So while the number of bachelor's degrees in economics awarded to students at the top schools is rising, the number of economics degrees awarded overall remains below the peak reached in 1990. But the swelling ranks of economics majors also reflects more subtle trends , including a sharp reduction in the age at which economics is first introduced to Students, stronger mathematical skills among college freshmen and heightened interest among all Americans in economic ideas and their impact on everything from wage rates to the price of an airline ticket. Economics also is viewed by more students as a ticket to the nation's top business and law schools . Admissions officers say the students are right. It shows they nave the intellectual fire in the belly to perform well in an MBA program.
Many law schools feel the same way.
Out of a possible LSAT score of 180, economics majors average about 155, ranking highest in a study of the most common majors for law school applicants in 1992 and 1995 by Michael Nieswiadomy, a professor of economics at the University of North Texas. When the study was expanded to include less-common majors, however, economics was edged out by mathematics, physics, philosophy and religion. For many students, however, economics is just the quickest way to land a good job . By the time he graduated in June, he had dropped the politics for economics alone. From his 23 years on the campus in New Haven, Conn., Prof.