Econ Major

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone say what is the difference between a BA and a BS in Econ? My student is very strong in math and is looking at Econ as a second degree choice after Math.

No one cares. The BS requires more math/econ courses, the BA requires more gen ed courses. Or not. They should take specific courses (e.g. upper level econometrics, graduate econometrics/macroeconomics/microeconomics, etc) instead of the lower level courses where hey learn anti-truths like "marginal cost increases with production quantity". Taking intro econ is like taking physics for poets - don't do it if you can start with the real, which math majors are more than qualified to do.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Why is this chart always uploaded? It is horribly inaccurate.

says who?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Best major for people not smart enough to do math or physics and not invested/intellectual enough to excel in history or the humanities.

Best major for those who want a job after graduation perhaps.

Any math major is better at a finance job than an Econ major.

It’s cute that Econ majors have to pretend they do anything productive in those four years, but the truth is all these firms have to give boot camps on trading or whatever investment strategy they use anyway to their new hires.

Econ is a great degree for people who are just smart enough but have no passions and are too lazy to try anything that doesn’t have a simple path.

This is untrue. It may be relevant for quant jobs but there is a whole universe of non-quant jobs (esp at the banks) where they are looking for more skills than doing advanced math. Most banks these days are doing limited “trading or whatever investment strategy.”

There is a reason these institutions recruit at business schools, SLACs, etc.

Those places don't care whether you majored in econ or history or communications as long as you went to the right school. Bonus points for being an athlete, 0 bonus points for being an econ major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone say what is the difference between a BA and a BS in Econ? My student is very strong in math and is looking at Econ as a second degree choice after Math.

It’s not about the degree type, but the actual courses. Any Econ program without econometrics, advanced econometrics, linear algebra, time series, and probability required or heavily suggested is a complete wash of a degree.

Again, not true. Lots of career paths are not that quantitative and do not require all of this. If you want to do quant stuff, by all means do as much math as possible, but it is not some universal thing.

So much bad info on this thread from bitter quants.

Attempting a quantitative degree and refusing to do math makes you a poor fit for Econ and someone who shouldn’t be in a quantitative field. There’s much space in anthropology for social scientists who eschew mathematical reasoning.

But econ, even a BS, is not a particularly mathematical degree - it typically only requires calculus 1 + setting partial derivatives to 0 and some basic statistics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best major for people not smart enough to do math or physics and not invested/intellectual enough to excel in history or the humanities.

Best major for those who want a job after graduation perhaps.

Any math major is better at a finance job than an Econ major.

It’s cute that Econ majors have to pretend they do anything productive in those four years, but the truth is all these firms have to give boot camps on trading or whatever investment strategy they use anyway to their new hires.

Econ is a great degree for people who are just smart enough but have no passions and are too lazy to try anything that doesn’t have a simple path.

This is untrue. It may be relevant for quant jobs but there is a whole universe of non-quant jobs (esp at the banks) where they are looking for more skills than doing advanced math. Most banks these days are doing limited “trading or whatever investment strategy.”

There is a reason these institutions recruit at business schools, SLACs, etc.

Those places don't care whether you majored in econ or history or communications as long as you went to the right school. Bonus points for being an athlete, 0 bonus points for being an econ major.

Right, that’s why there are so many econ majors there.

But I guess thanks for confirming the actual point that was being discussed, which is that it doesn’t require math.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Best major for people not smart enough to do math or physics and not invested/intellectual enough to excel in history or the humanities.

Getting an econ major to read a book is like asking a dog to do neurosurgeory. Insufferable.

Hey! They’ve read a chapter of a required reading once! Sure they used chat gpt after, but they had to put a lot of effort into the query!

Dang. I might have just found the major for my son! Smart kid. Actually really good at math without too much effort (5 in calc BC in 10th grade) but allergic to doing any extra work. I am never going to make an intellectual out of him.

yea, my dual CS/math major junior with straight As in college, 1580 SAT, must be a dummy. /s

Honest question. Did he coast to all that with little effort? My kid is smart but lazy. I do worry about whether he will hit his potential. I have come realize that its for him to find the drive and not me to try to force it on to him. I am hoping this is the correct approach. But admit to being nervous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best major for people not smart enough to do math or physics and not invested/intellectual enough to excel in history or the humanities.

