Originally Posted by epicbeardman
(Post 8060238)
As someone who is done with econ and finishing up some stupid breadth requirements before leaving this stupid school, here is some advice that no one gave me. This is anectodal, and only for those who want to graduate econ with a 3.5+ GPA, or go to Grad school, or be head hunted or in general just have a passion for the subject. If you are happy just to leave with a degree and have no passion for econ, then read no further.
If you want to DESTROY econ courses at SFU, especially 201 (which is the first big hurdle you must cross and demonstrate you are worthy of being in the program), you need MATH.
Math 158 (or 157 I forget) is not going to cut it. Note I said destroy, not merely pass. You can pass any econ course with 158 (except maybe 331), but if you want to be top tier, you are going to have to brush up on those math skills.
I HIGHLY recommend getting a hold of Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics by A. Chiang and SFU's Kevin Wainwright. Read all the chapters and do all the problems before going into 201. Just by doing this will bump you up a full letter grade. You will need some basic calculus before attempting this.
2ndly, each bit of math increases your grade marginally.
So I highly recommend picking up a Calc textbook and literally going cover to cover. Stewart's Early Transcendentals 7th E is a good one. You will only ever need about half or maybe 60% of that book even in 331 and the 400 level courses, but it never helps to think 'caluculusly' and understand proofs.
If you are taking a break in the summer, I also recommend a Linear Alegebra book. As far as I know, other than reading PHD journal articles, or taking 331 you will NOT come across matrix algebra in econ courses. That doesn't mean you shouldn't learn about linear algebra because you might end up taking 331 in the future (which is a pre-req for honors, which is a pre-req for grad school). 331 btw is a 5 credit course and should you ace it (no easy feat), you get 1. bragging rights 2. a huge boost in GPA 3. a letter of recommendation for grad school 4. pops up on the prof's radar
So learn some linear algebgra, concentrating on matrices and their rules and Markov chains, Leontiefs, Jacobians, Hessians etc. ALl this is covered in Wainwright's book and 331, btw.
Finally pick up a book on Real Analysis (not complex, not Fourier, REAL). It will teach you about proofs and how to write your own so you won't be lost when you come across models and journal articles (which you WILL encounter in upper division).
Extra books that will help you and make you a super star econ undergrad ,( totally up to your discretion):
Books on discrete mathematics/ set theory
Public choice
Game theory
Differentiation
Integration
Operations research
What will doing all that do for you? Well for one, you made yourself exponentially brighter. Secondly you will laugh at the econ proofs and models in your textbook since your math skills will be so much more advanced than 99% of your peers and so you will have an intuitive understandings of the underpinnings in the models. You will also breeze through most if not all problem sets, assignments and exams. Imagine studying less than 6 hours for midterms and walking out with a B+ or higher. Finally I guarantee you will CRUSH econ at SFU and graduate with a very high GPA which is good prep for grad school, or to get recruited.
A good barometer would be to pick up econ papers from the profs' webpages. See if you can make sense of their models/maths. No? Then work until you can.
Godspeed young padawans.
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