Preparation for Graduate Study in Other Fields

Because economics students are trained to think logically, orderly, and critically and because many legal issues and lawsuits involve questions of economics, students with coursework or degrees in economics are especially successful in law school. Many law schools regularly teach economics courses and even traditional law school courses are often taught with significant economics content and from an economics perspective. Among students from the major disciplines who apply to law schools, students earning degrees in economics score highest on the Law School Admission Test.

For students interested in law school, whether or not majoring in economics, we especially recommend the following courses:

Most MBA programs only admit students who have had several years of work experience and, perhaps contrary to popular belief, an undergraduate degree in business is not a prerequisite to graduate study in business. Many MBA students, for example, have degrees in some technical field or in the humanities, and for them the MBA is essentially a substitute for an undergraduate business degree. More important than your particular undergraduate major is that you have a solid analytical background with good quantitative skills. Economics provides such a background.

In addition to at least one semester of calculus and one semester of statistics, we recommend that students intending to pursue graduate study in business include some of the following courses in their degree programs:

Graduate study in finance requires good quantitative skills. Students interested in earning a masters degree in finance should have at least one semester of calculus and one semester of statistics. Students interested in doctoral study in finance should have single and multivariate calculus, linear algebra, and statistics.

Students interested in graduate study in finance should include the following courses in their undergraduate degree programs:

Graduate study in finance requires good quantitative skills. Students interested in earning a masters degree in finance should have at least one semester of calculus and one semester of statistics. Students interested in doctoral study in finance should have single and multivariate calculus, linear algebra, and statistics.

Students interested in graduate study in finance should include the following courses in their undergraduate degree programs:

For students interested in pursuing a graduate degree in environmental studies, the following economics courses are particularly good preparation:

Many undergraduates are unaware of graduate degree programs in some interdisciplinary social sciences related to economics. These include public policy, public health, urban planning, and public administration. Many of these degrees can be combined with further training in economics.

All students interested in graduate study in any of the social sciences or interdisciplinary social sciences should take at least one semester of calculus and one semester of statistics. In addition, the following courses are recommended: