<p>My daughter wants to study Economics. She is in High school right now, is a straight A student, has lots of international schooling experience but has SAT score of only 2040. What schools can she realistically expect to get admitted to?</p>
<p>Know, a straight A grade point and an SATI of 2040 she could potentially be admitted to any college in America. There is no guarantee however and it’s always a good idea to have a list with a balance of selectivity.</p>
<p>The points of differentiation – what would help get her in – would be her class rank, the difficulty of the classes she’s taking, her extracurricular activities, her essays, her recommendations and any other talents or distinctions that would make her standout from the pack. Any hooks like being part of an under-represented minority in race, religion or ethnic background, being low income or first generation to go to college would also be pluses.</p>
<p>If she is an American studying internationally, this is a positive. If she is a foreign national she falls in the international category which can be either a positive or a negative depending on the country.</p>
<p>Economics is a fairly common field. Most colleges offer this major. Some are better known than others, but before we get into that, could you please provide more information about her background and the kind or schools she is interested in.</p>
<p>Want to be an economist? This means getting a PhD in the field - no easy task these days, at least from one of the top graduate schools. I would suggest going to the school that offers great statistics and math instruction - she is going to need it. A math or statistics major is likely more helpful to an econ Phd than an undergrad econ course of study. I find that many don’t like math because it not well taught - I would look very carefully at schools that have a reputation for teaching it well. </p>
<p>And I would not read too much into the SAT score. If your student has a passion for economics, and the statistical and mathematical work that is the hallmark of economics today, then success is possible.</p>
<p>There’s a difference between wanting to study economics and wanting to be an economist. A lot of people want to study econ as preparation for a career in business. For students who actually want to get a PhD in economics, then majoring in math as an undergrad is a good option. Several of my econ professors did this. But it’s definitely not strictly preferred to majoring in econ. The main prerequisites for graduate level econ are foundational knowledge of the core economic subdisciplines, strong economic intuition, and the ability to make your ideas precise with sophisticated mathematics. How you go about fulfilling these prereqs in terms of coursework is less important. To the OP, your daughter can shoot for Top 20 schools provided that her EC’s are good.</p>