what to major in if no quantitative economics major?

[Anonymous]

Op, is this just so he can get a job at “the hedge funds and i banks ?” If so, school name and other things matter more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seeking advice from anyone with knowledge in the field. My DS is a first year at a small liberal arts college and is really enjoying his intro econ class. His small LAC does not have a quantitative econ major, just economics, nor a computer science major. Could he back-end into this by majoring in econ and minoring in math? He’s always been strong at math but never considered it as a field of study in college, and what he enjoys about the econ math is the real world applications (vs in his HS math classes, it was just dry formulas, etc.) I want him to be able to explore but also want him to be employable

In economics - take econometrics, statistics, game theory and any course that says it will do data work or regression analyses
in math - beyond calculus: take linear algebra, differential equations
in CS - take any course that takes data and does analysis using statistical packages such as R, Stata, SAS

[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

Talk to the econometrics and statistics teachers - even as academia - quantitative applied work - is the sort of thing they do

[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

Ooh, care to share the LAC? I would suggest a math minor perhaps. The LAC my kid attends offers a quantitative econ concentration to be paired with the economics major that is essentially an applied math minor: Calc 3, linear algebra, a 300-level math class, intro stats, and an advanced econ theory class, in addition to econometrics and calculus required for the major. See if other departments like psychology and sociology offer statistics-driven classes where you can still gain experience working with data and using languages like R.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seeking advice from anyone with knowledge in the field. My DS is a first year at a small liberal arts college and is really enjoying his intro econ class. His small LAC does not have a quantitative econ major, just economics, nor a computer science major. Could he back-end into this by majoring in econ and minoring in math? He’s always been strong at math but never considered it as a field of study in college, and what he enjoys about the econ math is the real world applications (vs in his HS math classes, it was just dry formulas, etc.) I want him to be able to explore but also want him to be employable

In economics - take econometrics, statistics, game theory and any course that says it will do data work or regression analyses
in math - beyond calculus: take linear algebra, differential equations
in CS - take any course that takes data and does analysis using statistical packages such as R, Stata, SAS

This is really good advice. Throw in some history, intro to political science.
I hire economists - I looked for kids that in additioon to their Econ major have done the math PP has suggested, can code, and can write well. And have a global perspective.

[Anonymous]

Easy - double-major in econ and math. Check to see if there is an independent studies (or, in later years, honors) option to get quantitative skills. Or apply to be a research assistant during the semester or summer. At a LAC, I imagine the faculty will be delighted with a student who shows interest to dig deeper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seeking advice from anyone with knowledge in the field. My DS is a first year at a small liberal arts college and is really enjoying his intro econ class. His small LAC does not have a quantitative econ major, just economics, nor a computer science major. Could he back-end into this by majoring in econ and minoring in math? He’s always been strong at math but never considered it as a field of study in college, and what he enjoys about the econ math is the real world applications (vs in his HS math classes, it was just dry formulas, etc.) I want him to be able to explore but also want him to be employable

Does your small LAC not have professional counselors that can advise your student on such matters? I assume you are paying tuition, that should be included. I would start there...this blog is not the place to receive good advice for real world solutions.

[Anonymous]

Go to one of the other Colleges That Change Lights.

[Anonymous]

Take more math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Ooh, care to share the LAC? I would suggest a math minor perhaps. The LAC my kid attends offers a quantitative econ concentration to be paired with the economics major that is essentially an applied math minor: Calc 3, linear algebra, a 300-level math class, intro stats, and an advanced econ theory class, in addition to econometrics and calculus required for the major. See if other departments like psychology and sociology offer statistics-driven classes where you can still gain experience working with data and using languages like R.

Which LAC does your kid attend ? TIA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seeking advice from anyone with knowledge in the field. My DS is a first year at a small liberal arts college and is really enjoying his intro econ class. His small LAC does not have a quantitative econ major, just economics, nor a computer science major. Could he back-end into this by majoring in econ and minoring in math? He’s always been strong at math but never considered it as a field of study in college, and what he enjoys about the econ math is the real world applications (vs in his HS math classes, it was just dry formulas, etc.) I want him to be able to explore but also want him to be employable

In economics - take econometrics, statistics, game theory and any course that says it will do data work or regression analyses
in math - beyond calculus: take linear algebra, differential equations
in CS - take any course that takes data and does analysis using statistical packages such as R, Stata, SAS

+1. Great advice.

[Anonymous]

The name of his major is going to matter much less than his coursework, grades, and what companies consider his school a target school.

Many well known companies have certain schools they recruit from that they call “target schools.” If you aren’t at one of their target schools, your application won’t even be reviewed until they have interviewed candidates from their target schools. My econ grad had two different in-house recruiters for consulting groups tell her the interview/offer time frames for target vs non target applicants.

Keep the gpa as high as possible, and at least above a 3.5, and take courses that support what you want to specialize in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Ooh, care to share the LAC? I would suggest a math minor perhaps. The LAC my kid attends offers a quantitative econ concentration to be paired with the economics major that is essentially an applied math minor: Calc 3, linear algebra, a 300-level math class, intro stats, and an advanced econ theory class, in addition to econometrics and calculus required for the major. See if other departments like psychology and sociology offer statistics-driven classes where you can still gain experience working with data and using languages like R.

Which LAC does your kid attend ? TIA

My kid goes to Oberlin! We're overall pretty content and happy that DC is enjoying the experience and gets to attend at a discount. DC was in the same boat up until this year about trying to create a data science concentration until the school officially offered on and is trying to take classes that similar to what computational biology major at another school would take.

[Anonymous]

If he wants to get an Econ PhD., have him take a lot of math. His econ professors should guide him. If he wants to work in investments, consulting, or general management, he doesn’t need advanced math. If he wants to work as a business/financial analyst, have him learn a programmable stats language, like R, Python, SAS, STATA, etc., and various data science techniques, like natural language programming. Increasingly, analysts have to access and manipulate large databases to work with data, combine data sets, and detect trends, etc. If he wants to create programs for algorithmic trading, have him take math and computer science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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…

Amen. Why would an investment bank want an economist or analyst who couldn’t even figure out how to find some good summer school classes or year-abroad program classes in statistics?