econ/math joint major at UCSD

Oyama
Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:05:40 +0000

And lastly, some more resources:

[Advice for Applying to Grad School in Economics](http://kuznets.fas.harvard.edu/~athey/gradadv.html)



Real analysis is an especially important class because it tends to be demanding everywhere, and forces you to do logical and formal proofs. Get a good grade in this class.



MATH140AB is known as one of the hardest sequences in the Math department, so come prepared (don’t just cruise through MATH109 – use it as momentum going into Real Analysis).



Students from top universities who have the bare minimum coursework (an undergraduate major, no graduate economics or math classes, and only basic undergraduate math classes) will need something really outstanding – like a thesis that is publishable in a top economics field journal–to get fellowships at the top two or three graduate programs. Typically the strongest applicants have some distinguishing feature, like scoring near the top of a graduate class at a top PhD program, very strong math (e.g. graduate level real analysis and topology), or an outstanding thesis or coauthored research.



^ Why you should either do Joint Math/Econ, double in both Math and Econ, or at the very least minor in Math. Either taking or sitting in some doctoral courses at UCSD would also be great preparation as to what level of effort and base knowledge is expected once you apply/begin a doctoral program.



Every student applying to graduate school should apply for an NSF fellowship. Winning one gives you a much better financial deal than any school will offer. Even if you don’t win just the fact that you applied will increase the probability of your being accepted by graduate schools.



This post was talking about the NSF GRFP (Graduate Research Fellowship Program), but I would also apply to NSF REUs (Research Experience for Undergraduates). UCSD applicants, over the years, have been fairly successful at nabbing these. I, myself, got to go to ASU and UNC/Duke for two summers through this NSF program. These programs can be found here: [US NSF - REU - Search for an REU Site](Search for an REU Site | NSF - National Science Foundation) and deadlines typically fall around February of each year.

[FAQs about Graduate School in Economics and Links to Useful Threads](FAQs about Graduate School in Economics and Links to Useful Threads - PhD in Economics - Urch Forums)

^ A great forum for prospective Economics Ph.D. students. Those are the FAQs, but feel free to browse the entire forum and even ask a few questions not addressed by that thread. This is a very high-traffic forum dedicated to Economics (the other high-traffic site being Econ Job Rumors, [Economics Job Market Rumors](http://www.econjobrumors.com/) ), so questions are answered very quickly.

Anyway, this is a lot of information and perhaps more than what was necessary for this thread. I guess (anecdotally) I’ve seen differences in employability and admission to graduate school between my friends whom were just Economics majors versus those whom were Math/Econ – the latter being much more successful in general at nabbing jobs that required technical or economics expertise and getting into doctoral programs in Economics and Finance. There are always exceptions and I know plenty of people graduating with Economics degrees doing very well for themselves (though they were brilliant in other respects, either being involved in research of having competitive internships under their belts), but it isn’t nearly as unanimous as my Math/Econ acquaintances.