Economists study how individuals, families, firms and nations make choices when confronted with the fundamental problem of scarcity. Economics provides a framework for analyzing these choices and for assessing government policies aimed at solving social problems confronting a principally market-based economy such as in the U.S. The Economics Department is home to about 120 graduating students per academic year, with about 80% of those graduating with a Major in Economics. The remainder choose between two minors: the Minor in General Economics and the Minor in Applied Microeconomics. Economics students can enroll in an engaging set of electives, ranging from economic history to econometrics. Each semester, majors and minors can choose from electives at the general level - having only the introductory economics classes as prerequisites - to those at the advanced level representing interesting applications of microeconomic and macroeconomic theory. Many of our majors pursue second majors or minors, such as in math, finance, political science and computer science, to name but a few. It is possible to complete an Economics major in conjunction with the pre-medicine requirements. Economics prepares students for a wide variety of careers in industry, finance or government. The major also provides a solid foundation for professional degrees in law or business. The chart below shows post-graduate outcomes for Economics majors from 2012-2015. More detail is provided in the Careers & Graduate School link in the left-hand menu.