Economics attracts fewer sophomores

Forty-eight fewer sophomores expressed interest in joining the economics department this year, prompting a concerned e-mail yesterday from chair Mark Watson seeking possible explanations for the decrease from juniors in the department.

According to Watson, 70 members of the Class of 2002 indicated interest in joining the economics department. Two years ago, 142 students signed into the department and last year 118 joined.

Watson characterized the number of new majors as "significantly lower" than in previous years.

He noted several possible reasons for the drop in student interest in the department. "The most likely [reason] is the finance certificate," Watson said. "It may allow students, who in the past would have majored in economics, to now major in English or computer science and still learn economics. If that is what's going on, I'm happy."

New departmental requirements also may have influenced students' decisions not to become economics majors, Watson added. "We're stiffening our requirements here," he said. "The math requirement is higher and there is a new statistics requirement."

Watson also noted that the quality of education offered in economics may have deteriorated slightly because of the department's extremely large size. "The worry is that because our enrollment increased so much and the faculty has not increased so much, the overall quality of education in economics has diminished," he said.

With the surge in the number of economics majors during the past few years, this year's decrease may have positive consequences, Watson said. "With 130 students, our resources were stretched thin," he said.

Gil Klemann '01, an economics major, explained that the department's junior paper advising system may deter some students from majoring in economics. "I think that part of it is that the junior paper adviser program has flipped out and many of us get a fifth year grad student," he said.

Jenna Mariano '02, who intends to major in economics, offered another explanation for the drop in interest. "I've heard that students feel that in the new marketplace they don't have to major in economics to get in line for good economics jobs," she said.

Watson said he hopes students continue to explore their interests in economics even if they do not join the department. "If students don't major in economics, but get the finance certificate, they will still take economics classes and our enrollment will stay high," he said.