what to major in if no quantitative economics major?

[Anonymous]

Taking more pure math than statistics at the undergrad level is really not going to make your DS unemployable. My goodness.

[Anonymous]

This down side of SLACs.
Bigger colleges and universities have more course choices, program option,s and adaptable to change of mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. The LAC does not have computer science classes at all. Nor any statistics major/minor, it looks to me just intro statistics classes. There is a Math major and minor, but most of the offerred classes are pure math not applied math. There is one econometrics class offered in the econ department. There doesn’t appear to be a math or data science focused option within economics at this college. DC wasn’t sure what he wanted to major in before he went to college - and if I had had to guess, I would have guessed history or psychology - so these “gaps” in the fields of study didn’t jump out at him or me.

PP, you are right that DC can talk to a professor and that is a good idea. But professors tend to have an academia focused view. I want to understand a practical, employment focused view. So hoping someone can advise if there are ways to patch together a major at a traditional liberal arts college that could open doors for careers in econometrics type work. Oddly my sister suggested he look into an econ major and physics minor - her older child at a much bigger college has said that the hedge funds and investment banks want physics majors nowadays.

I want him to major in whatever is his choice. My hope is that he adds a minor or double major in something making him employable

Wouldn't an economics professor be much more concerned with employment outlook than history or psychology professors? That's literally what they do. I vote for let your DS figure it out. If you handhold him, he's going to be less employable because he will lack initiative and tenacity.

[Anonymous]

I think the Econ major is what would make your child employable out of undergrad and additional math courses would prepare them for Econ grad school.

- economist who hires economists

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. The LAC does not have computer science classes at all. Nor any statistics major/minor, it looks to me just intro statistics classes. There is a Math major and minor, but most of the offerred classes are pure math not applied math. There is one econometrics class offered in the econ department. There doesn’t appear to be a math or data science focused option within economics at this college. DC wasn’t sure what he wanted to major in before he went to college - and if I had had to guess, I would have guessed history or psychology - so these “gaps” in the fields of study didn’t jump out at him or me.

PP, you are right that DC can talk to a professor and that is a good idea. But professors tend to have an academia focused view. I want to understand a practical, employment focused view. So hoping someone can advise if there are ways to patch together a major at a traditional liberal arts college that could open doors for careers in econometrics type work. Oddly my sister suggested he look into an econ major and physics minor - her older child at a much bigger college has said that the hedge funds and investment banks want physics majors nowadays.

I want him to major in whatever is his choice. My hope is that he adds a minor or double major in something making him employable

This is because they want people who can do hard math!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the LAC doesn't have the academic program he wants, he should consider transferring.

+1

[Anonymous]

I was somewhat similar and ended up doing a double major with Psychology to get the deeper applied stats I wanted at my LAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the Econ major is what would make your child employable out of undergrad and additional math courses would prepare them for Econ grad school.

- economist who hires economists

This!
Does your child want to go to grad school?

[Anonymous]

You’re overthinking this. It’s undergrad. An econ major with mathematics minor will be fine. If he’s seriously interested in econometrics he’ll need a Masters (minimum) and can find the program that suits what he needs when the time comes. If you’re actually wanting to plan out his life path at this point then read the requirements to enter reputable graduate level econometrics programs. But really your kid should be doing this research…

[Anonymous]

Are the people being hired out of SLACS to go Wall Street doing quantitative economics?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This down side of SLACs.
Bigger colleges and universities have more course choices, program option,s and adaptable to change of mind.

+1

Agree that this is one of the downsides of attending a small school (LAC or SLAC).

Consider transferring to a larger school--a university--which offers the desired courses. Lot of money & career opportunities that may not be available to your son if he remains at his small LAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This down side of SLACs.
Bigger colleges and universities have more course choices, program option,s and adaptable to change of mind.

+1

Agree that this is one of the downsides of attending a small school (LAC or SLAC).

Consider transferring to a larger school--a university--which offers the desired courses. Lot of money & career opportunities that may not be available to your son if he remains at his small LAC.

This is the answer. Either transfer now and get the correct degree, OR make the plan now (and take the courses necessary) to roll straight into a grad program at a university that he could just go to now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the Econ major is what would make your child employable out of undergrad and additional math courses would prepare them for Econ grad school.

- economist who hires economists

+1. Economics professor here. Have your child take some math courses if they are interested. They can even minor in it, but I agree with PP that the Econ major is what makes one employable. The point of a liberal arts college is to allow the student to major in an area of study and also take other courses that make the course of study well-rounded. What else is your child interested in?

FWIW, I majored in Economics at my small liberal arts college. I also took two languages, math, history, chemistry, sociology, etc. I did two summer internships as well. It was a pretty employable combination then, and it is a strategy that has worked for my students who choose this path today. It also made for a really interesting four years. I later went on to get my a Master’s and Ph.D. In Economics, and I felt well- prepared for that.

Good luck to your child!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. The LAC does not have computer science classes at all. Nor any statistics major/minor, it looks to me just intro statistics classes. There is a Math major and minor, but most of the offerred classes are pure math not applied math. There is one econometrics class offered in the econ department. There doesn’t appear to be a math or data science focused option within economics at this college. DC wasn’t sure what he wanted to major in before he went to college - and if I had had to guess, I would have guessed history or psychology - so these “gaps” in the fields of study didn’t jump out at him or me.

PP, you are right that DC can talk to a professor and that is a good idea. But professors tend to have an academia focused view. I want to understand a practical, employment focused view. So hoping someone can advise if there are ways to patch together a major at a traditional liberal arts college that could open doors for careers in econometrics type work. Oddly my sister suggested he look into an econ major and physics minor - her older child at a much bigger college has said that the hedge funds and investment banks want physics majors nowadays.

I want him to major in whatever is his choice. My hope is that he adds a minor or double major in something making him employable

Economics is one of the academic areas that professors are more likely to have an outside of academia view because many in industry hire econ ppl, and many econ people go in and out. Many many econ PhDs these days going into industry instead of academia, so econ profs networks on that arena may be relatively strong compared to other academic areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the Econ major is what would make your child employable out of undergrad and additional math courses would prepare them for Econ grad school.

- economist who hires economists

+1. Economics professor here. Have your child take some math courses if they are interested. They can even minor in it, but I agree with PP that the Econ major is what makes one employable. The point of a liberal arts college is to allow the student to major in an area of study and also take other courses that make the course of study well-rounded. What else is your child interested in?

FWIW, I majored in Economics at my small liberal arts college. I also took two languages, math, history, chemistry, sociology, etc. I did two summer internships as well. It was a pretty employable combination then, and it is a strategy that has worked for my students who choose this path today. It also made for a really interesting four years. I later went on to get my a Master’s and Ph.D. In Economics, and I felt well- prepared for that.

Good luck to your child!

HI, would you advise what would make a student who is majoring in public health employable? A stats or data science minor? She can do both. Thank you!