What kinds of careers are available to economics majors?

Economics majors from the College of Wooster pursue many career paths. They apply skills learned in the classroom before they graduate through experiential learning. Our curriculum builds analytical and critical thinking skills, as well as writing and communication that are prized by employers. For this reason, graduates have a variety of paths open to them. Wooster’s Economics majors have found fulfilling careers in the public and private sectors, in entrepreneurship, research, and in organizations of every size and industry. These include the United States Federal Reserve, U.S. Department of State, Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, OECD, International Monetary Fund, The World Bank, Morgan Stanley, Ernst & Young, Citigroup, Grameen Bank, CVS, Johnson & Johnson, The Gap, Boston Consulting Group, Mathematica, Bain & Company, and Dahlberg as well as research organizations like Poverty Action Lab, and International Food Policy Research Institute. Some students have also opted for highly selective service opportunities after they graduate such as Peace Corps or Teach for America. A large percentage of our graduates go on to graduate programs or have pursued professional degrees in law, business, and accounting. Wooster ranks No. 3 in the nation on the list of graduates who go on to earn Ph.Ds.

Economics at The College of Wooster

The Economics major helps students understand how humans organize to sustain life and enhance its quality, specifically how social and economic institutions are used to provision and allocate resources. Our program provides an analytically rigorous and critical understanding of markets, market failures, and non-market institutions that affect the everyday lives of individuals, families, firms, and societies. A Wooster Economics major is comfortable studying a wide variety of questions from different perspectives. Questions include: How do we individually and collectively ensure our material well-being now and into the future? How do individuals, families, communities, and institutions make behavioral and policy choices? Why is it that we have poverty, inequality, recessions, debt, unemployment, inflation? What are the roles of for-and-non-profit firms, financial institutions, governments, and central banks in an economy? The program develops an understanding of markets and its failures, behavioral choices and agency in diverse settings, alternative systems of provisioning and allocation, and the effects of institutions and policy on individuals, firms, and societies.

The core curriculum consists of five-and-one-half required courses, a scaffolded three semester mentored thesis experience, and five electives. Together these expose students to the systematic study of economic phenomena and problems using mathematical, statistical, and economic modeling tools. They include instruction and application of statistics, econometrics, optimization theory, cost/benefit analysis, price theory, and economic modeling. The electives deepen critical thinking, expose students to pluralist ideas, diverse forms of economic analysis, the philosophical origins of the discipline, and extends the quantitative and econometric training further to include novel empirical practices.

Wooster’s unique approach to mentorship is woven through economics courses. Our faculty facilitate and lead unique experiential learning opportunities for our students. For example:

• Students are recruited annually into the Sophomore Research Program to work on current faculty research projects. The Economics Department has a number of endowed funds that support student-faculty research as well as attendance at Conferences and Symposia.
• Every year, the College’s Social Entrepreneurship (SE) program and AMRE program consults local and international not-for-profits on social change and business problems.

With our experiential learning programs, teams of students supported by faculty advisors work with business, industry, or agency clients, or do academic research using the tools they learned in our courses.

The department’s ethos uses individual advising to create a supportive environment for our students’ intellectual interests and career goals. This ethos has supported the creation of Wooster Women and Gender Minorities in Economics (WWGME), a student run club. The department supports WWGME’s mission to elevate female, non-binary, and other gender-minority students as leaders in the field of economics.

Outside the Classroom

Applied Methods and Research Experience (AMRE)

The Applied Methods and Research Experience (AMRE) gives College of Wooster students the opportunity to apply classroom learning in the role of business and organizational consultants. For eight weeks of the summer, student teams and faculty advisors are paired with a (usually local) business, industry, or agency (client). Student participants are exposed to practical applications of their liberal arts education in a “real world” setting. This experience aids students in determining professional interests and developing professional skills. The faculty advisors have the opportunity to be involved with a very select group of students in a summer activity, while potentially contributing to research in applied fields. Clients have the opportunity to tangibly support education and, at a low cost, obtain solutions to problems that would most likely not be addressed internally.

Learn More View Independent Study Projects

Faculty & Staff

Colin Davison

Assistant Professor of Economics & Business Economics

cdavison@wooster.edu

Brooke Krause

Department Chair and Associate Professor of Economics & Business Economics

bkrause@wooster.edu

Jancy Ling Liu

Assistant Professor of Economics & Business Economics

jliu@wooster.edu

Melanie Long

Associate Professor of Economics & Business Economics; Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies

mlong@wooster.edu

Moses Luri

Assistant Professor of Economics and Statistical and Data Sciences

mluri@wooster.edu

Philip Mellizo

Associate Professor of Economics; Business Economics

pmellizo@wooster.edu

Amyaz Moledina

Professor of Economics & Business Economics and Department Chair of Global & International Studies; Co-Founder of Social Entrepreneurship Program

amoledina@wooster.edu

Cathy Roche

Adjunct Instructor of Economics & Business Economics

Mary Spencer

Administrative Coordinator, Notary Public - Economics and Business Economics, Education, Psychology

mspencer@wooster.edu

Huiting Tian

James R. Wilson Chair in Business Economics

htian@wooster.edu

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