I guess it all depends on what you want to do. Yes, I severely regret it. I started going to every university I respected and started browsing around all the different masters they offered. Finance does this as well, but to a much lesser extent (more formulaic and memorization). I learned as much mathematics, econometrics, and statistics as I could. As an economist who is well known in my town, I get calls from economics majors (or their parents) asking for help finding jobs. Some have 100% acceptance rates (in Germany) due to a lack of degrees … There are several more reasons why you should study economics… I think it depends on where you're from. The subject material you learn in such a program will give you a broad understanding of finance, markets, consumption and … What type of jobs can I get with Economics degree or Masters degree in economics? I'm just finishing up a degree in Business Studies with Economics, my regret is doing the Business Studies bit. If you’ve ever wondered why drug dealers tend to live with their mothers, what … With an undergraduate degree in business, students will be prepared to work in the obvious fields of … Hope that helps. The types of jobs someone can get with an economics degree depend on whether his or her highest degree is a bachelor's, master's or a Ph.D. Economics degrees are marketable credentials … I paired economics and business administration together and it served me well. Economics and finance are two different disciplines on the basis of their scope of work. Get off your high horse when talking down other majors. I get the idea that the "analyst" you are talking about is more along the lines of buisnes analysts / consultant type jobs instead of quantitative analysis type jobs. Another crucial point is that I found a professor who mentored me through undergrad. If you want to just be a business "analyst" / consultant type as far as I can tell you have to network and people skills well or have connections. Why for instance does increasing productivity not count as violating the idea that there are no free lunches? Just graduating now with a job. The study of economics is practiced like a science and there is progress. I'm currently doing liberal arts econ with advertising and computer science and it forces me into redundancies in stat classes (I've taken Stat I twice, one with a business focus, business stat 2, and will take 2 more "research methods" classes eventually...) , ; I imagine I'll fall into a jr. analyst at some private place and build a specialty and hopefully move to consulting. Study Economics in the Bachelor of Economics, or Major in Economics, Econometrics, or Financial Economics. Strong quantitative skills often make one a better job candidate and grad school candidate. Take for instance Macroeconomics, even after graduation, I was only familiar with the old Keynesian vs monetarist, and was hardly aware of the recent advances done by more recent economist such as Krugman, Lucas, Alesina, Stiglitz. Economics degree holders are a bit more limited when it comes to the scope of suitable workplaces. Economics is also considered to be an excellent subject for graduate study in the fields of government, business economics, law, labour relations, public administration, and diplomacy. Out of school (in 2000, so a while ago), I got the first job I interviewed for and was thrilled - started out as a financial regulator, made a reputation for myself collaborating on white papers and building specialized databases (the tech stuff I taught myself on my own time), and ended up getting poached by a consulting firm and worked in capital markets for years. I regret it. I felt the same way as SmoothB1983. Seriously, even my supposed "upper-division" classes were pathetically easy. I didn't comment on the moderator post a few days ago, but I think a large portion of private sector jobs in economics are still very political. There are many good schools in Europe, particularly in England and in Germany which are well-respected. Yeah I'm not sure this applies to the U.S., though I could be wrong. However, grads with a master's degree or Ph.D. degree have the best employment options. Literally anything. What type of jobs can I get with Economics degree or Masters degree in economics? Learning statistical software / programing is a very useful job skill (Stata is popular in the US, R is gaining some following, there are others too). You can use an economics degree … I wanted to pursue an academic career and so did many of my friends, thus we went to grad school. The benefit of Econ that I find over finance is that it teaches you to critically think better and solve complex problems. A degree in economics will provide many opportunities to work in nearly any industry. More posts from the FinancialCareers community. I was so shocked at how little I know when I entered grad school. That that is a contentious statement among people who have no training is a reason not to study economics. If not, what do you think would? With a bachelor's degree in economics and political science it's possible to pursue opportunities as a research assistant for a political scientist. But I think they are the smart ones - they still land the same kind of jobs as economists while cruising through their degree. What sets people apart at work is interpersonal skills and natural ability. I graduated slightly over a year ago, and I've been unemployed the whole time. So are you still in grad school? Economics degree vs. Business degree. I was an economics major. Everybody works for a