the vast majority of perspective on economics that I admire comes from CS majors.
This may be of interest;
It becomes rapidly more difficult in the second and third years. If you’re not good with calculus, and can’t improve, avoid most economics programmes.
Having been on the other side of the table, I like to see job applicants with a variety of skills. I’d suggest that you switch to an economics major with a minor in finance or accounting. It can be very hard for business people to make IT people understand exactly what they need. Your Navy record already demonstrates that you have a certain level of expertise in IT and combining this with business knowledge would be a powerful combination.
Combining two areas of knowledge can often lead to more than the sum of the parts. One of my best commercial real estate financial analysis trainees was a philosophy major.
There are very exciting things happening in computer science as pure science. I recommend you stick to a field that has a future instead of going into a field that’s stuck in the past. You want to be a pioneer, not a teacher’s pet.
You’ll be taught neoclassical economics, which involves a lot of calculus, probability, etc. Walter Block, Robert Higgs and all the other Austrian economists had to learn all this math for their PhDs before they could figure out what’s wrong with mainstream economics. So if you’re not confident that you’ll do reasonably well, then you should consider a softer social science, like law or political science, which doesn’t involve as much technical stuff.
I was also considering economics, but then I realized that math is one of my weaknesses, and I’d be much more comfortable with history or politics. Sure, politics these days has some math, but it’s not at the same level as economics, and you can focus on areas like political philosophy or international relations which are more verbal than quantitative.
You should do what you think you’d be best at, not just what you think you’re interested in. If you’re interested in economics, but don’t think you’d be REALLY GOOD at it, then you could just continue along your present career path and not change a thing.
You could read Austrian economics on the side, as a hobby.
EDIT: I don’t mean to discourage you from pursuing your interests, btw, because we definitely need more libertarian economists. Besides, the math in economics isn’t as hard as in physics, and it’d be easy to ask the lecturer or get help from tutors if you’re really stuck on something.
I agree. If you want to go on to academia, then you’re stuck - you need a PhD. But otherwise, you’re probably better off studying on your own.
I posted this in another thread, but here are some lectures on career strategy I think all students should listen to:
Future Directions of Austrian Economics - Peter Boettke
The Vocational Economist - Peter Klein
What was your rate in the Navy? Did UC give you any scholarships? I ask because I wouldn’t try to take out student loans to pay for school if you can.
I was a SWO officer before they “rightsized” me. All my EMs did all the work anyway and they paid for school, so I’m not complaining. Plus having social skills makes you unqualified to be an officer.
UC may allow you to design your own major. I started out as a politial science major, then economics, and then became a political economy major. Most political economy degrees are interdiciplinary anyway so they’re perfect for people who want to make their own degree. The problem that you encounter with economics is that for most schools it’s in the business school. So you have to take B-school prereqs like accounting and finance and management theory courses. Economics is simply not a business school skill, it’s a social science and it belongs in the social sciences college. With that said, take at least basic accounting and financial accounting. It never hurts to know a little double entry accounting when you hit the work force.
If you want to leverage your IT from the Navy, look into library science and/or ISDS. I work in corporate strategy and manager on my team has a library sciences degree and the man is golden. He just knows how to find information and document correctly. With that and elite databasing skills and just about every large corporation in the country will hire you. From the back office, you really learn what it is your business does and how it is they make money, which is always different than anything you ever get from an economics or finance textbook.
Economics and political economy are passions that never really leave you. It’s a life-long study. I only rediscovered Hayek three years after college and now I think I’ve dropped over $200 on books from the Mises bookstore in the last 3 months alone. The point is you don’t have to be an economics major to be a student of economics.
I’m tempted to do a political economy or international relations degree (I have offers from universities) but I’m concerned it’ll rule out gainful private sector employment.
Is this undergraduate or postgraduate?
Latter.
I am a 3rd year economics-finance double major. The level of mathematics depends mostly on your school. My school, for eco, at least demands up Calc 2. With finance, its is extended with more statistics (which of course are required in economics) and quantitative finance. I could probably(and may) add mathematics as a minor since I have virtually all the required classes for it anyways. (My school wants a liberal arts major as your minor if you have a business major). I do this mostly to look good on paper for when I graduate. Shows my work load capabilities and analytical skills.
Some schools may require more or less mathematics, I would look deeper into what exact classes they are. Some accounting classes can take place of some math, or stats classes. Just depends on where.
In my case, economics seems very generalized and textbook. I find my private study of austrian economics is well enough supplement for me. (It also isn’t available in my school, so thats that)