Department of Economics
Sep 29
Some people take economics college courses because they want to work in business, but distinguish themselves as a cut above the rest. Compared to a mere business degree, a degree in economics involves more mathematics, more statistics and a well-rounded mixture of economic theory, organizational communication, management and technical writing courses. To employers, an economist has more gravitas and adds more value to their organizations. As a result, graduates from a school’s department of Economics tend to earn more money out of school and win more prestigious positions than business majors. According to a 2002 National Association of Business Economics survey, economics majors earned 20% more than business administration majors, 19% more than accounting majors, 18% more than marketing majors and 15% more than finance majors.
Stanford University is considered one of the best economics university institutions in the nation for both undergrad and graduate students. In February, the department reviews more than 700 graduate applications each year to choose the 50 best students for admittance next fall. Another school with a highly-regarded Economics department is Princeton University, which admits 25 students per year out of 800 applicants. To be considered, students will need a GRE score of 780 to 800 and above. The University of Wisconsin (Madison) will admit 25 to 30 students to their graduate school. Other prestigious schools in education economics include MIT, the University of Chicago, UC-Berkeley and Yale. If your grades weren’t top-of-your-class caliber, then you may want to try a middle-ranked school like Penn State.
When choosing classes from a school’s department of Economics, the best advice is to take more math courses! It can be easy to fall behind in your studies if you aren’t crystal clear on the statistics, calculus and mathematical concepts. When you were trying to get your bachelor’s degree in economics, you were likely scanning the course options for “easy electives” and ways of pulling your GPA up. However, graduate schools care most about what hard classes you’ve taken and how well you did in them, rather than your GPA as a whole. Be sure you take real analysis, calculus and econometrics, as these classes will be vital to your understanding.
As you know, most students seeking PhDs love school and wish to continue working in academia at an economics college or university. According to the Job Openings for Economists (JOE) job board, as of June 2009, there are full-time positions open at John Hopkins University, Kansas State University, Lebanon Valley College, the University of Santa Barbara, the University of Austin Texas and West Virginia University. NYU, Lake Forest College, Saint Benedict’s, the University of Cincinnati and the University of Vermont also offer adjunct/part-time positions. Internationally, there are positions in Australia, South Korea, Germany and the UK. You’ll need to contact the department of Economics of these offers through the JOE website at www.aeaweb.org/joe.
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