living. Graduate Economics Degree Salary. Understanding the phrase that there is no free lunch alone requires a lot of foundation. Those of my friends who didn't want a career in academics went on to obtain master's degrees … There are a ton of masters of finance programs that will immerse you in the quant side and will give you some wiggle room on what you come in with. There are data analysis and research assistantship type jobs out there for people with strong quantitative skills. I can only give you insight into my own personal experience as a man who holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics. You might be competing with math and comp sci majors for some of them, but the more interesting ones like economic research experience / econometrics experience. Care to talk about that experience? Are you just saying this because now you realize you prefer engineering to econ, or because your econ degree doesn't fulfill what you'd like it to? I am not getting my phd in economics, but another of the social sciences. Job market wise, you don't need any specific degree for a typical "analyst" role. Clearly business/accounting students do. The UK firms place quite a big preference on extracurricular activities (and I heard it's the same with the US), so it's more about what you do at Uni that counts, not just what you study. Also, I learned a lot of Stata. Most economics degrees last for three or four years and are primarily taught through lectures and seminars. Some of the common economics degrees are B.Sc. Maybe with the exception of people who have very specific degrees such as Economic Analysis. Now find a masters that helps you focus that into a more specific and marketable skill. If I may ask a question... HS junior looking at colleges w/ good economics. There are a lot of options out there for grad programs. The most prepared of economics majors, however, will choose to … The accounting program I'm going into is one of the top ranked, and it REQUIRES you to come from a background other than accounting. 90% of what you learn in finance or economics really won’t be applicable to most jobs, and most will be learned on the job. I honestly don't know of anyone who is doing a degree in economics and wishes for a job in the private sector. Perhaps the tools you learnt in economics give you more of an analytical mind than others but I don't think its enough to give you an edge. Of my two closest friends that were Econ majors, neither were satisfied with the job prospects with a BA alone. Plan your career in the wide world of finance. I learned pretty much nothing useful in college, and left with no job skills. Log In Sign Up. Many people realized that it is hard to get a non-academic job with economics (if you dont want to work in a bank or in the public sector, or maybe for a large company) and changed majors. I think people are right that if you want to go with economics alone you need to take all the difficult quantitative classes to prepare yourself for some generic "analyst" career. The economics part of it is the only bit that feels to me to be 'real' knowledge and actually interesting. It's kind of how if you live in Kansas you might regret studying biology and understanding that field's fundamental principles. In The Great Gatsby at one point Daisy cries that she hopes she has stupid, stupid children so that they don't suffer knowing how f'd up things are. An economics degree will boost your employability in many areas, regardless of the industry you work in. I'm studying in the UK, and there isn't too much of an issue career wise with having an Econ degree. I have worse things to say about those who did business or accounting as a degree. With an economics degree, you can work in a variety of different fields from finance and banking to public policy, sales and marketing, civil service (government departments, the Federal … But other engineering/science/language degrees holders can still take up these analyst jobs in banks/insurance/accounting companies and at the same time able to go into their degree specific roles. My degree has been largely useless. How difficult did you find the transition to grad school? Those of my friends who didn't want a career in academics went on to obtain master's degrees in business related majors - MBA, marketing, accounting, etc. I also did a honors thesis, getting research experience. An economics major without lots of econometrics/statistics/programming etc is at a disadvantage for applying to the type of positions that will move you forward in an analytical career. For a university undergraduate degree, economics was my choice over accounting. Freakonomics has often been described as one of the most popular economics books of all time – and there is a reason for this! Economics is not a particularly hard major at the undergraduate level. I have a degree in economics and naturally I have many friends who graduated with the same major. ... Rest of the time was mostly spent on reddit… A bachelor’s degree in economics leads to an average salary of $58,200 per year as of 2012 – a significant increase from the average bachelor’s degree salary of just $44,259. People for some reason think that economics students learn about businesses, so its a easier sell. It’s not! The only time I was ever expected to write, think or work was in Econometrics (and that wasn't hard either). A degree in economics can provide the foundation for a number of career options. My school basically has two programs: quant. 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