(Asking the opinion of some graduates, but I’m not sure if this is the right forum. If not, please move it. )
I’m a high school student and I, at this point have a great interest in Economics. I’m reading, and loving the book Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, which I would guess is Economics Lite, or just some very basic stuff in the classroom.
I go to my councelor and tell him this, and he goes: “Why would you want that? What can you do with it?”
I go: “That’s what I was about to ask you…”
He goes: “I frankly have no clue.” I never had much trust in the councelors anyway.
So, to those Economics graduates out there, what CAN you do with an economics degree? Just teach?
A number of corporations have economists on staff. Wells Fargo used to employ Sung Won Sohn: http://www.drsohn.com/
Its a good business/liberal arts crossover degree to have to work in business - you don’t end up BEING an economist, but the principles you learn apply to all sorts of different business problems. You don’t need a degree in Business Administration to end up a mid-level manager in a corporation.
A friend of ours has his Masters in Econ. His Bachelors is Econ and CSci. He does data warehousing now.
One of my coworkers has his degree in Econ - he is now an IT Architect.
I would suggest picking up a copy of the magazine “The Economist” and looking at the job ads. Most of the jobs are in the UK/Europe, since that’s where it’s published, but it gives you an idea of the type of work available. Also, if you like economics, you’ll love the magazine.
Public policy/ policy analysis is a field you can go into with an economics background.
One of the sharpest executives I’ve ever worked with, a top executive at a major Fortune 500 multinational, had a degree in Economics. He may have combined it with an MBA, which is what I’d recommend if you are interested in applying your skills in business.
And honestly if I were you I would file a complaint about the career counselor. That’s no way to do his job. His first questions might have been reasonable, to get an idea of where you were coming from, but he should have had some resources to offer. If he doesn’t, why does the school pay him?
I agree with Harriet the Spry that you should report the counselor. From my work experience in IT in the financial services industry, I would say that a BS in economics is about the same as a BS in business or management. It will qualify you for entry-level white collar work that can lead to a good career. To actually work as an economist, I expect that a graduate degree would be helpful.
A high school counselor is not a career counselor. But, yeah, he sounds like an idiot and should have at least been able to provide resources - i.e. “why don’t you call State University’s Econ department and ask to talk to some recent graduates or Seniors or a few professors?”
BTW, when I was a junior or senior in high school, we had a Social Studies paper to do just that. Pick a career that interests you and write about it. It required at least one interview with someone currently employed in that field. It was a great assignment, and made me change my mind about doing what I had intended to do.
Just ask your high school counselor this: “If you know so much about careers, why are you a high school counselor?”
I don’t mean to slight the profession–I *know that there are good counselors out there. Although, If I had listened to my high school counselor, I would be in much worse shape now than I am…
As a degree, economics has a ton of flexibility. It is a liberal arts degree, but it is the closest that many colleges or universities without business schools have to a business degree. This means that many employers in the financial sector are quite willing to hire econ majors along with business majors.
It is a social science degree, but it is fairly techincal and mathematical, so it isn’t seen as particularly “fluffy”, like, say, sociology might be. It can provide writing, research and analysis skills that a hard science might not. It is a solid base for graduate work in law, business, or many other fields.
This is straying from the OP a little bit, but could I recommend minoring in economics even if you decide not to get a degree in the field? I’m doing that now, and I think it complements pretty much any degree nicely. Even if you don’t remember the formulas and such, you do learn to “think like an economist”, which at the very least can make the news more intelligable. At best, it lets you bring an additional tool-set to your papers in non-econ classes.
I told my high school counselor I didn’t understand how to get close to girls, and she put the moves on me. I was too naive to get the drift, because…I didn’t understand how to get close to girls. :smack: Too bad, she was a fox.
Economists write books that confuse and mislead people, then they go on news and talk shows to say profound things that nobody understands. They are seen as wise, for no apparent reason, and every investment firm has as least one, for window-dressing.
Economists have predicted eleven of the past five recessions. :dubious:
I have BS and MS in econ, where I concentrated on quantitative methods (stats, differential equations in solving for optimum solutions, etc.). I currently am a VP for a database company running a group that analyzes data for trends, clusters, etc., basically any insights that can be applied to business. I started professional life as a marketing analyst evaluating marketing campaigns.
There are a lot of ways to go with the degree, not just quantitative. I have a friend who went to the same school for the same degree, but he took fewer quant classes and more public policy type classes. Today he is a lawyer.
Econ gives you an rational analytical framework to evaluate all kinds of questions. This is a useful skill in all kinds of endeavors.
I have a BS in Economics and Political Science. I’ve been working in standardized testing. It has been helpful since I know enough math to be flexible and help develop several standardized tests.
I’d say try to take to most challenging econ classes. Econometrics will be far more useful should you go to grad school than history of economic ideas.
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