What do you do with a BS in econ

What do you do with a BS in econ (Title above and song below inspired by lyrics from Avenue Qs What Do You Do with a BA in English?) What do you do with a B.S. in econ? What is my life going to be? Four years of college and plenty of knowledge Have earned me this useless degree I cant pay the bills yet Cause I have no skills yet The world is a big scary place But somehow I cant shake The feeling I might make A difference To the human race the musical then transitions to a song entitled It Sucks To Be Me so lets pause here and answer the initial question After graduating from MIT, most econ majors (like most other students at MIT, I believe) choose between two paths: work or more school. More school is usually a graduate program in economics (either Masters or PhD), though it can also be in finance, mathematics, political science, etc. Similarly, in the economics PhD program at MIT, there are students who studied computer science, physics, mathematics, political science, and psychology as undergrads. Law school is another destination that recent alums I know have taken. It is becoming increasingly rare to go directly to business school (at least into an MBA program), but I should mention this option just in case. Most grads (I think) of econ PhD programs go on to research/teach as professors or employees of a think tank, like the Brookings Institute. There are more varieties of work things than I can remember or fit into this entry, but Ill try to list as many as I can. The most popular jobs for the graduating economics seniors I know are in finance specifically, investment banking, sales and trading, and research. I have never worked at one of these jobs, but from what I hear, the general idea is as follows: long hours, high-pressure environment, lots of research, model-building, financial calculations, and presentation-making, fast-paced environment good pay As you may have guessed, different types of companies come to MIT to recruit for corporate positions in finance/strategy, and these jobs (especially at tech companies) are popular with double majors. Another common career paths is consulting, which can be strategy, operations, environmental, financial, economic, law, health care, etc. And for people who want to take UROPing to the next level, there is research assisting for the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, or Fed (generally at one of the Federal Reserves regional banks). You can also do this sort of work at places like the governments Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Department of the Treasury, or Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) Some of the other things people do after graduation include military service, volunteer work, and non-profit work, but I dont know as much about these fields. In addition, entrepreneurship is a huge part of the MIT culture, and econ grads can team up with grads from other departments to launch a new product/service and change the world. Later on after graduation, older alums sometimes switch into fields like private equity, venture capital, and corporate management. Later on down the line, here are some of the things MIT economics alums are doing: 1. Ben Bernanke Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 2. Steve Levitt author, Freakonomics 3. Gary Loveman CEO/Chairman of the Board/President, Harrahs Entertainment 4. Laura Tyson former Dean, London Business School and Dean, Haas School of Business 5. Paul Krugman professor and columnist, New York Times And Im copying these names from the admissions websites Notable Alumni page * John Thain 77, CEO, New York Stock Exchange * John Reed 61, Chairman, New York Stock Exchange * Lawrence Summers 75, former Secretary of the Treasury * Thomas Gerrity 63, Dean Emeritus, Wharton School * Donald Layton, former co-CEO, JP Morgan Chase * Denis Bovin 69, Vice Chairman of Investment Banking, Bear Stearns * Gregory Palm 70, Executive Vice President, Goldman Sachs P.S. A giant high-five to my special someone for giving me mojito-flavored gum brilliant!!!