What colleges have the best undergraduate economics programs?
I am currently a junior and I think I want to major in Economics when I am in college. I want to go to a college with fairly warm weather, so the colleges I am currently considering are: Emory, Claremont McKenna, Georgetown, George Washington, American, University of Richmond, Pitzer. How do these schools rank for undergraduate economic programs? Also, does anyone know where to find a list of college rankings according to major?
How would you rank the following colleges for an undergraduate degree in biology/neuroscience?
If these are your only choices due to admissions requirements, I would say UCB; but I would suggest that you check UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara, UCLA (Los Angeles), and Scripps in California. What you should be looking for is a robust undergraduate program with a great graduate program and access to superb sponsored laboratories that are doing cutting-edge work. It would be great if you could get an internship or paid gig at one of these labs while attending school.
What is the best undergraduate major for robotics?
Robotics at well-ranked institutes is arguably the best undergraduate major for robotics.Unfortunately, such specialized majors which are a good blend of mechanics, circuits, and computer science are taught in very few countries - Japan, South Korea, Germany to name some. However, it comes with an additional barrier - language.Next would be Mechatronics. Offered in more places than just Robotics.Certain undergraduate majors can be tailored to be more robotics-oriented by taking more classes/electives, for instance, the Engineering Sciences program at University of Toronto. Or do an additional year after completing bachelors in Computer Science at CMU to get a 5th-year masters in Robotics.I went into robotics through the B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering route and I am doing fine so far. Indeed, I have my limitations in certain areas and you are expected to fill the gaps by taking the right courses or supplementary material.Robotics has become a huge field. By doing an undergraduate in it will give you a head-start, but by no means will it be sufficient to develop mastery.
What is an undergraduate degree?
I've recently been reading about undergraduate and graduate degrees in preparing for college, and I'm rather confused. What's the point of an undergraduate degree? What is an undergraduate degree? Can you only take undergraduate classes at some schools and not others? How long does it typically take to earn an undergraduate degree? What is the difference between an undergraduate and a graduate degree? Also, if you could supply any other general information on the subject, I'll surely award some extra points.
What is the definition of an undergraduate major?
An undergraduate major is what you study during 4 years of college. You don't have to decide what your major is when you apply to college, or even once you become a freshman. You don't usually have to declare a major until the end of your sophomore year of college (unless you do something like Music or Theatre, in which you have to audition as part of the application process in your senior year of high school to start taking courses in the major right away freshman year- I'm doing music!). Undergraduate majors can be in almost any field. Pick something you're interested in and do well in. Examples of undergrad majors (there are many, many more than this): Business, Econ, History, Poli Sci, Music, Theatre, Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy, English, Theology, Spanish, German, French, Latin, Greek, Italian, Arabic, International Relations, Neuroscience, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Biochem, Cognitive Science, Environmental Science...almost any subject you like!
Does it truly matter what you got your undergraduate degree in?
Of course it matters, the only question is, matters for what?It matters:To you! If I had to study underwater basket weaving, I’d have failed outTo employers, if you have specific job skills that they need and/or the job requires a particular kind of degree (e.g., accounting and engineering, respectively)To employers, even if you don’t have job-specific skills, because jobs require different general skills (e.g., critical reading, analytical writing, verbal communication, quantitative reasoning, or abstract and symbolic reasoning) and different majors emphasize different general skillsTo graduate schools, since some programs require extensive domain knowledgeHowever, bachelor’s degrees and majors are not deterministic. My undergraduate majors were history and English, and I’m a computer science professor. I had to do a lot of learning, and my graduate degrees are in computing, but if you are willing to learn, you can change later.
What is best undergraduate degree for majoring in Law later?
Most people argue philosophy because it is a similar critical reading and argument skills that will serve you well as a lawyer.I always wanted to be a lawyer and had originally planed to triple major in IR, Poli Sci and Business.I ended up doing Business with essentially Finance and Operations majors and a Poli Sci minor. I lucked out that I did business because the legal market crashed and I still had a valuable degree and have ended up loving business. Also of note is that in my current job I do a considerable amount of legal work.So my advice?Psychology is not the most useful degree as far as employ-ability should you change your mind later, not get into great law schools, or the legal market crashes again. Law schools don’t care that much about your degree major either as long as it isn’t too soft, but will hold you in comparison to other students with a similar major. LSAT matters more than major essentially.Choose something practical and useful like Business or Computer Science and pair it with a psychology dual major or minor. You will be well served and it will open up areas of specialty law.
When do you call a student graduate and an undergraduate?
Undergraduate students are working on an associate’s degree (2 years) or a bachelor’s degree (4 years). Graduate students are working on a master’s degree (usually about 2–3 years). Doctoral (or PhD) students are working on a PhD (I think 2 years?). Sometimes students are postdocs (after PhD), postgrads, etc. There are also “non-degree seeking” students, who are not trying to earn a particular degree. They would generally be classified as undergraduate, graduate, etc. based on similar criteria (are they taking undergraduate or graduate level courses). However there are combined courses where grad students have additional assignments compared to undergrads, and sometimes the higher level undergrad classes overlap the lower level grad classes.
How difficult is Neuroscience as an undergraduate major?
Exactly what is meant by a neuroscience major differs depending on the college you go to as well as your personal choices. You can expect to take courses in both biology and psychology (especially physiological psychology). You may have a choice of going with a psychological or biological focus. However, some colleges tend to emphasize one track or the other depending on their faculty. The difficulty of the major is comparable to a "regular" biology degree. A neuroscience major won't give you any advantage for getting into medical school. It is also unlikely to give you much of an edge while in medical school. The medical school curriculum is generally at such a specialized level relative to an undergraduate curriculum that your exact undergraduate major doesn't make all that much difference - regardless of your eventual medical specialty. If you're thinking about doing a neuroscience major, do it because of your interest in neuroscience - not because it's going to give you a hypothesized advantage in med school. That same advice applies to whatever undergrad major you choose.