Economics major usefulness?

[aikoo]

Although I know that what students major is not a significant factor in medical school, I was wondering how useful/practical it would be--as in would it be necessary to have an econ degree to say, become a chief surgeon, or setting up my own clinical business? I'm sorry, this is a stupid question, but I'm debating on my major right now between majoring in just neuroscience or double-majoring in neuroscience and economics. I do like economics (I had a slight taste of it w/ AP Econ... lol... not very intensive but oh well), but I feel like I'm more attracted to it because of its practicality, not because I'm super passionate about the field. I also want to study Spanish and music in college, so it's important for me to decide before I start my freshman year so I can plan out my courses ahead of time.

I'm not double-majoring for the sake of double-majoring, or to look more appealing for med school; it's just that while I like econ, I'm not sure I can handle the courseload, and I'm not sure if I could balance research/clinical activities while maintaining my GPA (econ major is supposedly harder to get a higher GPA than most because of a 30% quota for A's).

I guess I should be less greedy and be more realistic, but I still feel conflicted.

PS I'm going to Vassar College, so if anyone went there... I'd appreciate any input
(my school doesn't offer any business or accounting majors, just econ)

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[NickNaylor]

It's not going to help you in medical school and it certainly won't help you run a business.

Major in what is most interesting to you, gives you a viable plan B in the event you decide not to do medicine, and which you think you'll be able to do well in.


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[aikoo]

Thank you! I'll just stick to taking a few econ courses out of interest, but I guess my main plan now is to stick to Neuro as my major. I guess I overestimated the usefuleness of an econ degree.

 

[ichor]

I'm double majoring in econ and math. I've always loved math and I thought econ was kinda interesting.

It's also a very good major in case I choose not to pursue medical school/don't get in.


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[deleted480308]

major in whatever degree interests you the most...with the caveat that it's easy enough to get A grades...

 

[MadRadLad]

It is very important to have a good understanding of economics (not just for doctors, for everyone). Definitely take micro and macro econ classes, but unless you really love the field you don't need to major in it.

 

[Heday]

Here are my two cents. Some background, I double majored (sciences) and have minors in economics and business admin. I currently work in management.

Firstly economics will NOT help you run/set up a medical practice nor in becoming chief of surgery (managing his responsibilities). My response is based on what it seems you want to do with this economics degree. Keep in mind, there are some things that an economics degree is great for.

Economics definitely isn't as practical as a degree in business administration (which is likely more helpful for what you're looking for), however it won't do jack **** for you (at least not enough to start without some guidance and mentorship). Economics definitely modifies how you approach everything (cost-benefit analysis, opportunity costs, etc). Business administration will give you a taste of pretty much everything related to managing a business (finance, legal, accounting, marketing, operations management, management, MIS, etc). It'll be helpful in knowing ways to improve your business and different aspects to cover (but this could largely depend on your inclination towards initiative and vision).

Furthermore, a MBA will be useless (or maybe a wasted opportunity), unless you actually have management experience. Management experience will enhance your knowledge and you may attempt to employ something you learned in B-School. MBA's biggest strength is networking. The only way to prepare for something is practice. Get your feet wet in management experience if you want to run your own practice or be chief of surgery. Sometimes I think management is actually just a fancy word for babysitting (which is what you'll you have to do sometimes).

Definitely major in economics if you enjoy it. The theoretical stuff in upper level courses may seem dry to some that enjoyed introductory courses. We had one section of SAS programming in our Econ dept which can provide useful skills for research (although a lot of people use R). Ability to program is important (and should be a requirement in my opinion). Economics is considerably easier than natural sciences (although it's very intuitive for me).

Business administration is laughably easy as far as material goes. However you'll likely have a lot more tedious class work, idiotically long homeworks (easy), a lot of group projects with [SDN would deem] idiots/slackers, required attendance, etc. The easiness is more than made up for when you consider the other stuff that comes with it. Doing internships, kissing ass (although this may be universal), attending an hour long lecture that you could study on your own in fifteen minutes.

Overall, there is much to learn from both disciplines that's practical for every day life. Operations management (OMGT) is particularly useful (more so than finance, accounting, etc) if you want to run a clinic or manage a diverse team. However, I recommend everyone take finance and financial law to be literate in your own finances. So many people do not know how to handle money/savings. You'll be years ahead of your medical school counterparts that are not financially literate.

If time and money weren't an issues, I'd keep both science majors and add econ as a third major. I would've taken upper level course in finance, accounting (tax), and OMGT. MSI was cool too. Learned to use access and it's definitely helped me in database/form design.

 

[moop]

Here are my two cents. Some background, I double majored (sciences) and have minors in economics and business admin. I currently work in management.

Firstly economics will NOT help you run/set up a medical practice nor in becoming chief of surgery (managing his responsibilities). My response is based on what it seems you want to do with this economics degree. Keep in mind, there are some things that an economics degree is great for.

Economics definitely isn't as practical as a degree in business administration (which is likely more helpful for what you're looking for), however it won't do jack **** for you (at least not enough to start without some guidance and mentorship). Economics definitely modifies how you approach everything (cost-benefit analysis, opportunity costs, etc). Business administration will give you a taste of pretty much everything related to managing a business (finance, legal, accounting, marketing, operations management, management, MIS, etc). It'll be helpful in knowing ways to improve your business and different aspects to cover (but this could largely depend on your inclination towards initiative and vision).

