Econ/Music major.. Wesleyan and Vassar

[CrewDad]

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Econ Courses Offered for 2011-2012 academic year
Wesleyan - 42 Vassar -37

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<p>Wesleyan’s economics 101 has three sections, and they’re listed separately on the website. Vassar’s economics 101 and 102 have sections (a) and (b), however, there is no separate listing on the web catalog. Ditto for many other course descriptions. If Vassar formatted the economics web catalog as Wesleyan does, there would be ~ 45 courses.
Additionally, comparing the number of courses without taking into consideration academic credit (e.g. 1,2 or… credit/per course) is also of little value. </p>

<p>At a certain point, quibbling over which college has more courses is silly. Class size, curriculum, faculty credentials, grad school placement, etc, are, in my opinion, more valuable parameters when comparing economics departments…or for that matter any deptartment.</p>

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Or, one that offers virtually the same breadth and depth…

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<p>I’m assuming you’re referring to post 15.</p>

<p>I’ve been living in the Happy Valley, which is littered with new age touch-feely types, far too long; consequently, I found your comment that Wesleyan had a university * feel* humorous. No personal affront intended. My response was tongue-in-cheek. Unfortunately, you construed my remarks far more seriously than intended. I’ll refrain from any future attempts at subtle humor. </p>

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but, with <em>arguably</em> greater opportunities for research:

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<p>No argument. As far as I’m aware, there aren’t any recent publications/rankings with valid metrics to determine which college has more research opportunities.</p>

<p>It is noteworthy, however, there isn’t a current ranking using your cited Piette and Laband (equivalent page methodology) data, which suggests the aforementioned methodology wasn’t well supported or produced useful and credible results.</p>

<p>Vassar proclaims research is an important aspect of the economics department. I have no reason to believe otherwise. More than Wesleyan? I’ll leave it to others far more knowledgeable than I to decide.</p>

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In addition to teaching, Economics faculty members are actively engaged in academic research, investigating topics on the frontier of economic analysis.
Often, there are opportunities for students to work closely with department faculty on research projects. In the summer, department faculty sometimes work directly with students under the auspices of various grant programs. During the academic year, some students will work as faculty research assistants, gaining hands-on experience in conducting economic research.

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<p>[Students</a> - Economics Department - Vassar College](<a href=“http://economics.vassar.edu/students/index.html]Students”>http://economics.vassar.edu/students/index.html)</p>

<p>And it has to be of some benefit to Vassar’s economics department that the college president, Catherine Hill (Yale PhD economics and distinguished economist) also serves as a professor in the economics department. </p>

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one could also compare how many Nobel Prize winners in economics that the university has. Wesleyan, I know has at least one–Gary Yohe

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<p>Gary Yohe, as a senior member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the Third and Fourth Assessment Reports, was co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.<br>
Gary shared the prize with Al Gore. Yipeeeee!</p>

<p>That year (2007) the Nobel Laureates in Economics were Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin and Roger B. Myerson.
The fact remains that a Wesleyan professor is a Noble Laureate, but Vassar can’t make that claim. My hope is the discrepancy will be rectified in the near future. :)</p>

<p>JW, I trust you understand I fully recognize Wesleyan is an incredible college with a distinguished economics department.
Besides, when I’m next at the Wesleyan boathouse, I don’t need the grief if I stated otherwise ;)</p>