereas in CLAS there would obviously be more bias towards the liberal arts (philosophy, political science, etc.).

As far as pros and cons go for you, here are some things I would consider if I were in your shoes:


Those non-Economics classes–if you don’t want to study the technical areas, then the business school may not be for you. Keep in mind that there are plenty of opportunities to go beyond your core classes however (for example, I was a finance and accounting major, but took many unnecessary classes in philosophy, economics, etc. out of pure interest).
As far as careers go, I don’t think that the marketability between the two degrees differs too much (it really depends on what you hope to do). I have had some friends from the VSB economics program say that they were grateful to have some background business knowledge which have helped them in their internships and careers, but I don’t think lacking it would hurt too much. On the other hand, if you’re more interest in going into real economics, or have an interest in politics, CLAS may be better because you can dual major much more easily within CLAS than between CLAS and VSB.


The one main difference in careers might be the Clay Center (VSB’s own career center). Although the campus wide resources and career center are good, the business school has its own which is ranked top in the country for getting grads where they want to go. All the staff there are terrific and so willing to help, and it’s really nice to have the career center right in the business school (the general career center is a bit further away). Though CLAS econ majors still do great, some people may think having the Clay Center is worth going VSB.


VSB has a really strong “pride” associated with it. This one is much more subjective, and some people view it as a turn off, but there really is a ton of pride among VSB members. Though it’s not tribal by any means, and I have tons of friends from all the schools, for me it was nice having that more tightknit community of VSB-ers who loved being in the business school.


Hopefully that helps you in your decision a bit. If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out!