Which colleges would you recommend for an economics major?
Williams, Claremont McKenna, Middlebury, Wesleyan, Hamilton and Colgate appear by economics faculty publishing both at the top of their LAC peers and, notably, among much larger schools in non-normalized data:
If you prefer to go the non-LAC route, then…
Harvard, MIT, Penn, Stanford, Berkeley, UChicago, Columbia, NYU, Cornell, Northwestern:
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/economics-business
He wants to do EA at Princeton as we lived nearby when he was in elemantry school and he loves it. How would you rate Princeton’s Economics program?
I’m starting to believe econ is just a BS subject. Lots of math signifying nothing. Even Yellen admits Fed knows nothing much. Three classes in it are useful. Rest a waste. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/26/the-associated-press-yellen-fed-is-perplexed-by-chronically-low-inflation.html
Disagree. Econ not only strengthens your quantitative skills but teaches you about the world and how decisions are made under scarcity. I’m sure lots of hopeful insurance owners would have loved to take a class in Public Economics to learn and understand ‘moral hazard.’
Economics is a way of thinking that hopefully prevent students from concluding that economics is useless because inflation is hard to predict.
How good are the job prospects?
Undergraduate economics education in the US is extremely standardized. The major differences between programs rest on the extent to which courses require use of math and at higher levels, advanced mathematics. HYPMS will have Econ and Econ and Math majors, but even the conventional higher level Econ classes at these schools will use advanced Calculus, Linear Algebra and Matrix Algebra. Since you also posted elsewhere a question about colleges that accept students on the basis of stats vs ECs and community service, I would advise your son to apply EA or ED to one of the schools, like McGill, Notre Dame, U. Michigan, U.Va, WUSTL, etc., that are happy to accept students like your son.
More specifically, you can check the intermediate microeconomics and econometrics courses for their math and statistics prerequisites. You may find typical tiers of math intensity:
- Least math: Calculus is not required. (e.g. Florida State, Penn State regular)
- Moderate math: Single variable calculus is required. (e.g. Penn State honors, Harvard less math, UCB less math)
- Most math: Multivariable calculus and/or linear algebra are required. (e.g. Harvard more math, UCB more math, MIT, Chicago, UCSC)
Some colleges’ economics departments offer a choice of different versions of economics courses with different levels of math intensity.
Higher math intensity is preferred for those who want to go on to PhD study in economics.
@ucbalumnus - as I said above, the ivies and top 20 schools typically offer Econ majors different “tracks” - for those who are mathematically-inclined, and those who are not. So there may be a Political Economy track for students who are majoring in Politics, an Econ track which always requires algebra for Intro courses and single-variable calculus for intermediate courses, and an Econ and Math track which will require advanced calculus for Intro classes, multivariable calc, linear algebra and matrix algebra for intermediate and advanced classes. Most LACs will offer less mathematically demanding majors, while most universities will have the staff to offer multiple tiers or “tracks” of Econ classes. Advanced math-based college Economics courses are a requirement for Economics Ph.D. programs
One of my daughters double majored in economics and math at Carleton. She got a good job after graduating and is now a first-year Ph.D. student in economics at a highly regarded university. She wouldn’t have had to double major but all the math she took definitely helped her in the job market and in getting into grad school.
To the OP, Princeton is one of the best Econ programs, both at the undergraduate and the PhD level.
In term of job prospects for Econ, it depends on which professional path you S wants to pursue, also depends on the tier of the university that offers Econ degree. A typical Econ graduate from Princeton is likely going to make a very different professional decision compared to another one from a typical state university. To get potentially more useful info, as @ucbalumnus had pointed out, you need to be more specific about your question.
Thank you. It’s a bit more clear now. He is done with AB & BC and taking Multivariable Calculus and Diffrential Equations now. He wants to get a doctorate in economics and he likes maths so may prefer mathematical economics. He wants some policy making job at this point but who knows, kids often change their minds in college.Would he be served better at U Chicago, MIT or Princeton? I mean hypothetically as he may not get in any of the colleges with good Economics programs? Would it be better to ED at Wharton?
While Wharton may award “BS economics” degrees, the focus of the program is more like a business major than an economics major. The UPenn “BA economics” in the A&S division is a better fit for a pre-PhD economics major.
Remember, many of these schools are reach-for-everyone. He may want to check carefully which match and safety schools are well suited for his interests. Checking the catalogs for how math intensive the intermediate economics courses are at such schools could help.
For a PhD in Econ for policy making jobs, such as Fed Reserve, the usual undergraduate training involves an Econ degree with a Math or Stat track/emphasis, or an Econ and Math/Stat major (many top universities have such a major jointly supported by the Econ and Math/Stat departments so that no need for double degrees), double majors in Econ and Math/Stat, or simply a Math/Stat major with some courses or a minor in Econ. With enough quantitative training at the undergraduate level and a degree from a top university (say top 30 or even top 50), it is possible to go from a bachelor degree to a PhD program directly without a master degree.
PhD program in Econ is pretty much all about training for doing research. So if your S is able to do a “serious” research with a faculty at his undergraduate institution and the quality of the paper is good enough for publication at an indexed journal (that is, a journal some people/researchers would actually read), it will really help. Of course, getting into a good PhD program also needs good GPA and good GRE.
Just getting into a PhD program in Econ is probably not that hard because there are many programs out there and they also take in (too) many students and have them teach intro macroeconomics or intro microeconomics (read inexpensive labor). But getting into a prestigious PhD program in Econ, say top 10, is an entirely different matter because some of their graduates are actually working on topics related to finance and may be hired as assistant professor of finance, instead of assistant professor of economics. At most universities, we are talking about 50% of salary differential.
Among PhD programs in Econ, I have seen best training and placement from Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Chicago, Yale, and Chicago (if I miss one, do not shoot me). UCB is also doing very well. If your S, down the road, is more interested in a PhD in finance or financial economics, Chicago is the powerhouse.
Note that the strength at the PhD level does not automatically translated into the undergraduate level. At the PhD level, it is all about research. At the undergraduate level, research is a substantially smaller component. Prestige, school culture, school tie, the quality of general education, professional development resources…are far more important.
“Disagree. Econ not only strengthens your quantitative skills but teaches you about the world and how decisions are made under scarcity. I’m sure lots of hopeful insurance owners would have loved to take a class in Public Economics to learn and understand 'moral hazard.”
All that is well covered in three classes. If you want real quant skills major in math and stats. BTW most biz decisions lack sufficient hard info to make true math based decisions. Most require what we called the “leap of faith”.
BTW=econ undergrad. Yes it is good for jobs mostly because you have to have some math skills and many better jobs require that.
“Would he be served better at U Chicago, MIT or Princeton?”
Your really splitting hairs when you ask which college is best for your son. As far as the education goes it simply won’t matter, all will be outstanding. I would visit all of the colleges you’re son is interested in and see which he is most comfortable with, barring that, research all of them including the economic professors and see if there is anything that really stands out to your son, which BTW will help with admissions.
With respect to preparation for Ph.D. programs in economics, research indicates that a liberal arts college can be an excellent, and perhaps a preferred, choice: