Economics Grad program with poor math background - need advice

[Guest Chiper91]

Hello everyone,

 

I recently graduated with a BA in economics and political science from a good public university. Until my junior year I was primarily interested in Political science...but then I realized that Polisci is kind of useless when it comes to finding a job. I quickly became more interested in economics and now I want to pursue a graduate degree in econ. Unfortunately, during my undergrad, I took very few math courses...It is not because I did not want to take more but because when I took the math courses, I was still interested in POlisci and not econ.

 

When I learned that I needed more math courses to apply for econ grad, I was in my last year and my scholarship could not have been extended to cover more years.  Right now I still want to go to grad school....I am thinking of taking math courses at a community college or some online courses at a local university...The only issue is that I am a foreigner and tuition is three times higher than for locals.

 

My question is.....if I take math courses a community college instead of a university, will the grad committee accept the...ot at least value them the same as if they were taken at a university? My undegrad GPA was good (3.93) and I want to go a good uni for grad school...I just need the math...

 

If you have any suggestions, advice, please respond. I hope I am not the only one with this kind of circumstances.....

 

Sorry for my bad English, it is not my native tongue...

 

 

[peachypie]

I am not sure how many courses you have yet to complete to satisfy the requirement for application to graduate school in economics; however, I would try my best if possible to go to a reputable university.  if you have the option between a community college and a local university, I'd go with the local university.  Do only what you can however.  Better yet if there is a place you are interested in going and can take classes there it would be another extra advantage.  Do what you can, but don't do it if it is financially not feasible to complete.  Again to me, it would be a factor of how many courses I had to complete.  

[Poli92]

Could you speak a little more to exactly what your math background is? You may have more than you think. 

[Guest Chiper91]

Thank you for your responses.

 

At this moment I have to take quite a few match course (all of them actually). When I was taking math course for my polisci major, I took Survey of Calc 1 and 2. These courses did not have analytical geometry/ trigonometry part. Apart from  calc I took Stats 1 and 2. It was only when I became a senior I realized that I should have taken the calc courses with geometry.

Right now I need to take calc courses with geometry (1, 2 and 3) plus differential equations, linear algebra and probably other courses...

I agree that I should take the courses at a university but since I am an international student, everything is three times more expensive. I do not have that much money so my best option is to go to a community college...

Oh, and another thing...since I work most of the time during the week, it is very hard to find courses that would fit my schedule. Therefore I might have to take online/ distance learning courses....So far, I have not found any university/ community college that offers calc classes online....

Sometimes I think I am kind of trapped n my situation and there is no way I can improve my math background given my financial situation and schedule.

 

My other option is to apply for a funded grad program in political science and hopefully be able to take some math courses while I am enrolled in a Polisci program. I highly doubt that though, because PhD programs are highly demanding and I won't have any time to study math. What do you think?

[larsant]

in math, you will want to take real analysis. in stats you'll want two proof-based classes, probably at the graduate level.