Furthermore, a MBA will be useless (or maybe a wasted opportunity), unless you actually have management experience. Management experience will enhance your knowledge and you may attempt to employ something you learned in B-School. MBA's biggest strength is networking. The only way to prepare for something is practice. Get your feet wet in management experience if you want to run your own practice or be chief of surgery. Sometimes I think management is actually just a fancy word for babysitting (which is what you'll you have to do sometimes).

Definitely major in economics if you enjoy it. The theoretical stuff in upper level courses may seem dry to some that enjoyed introductory courses. We had one section of SAS programming in our Econ dept which can provide useful skills for research (although a lot of people use R). Ability to program is important (and should be a requirement in my opinion). Economics is considerably easier than natural sciences (although it's very intuitive for me).

Business administration is laughably easy as far as material goes. However you'll likely have a lot more tedious class work, idiotically long homeworks (easy), a lot of group projects with [SDN would deem] idiots/slackers, required attendance, etc. The easiness is more than made up for when you consider the other stuff that comes with it. Doing internships, kissing ass (although this may be universal), attending an hour long lecture that you could study on your own in fifteen minutes.

Overall, there is much to learn from both disciplines that's practical for every day life. Operations management (OMGT) is particularly useful (more so than finance, accounting, etc) if you want to run a clinic or manage a diverse team. However, I recommend everyone take finance and financial law to be literate in your own finances. So many people do not know how to handle money/savings. You'll be years ahead of your medical school counterparts that are not financially literate.

If time and money weren't an issues, I'd keep both science majors and add econ as a third major. I would've taken upper level course in finance, accounting (tax), and OMGT. MSI was cool too. Learned to use access and it's definitely helped me in database/form design.

Omg Access...do people really still use that **** in the corporate management world? *shudders* Adobe Designer ftw, man...

 

[youmed]

You should start with one major, see how you perform with the workload, and then decide if you want to double major

 

[Heday]

Omg Access...do people really still use that **** in the corporate management world? *shudders* Adobe Designer ftw, man...

Haha, I think Access would be more of a small business/nonprofit use software (I would consider a private practice as a small business). I agree, LiveCycle results in a nicer form, but the nature of creating forms is frustrating in general (with the exception of googledocs). My use with LiveCycle is limited to creating forms; do newer versions have database management capabilities or is it supposed to be used hand-in-hand with a 3rd party DBMS?

 

[moop]

Haha, I think Access would be more of a small business/nonprofit use software (I would consider a private practice as a small business). I agree, LiveCycle results in a nicer form, but the nature of creating forms is frustrating in general (with the exception of googledocs). My use with LiveCycle is limited to creating forms; do newer versions have database management capabilities or is it supposed to be used hand-in-hand with a 3rd party DBMS?

Yah dude it can do errythang. I never used it extensively, but many of my consulting coworkers did back in the day.

 

[Goro]

Business major would be more useful in what you're thinking of.

Although I know that what students major is not a significant factor in medical school, I was wondering how useful/practical it would be--as in would it be necessary to have an econ degree to say, become a chief surgeon, or setting up my own clinical business? I'm sorry, this is a stupid question, but I'm debating on my major right now between majoring in just neuroscience or double-majoring in neuroscience and economics. I do like economics (I had a slight taste of it w/ AP Econ... lol... not very intensive but oh well), but I feel like I'm more attracted to it because of its practicality, not because I'm super passionate about the field. I also want to study Spanish and music in college, so it's important for me to decide before I start my freshman year so I can plan out my courses ahead of time.

I'm not double-majoring for the sake of double-majoring, or to look more appealing for med school; it's just that while I like econ, I'm not sure I can handle the courseload, and I'm not sure if I could balance research/clinical activities while maintaining my GPA (econ major is supposedly harder to get a higher GPA than most because of a 30% quota for A's).

I guess I should be less greedy and be more realistic, but I still feel conflicted.

PS I'm going to Vassar College, so if anyone went there... I'd appreciate any input
(my school doesn't offer any business or accounting majors, just econ)

 

[Frazier]

Although I know that what students major is not a significant factor in medical school, I was wondering how useful/practical it would be--as in would it be necessary to have an econ degree to say, become a chief surgeon, or setting up my own clinical business? I'm sorry, this is a stupid question, but I'm debating on my major right now between majoring in just neuroscience or double-majoring in neuroscience and economics. I do like economics (I had a slight taste of it w/ AP Econ... lol... not very intensive but oh well), but I feel like I'm more attracted to it because of its practicality, not because I'm super passionate about the field. I also want to study Spanish and music in college, so it's important for me to decide before I start my freshman year so I can plan out my courses ahead of time.

I'm not double-majoring for the sake of double-majoring, or to look more appealing for med school; it's just that while I like econ, I'm not sure I can handle the courseload, and I'm not sure if I could balance research/clinical activities while maintaining my GPA (econ major is supposedly harder to get a higher GPA than most because of a 30% quota for A's).

I guess I should be less greedy and be more realistic, but I still feel conflicted.

PS I'm going to Vassar College, so if anyone went there... I'd appreciate any input
(my school doesn't offer any business or accounting majors, just econ)

Econ is cool; however, it has precisely zero impact on you becoming "chief surgeon" or "setting up your own clinical business".

Have you looked at the upper level econ courses you will be taking? Likely have a healthy dose of modeling, econometrics... It is very likely that the Spanish would have more utility in your future between the two.