<p>What’s it like majoring in econ at UChicago? Are students competitive with each other? Is there a substantial math requirement? Any advice would also be appreciated.</p>
<p>[Economics</a> - University of Chicago Catalog](<a href=“http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/economics/]Economics”>Economics < University of Chicago Catalog)</p>
<p>The short answer: Your experience as an econ major depends entirely on what you intend to do with your degree. </p>
<p>Longer answer: Generally speaking, most econ majors I know either intend to go straight into the private sector after graduating (think consulting, ibanking, or the like) or go to grad school. The econ major actually accommodates both tracks fairly well, though the latter more so.</p>
<p>If you want to go straight into the private sector, the econ major is what I like to consider “a pretty good deal,” in the sense that it can be much easier than other quantitative majors such as physics, math, or bio/chem, but confers very good employment prospects.</p>
<p>The econ major is every bit as hard as you want to make it. If you want to make it really easy, it will be pretty easy (again, compared to other majors like math or physics, where that’s not really possible). Everything is relative, of course. If you found AP Calculus difficult in high school, then you will probably find the econ major difficult even if you take all the right steps to make it easy, like taking non-honors classes and easy electives. </p>
<p>It is also as difficult as you want to make it to be. Honors econ classes are pretty challenging, and they can always be supplemented with math courses - and should be if you want to go to grad school. For prospective grad students, the econ major experience is as much math classes as econ classes. </p>
<p>The reason why I said earlier that the econ major is slightly better suited to the grad school track than the private sector track is because it is - you don’t really need to know how to do a Lagrangian or understand cost curves or general equilibrium to do good work in consulting. While the econ major does accommodate such people by giving them easier options, the econ major does a lot more than merely accommodate people who want to go to grad school. It offers a superb undergraduate economics education and research opportunities with world-renowned faculty. </p>
<p>I don’t really have to say which group I happen to be in, do I? Don’t get me wrong, though. I have nothing against people who want to go into the private sector right away. They just have different preferences.</p>
<p>In a word:
Miserable.</p>
<p>Not everyone will agree with me. And I still intend to be an econ major anyway. But it’s really not that fun for people who found calculus to be extremely difficult, like me.</p>