Getting an econ major to read a book is like asking a dog to do neurosurgeory. Insufferable.

Hey! They’ve read a chapter of a required reading once! Sure they used chat gpt after, but they had to put a lot of effort into the query!

Dang. I might have just found the major for my son! Smart kid. Actually really good at math without too much effort (5 in calc BC in 10th grade) but allergic to doing any extra work. I am never going to make an intellectual out of him.

yea, my dual CS/math major junior with straight As in college, 1580 SAT, must be a dummy. /s

Honest question. Did he coast to all that with little effort? My kid is smart but lazy. I do worry about whether he will hit his potential. I have come realize that its for him to find the drive and not me to try to force it on to him. I am hoping this is the correct approach. But admit to being nervous.

NP- You can't force drive in college. They're either going to have the will to put in the work or not. Go talk to the profs during office hours if they want clarification on something or not. No one handholds you, your kid is their own best advocate and motivator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A Dental hygienist makes over $100000.00 a year with total studying 3 years in community college. Working 40 hours a week.
My son with double degree in economics and data science at a top 10 universities will not make that much money for his first few years.

I know that starting salary plus signing bonus at top economics consulting firms break $100k. These are for freshly minted econ majors.

Consulting has gotten wildly competitive o you’re talking about the top 10% of the top 1% of students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best major for people not smart enough to do math or physics and not invested/intellectual enough to excel in history or the humanities.

Getting an econ major to read a book is like asking a dog to do neurosurgeory. Insufferable.

Hey! They’ve read a chapter of a required reading once! Sure they used chat gpt after, but they had to put a lot of effort into the query!

Dang. I might have just found the major for my son! Smart kid. Actually really good at math without too much effort (5 in calc BC in 10th grade) but allergic to doing any extra work. I am never going to make an intellectual out of him.

yea, my dual CS/math major junior with straight As in college, 1580 SAT, must be a dummy. /s

Honest question. Did he coast to all that with little effort? My kid is smart but lazy. I do worry about whether he will hit his potential. I have come realize that its for him to find the drive and not me to try to force it on to him. I am hoping this is the correct approach. But admit to being nervous.

PP here... DC went into college with 58 credits, so they bypassed a lot of the lower level math/CS classes. They are now taking 300 level CS courses and 400 level math courses in their second year of college.

They coasted through 200 level courses last year. But, this year, they are actually having to pay attention in class.

They also coasted through HS in a magnet program. Slept through much of their math classes (up to MVC). DC is a bit lazy, but they care about their grades.

I've told them that one day they will get a B on their report card, and it will be ok. They said they will have a breakdown if/when that happens. Somewhat joking, but I think they will get depressed a bit. We parents don't put pressure on them; they do it to themselves.

It will depend on how much your kid cares about their grades.

Sorry for the off topic, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Best major for people not smart enough to do math or physics and not invested/intellectual enough to excel in history or the humanities.

Best major for those who want a job after graduation perhaps.

Any math major is better at a finance job than an Econ major.

It’s cute that Econ majors have to pretend they do anything productive in those four years, but the truth is all these firms have to give boot camps on trading or whatever investment strategy they use anyway to their new hires.

Econ is a great degree for people who are just smart enough but have no passions and are too lazy to try anything that doesn’t have a simple path.

This is untrue. It may be relevant for quant jobs but there is a whole universe of non-quant jobs (esp at the banks) where they are looking for more skills than doing advanced math. Most banks these days are doing limited “trading or whatever investment strategy.”

There is a reason these institutions recruit at business schools, SLACs, etc.

Those places don't care whether you majored in econ or history or communications as long as you went to the right school. Bonus points for being an athlete, 0 bonus points for being an econ major.

Right, that’s why there are so many econ majors there.

But I guess thanks for confirming the actual point that was being discussed, which is that it doesn’t require math.

The reason why econ majors are common there is obviously due to selection bias - people who value those careers tend to major in a similar subject.