Economics Major and What Minor to Enhance Marketability?

[Anonymous]

My DC is asking me for advice on what to couple with an Econ major to increase marketability. Obviously, he needs to find what he likes and thus get broad exposure early on to a variety of discplines. That said, all things considered, are there recommended minors to go along with an Econ Major that will enhance marketability. My DC will be at a SLAC, so that limits things somewhat.

Advice or recommendations?

[Anonymous]

CS or stats -- excellent quantitative skills give you options
In-demand foreign language (e.g. Chinese, Spanish, Arabic)

In both cases, skills acquired matter more than a minor per se.

[Anonymous]

CS

[Anonymous]

Tell him to focus his Econ electives in Econometrics so he gets more stats/quantitative focus. If he's interested in an engineering field, that would make a good minor...as would literally anything else that allows him to develop an interest outside of the econ major. At a SLAC, it seems like a liberal arts minor would be the best bet.

It really depends on what his long term interests are, though. Econ major in and of itself isn't a strong indication of what he wants to do in the future.

[Anonymous]

Math. My husband is a PhD economist and this is his advice.

[Anonymous]

agree on CS.

[Anonymous]

What is CS?

[Anonymous]

Politics or Philosophy, or philosophy of science

[Anonymous]

CS if there's no immediate plans for grad school

Math or stats if there's thoughts of continuing on in econ.

- Economist who wishes she took more math as an undergrad for grad school, but uses CS the most in her career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CS if there's no immediate plans for grad school

Math or stats if there's thoughts of continuing on in econ.

- Economist who wishes she took more math as an undergrad for grad school, but uses CS the most in her career.

+1
- Political scientist who thinks adding poli sci for marketability is laughable.

[Anonymous]

Public health could make sense as a minor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell him to focus his Econ electives in Econometrics so he gets more stats/quantitative focus. If he's interested in an engineering field, that would make a good minor...as would literally anything else that allows him to develop an interest outside of the econ major. At a SLAC, it seems like a liberal arts minor would be the best bet.

It really depends on what his long term interests are, though. Econ major in and of itself isn't a strong indication of what he wants to do in the future.

What's a liberal arts minor? Wouldn't that be covered in the distribution requirements? I think a more specific minor would be more useful. Math or a language are good bets. CS if it's available.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PPs that it all depends on his interests and goals. I work in marketing research and the interns I hire are often economics/psychology, either major/minor or double major. Psych adds the human behavior, research methods classes to the quant skills and business perspective of the economics major.

[Anonymous]

Analytics/stats or finance (opens more doors for working in business/finance/wall street).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is CS?

computer science