@Lovenetc , in case you’ve not yet heard this, consider this your first unofficial lesson in collegiate economics: the answer to most general questions, including “Is Economics a good major?”, that can be answered normatively or positively, from an economist’s perspective is - it depends. I believe it was Harry Truman as President that once proclaimed, “Give me a one-handed economist - all my economists tell me ‘one the one hand . . . and on the other hand . . .’.” In any case . . .
As a trained student of economics, I want to answer this question positively (as opposed to normative), and introduce the idea that the “goodness” or value of something is completely subjective to the individual based on the value it provides as a means (a thing’s “economic goods value”) toward satisfying some end for which the individual is striving toward. With that mentioned, and knowing positively the general requirements for the typical undergraduate economics degree, if your end (goal) is medical school, then an economics degree is not a good means (good) for reaching that end since the typical economics major does not receive the adequate biology/chemistry, etc, prerequisites to scoring well on a medical school entrance exam or for succeeding in the early stages of medical school. Of course, if you’re unsure about the end for which you are striving (say, if you are on the fence about attending medical school and have no other solid idea about something else), then you’re experiencing another concept of economics called uncertainty, which is ever-present in economic affairs - and thus you begin to pry into the complexity of the science of economics. Much of what I’m mentioning in this paragraph is specific economic terminology that undergraduate majors are exposed to in most every economics class. Let me know if you’d like me to elaborate on any of this, and I am certainly more than happy to do so.
What is the major like? It depends - no, I’m kidding now. Typical economics programs at the undergraduate level offer a BA and a BS (economics programs tied to the business school of a university are typically strictly BS only - both in the Bachelor of Science sense and in the bull dung sense, but that’s a normative statement). The major difference between BA and BS is that the BS typically requires a few more higher level mathematics courses compared to the BA, such as multiple levels of calculus. Instead of the extra math work, the BA allows a student to supplement the major with elective classes - either within the econ major or outside of the major to allow the opportunity for the student to pick up a minor. For either the BA or BS, the “core” courses that all majors will be required to take often include Principles courses (the “intro” Microeconomics and “intro” Macroeconomics courses), Intermediate courses (also broken down into Micro and Macro variants), Statistics, and Econometrics. After that, class selection can vary wildly based on the student’s interest and program reqs (i.e. BA vs BS). For example, some of the economics courses I took for the major included: Development Economics, International Economics, Urban Economics, U.S. Economics History, European Economics History, Economics of Entrepreneurship, Principles of Austrian Economics, and Money and Banking, to name the memorable ones. All of the economics courses, for me, took the ideas and concepts adopted from my intro Principles courses, and applied them to a specific field of economics and allowed the student to examine a set of problems or issues specific to that field of economics through the lens of applying the principles concepts. For example, the model for the Law of Supply and Demand for a Good or Service is adapted in Money and Banking to be applied to the Supply and Demand Model for Bonds (or the model for Loanable Funds) - in either case the intuitive concepts from the Principles course are the same for both types of models, just applied to separate fields (traditional micro markets of the individual and firm if not talking about aggregate supply and demand on one side, and monetary markets on the other). In this sense the Principles courses are extremely important for a student of economics development and intellectual application. Typically, if students do well in the Principles courses, then they are suited for and well prepared for upper-division economics courses. My best advice for exploring the major is to take the Principles courses if your educational program allows for it. These courses are nice in that most universities count them toward general education requirements for the university degree anyway, so you can take the courses to complete the university-level general education requirement and decide if you enjoy the collegiate level learning of economics. As for the upper-division courses and coursework: it really depends (sorry) on the specific course and on the professor. Like any major and set of faculty, economics courses can apply the concepts through problem sets (think light mathematical critical thinking exercises) or through essays, online homework problems, weekly reading assignments, etc. Really just a wide range depending on the specific course and professor.
Since you’re interested in how money affects human behavior, I’d direct you to exploring Monetary Economics-type courses (usually titles things like Monetary Economics, Money & Banking, Money and Economics, etc). Those courses should certainly explore the origins and uses of money, monetary institutions (such as banks), and monetary policy that governments take. If you’re so inclined as an undergraduate, and you really do gravitate toward this sub-field of economics, then you can look into working closely with an Economics faculty member at your university who possibly specializes in this field and assist him or her on research or other projects related to monetary economics - maybe present some research yourself or publish a piece. As far as beyond the undergraduate level: there are tons of Master’s and Doctorate programs in Economics. Either one will generally (actually very much most likely) require several courses of calculus, statistics, and a couple other math courses as prerequisites or co-requisites to taking graduate-level economics coursework. As mentioned above, an undergraduate degree in economics generally doesn’t prepare a student well for a medical school entrance exam nor for the medical school itself, although certainly anything can happen, and I’m sure there is a doctor out there somewhere who has an undergraduate degree in economics - sounds like the type of doctor I’d like to chit-chat with, but not perform my surgery - again, I’m being normative.
Economics is a vast all-encompassing science that reaches far beyond application of money on human behavior, however, and if you spend just a few minutes exploring online, you can see the plethora of these sub-fields, including exciting new sub-fields currently being developed. You might find much more than monetary afflictions to pique your interest, so look forward to that as an Economics major as well.
Is Economics a good major? It depends, and is subjective to the individual. I enjoy(ed) it. What is the major like? It depends, mostly on the specific program (BA/BS) a student decides to pursue, and on the specific courses and professors, although every economics class should be applying Principles-related concepts in some aspect along with a few new concepts. Will it be a good major if you decide to go to medical school? Generally, no, but anything can be done.
Hope this is all helpful to you, and feel free to ask anything more specific or for elaborations on what I’ve mentioned above. Best of luck.