McGill versus Brandeis

PerpetualStudent
Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:55:16 +0000

@tkdkid

I’m at the end of my B.Sc. Computer Science now.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing inherently terrible about Honors Econ, nor is its difficulty mind shattering, but you have to be dedicated to it.

During first year they’ll make you take two core courses: Honors Microeconomics and Honors Economic Statistics. For microecon, you need some knowledge of differential calculus to make it work (the textbook used is Intermediate Microeconomics by Varian). It’s perfectly possible to do very well in it, what annoyed me to no end is that the entire grade for each of the two semesters that make up the course comes from 1 midterm and 1 final which are basically filled with corner cases and trick problems. The profs take great pride in obtaining low overall averages on these exams. After the fact, the grades are usually adjusted to fit whatever distribution the profs see fit. Also, a pass is a B if you want to continue with the program. Suffice is to say, it wasn’t all that fun.

CS has a lot of theory too but also a lot of practical assignments/projects with immediate “wow” factor. I think a lot of CS people like building things and getting quick rewards for it, without getting their hands dirty (unlike say, engineers). But I digress :)

Edit: One more thing, people that want to do grad school in econ usually end up taking a lot more math than strictly required (i.e. in addition to econ stats and econometrics the requirements for Honors are Multivariable Calculus + Linear Algebra). You’ll probably want to add Differential Equations, Advanced Calculus, and maybe Real Analysis if you’re into that kinda thing. Perhaps some more mathematical statistics stuff too. So plan ahead carefully.

Sorry about the thread hijack, if you want to talk more PM-me.