Sat 28 Jan 2006
Fellow Eph Blogger Ronit Bhattacharyya ‘07 had this to day in a recent comment thread.
I’m now at a point where I might not take any Econ electives at all in my junior spring, leaving two to take in senior year along with the senior seminar. Even as a junior with decent grades and a number of profs who know me well, everything is closed up. This is partially my fault - I didn’t start pleading with profs early enough. But this is the sort of problem that I thought only occurred in large state schools…it’s certainly the first time I’ve experienced it at Williams.
Just how much of an enrollment problem will the Economics Department face this spring? Is it just Ronit or are some/many/most junior economics majors feeling constricted? Again, I don’t think that this is anyone’s fault. No one expected 100+ majors in the class of ‘07. But it would be nice to have an accurate sense of the scale of the problem.
Here is the info on spring registration.
Economics ECON 110 Principles of Microeconomics 29 40 44 39 ECON 120 Principles of Macroeconomics 20 48 42 41 ECON 204 Econ Developmnt Poor Countries 40 33 33 38 ECON 207 China Econ Transfmtn Since1980 20 8 9 27 ECON 221 Economics of the Environment 7 8 36 ECON 251 Price and Allocation Theory 21 15 17 17 23 ECON 252 Macroeconomics 26 20 18 21 24 ECON 253 Empirical Economic Methods 10 19 19 18 40 ECON 255 Econometrics 23 18 23 12 33 ECON 362 Global Competitive Strategies 24 23 24 24 22 ECON 363 Money and Banking 25 19 27 18 ECON 367 Empirical Methds Macreconomics 12 16 ECON 382 Industrial Organization 25 ECON 383 Cities, Regions & the Economy 12 ECON 385 Game and Information 7 15 26 20 ECON 386 Envir Policy&Nat Resource Mgmt 7 23
On the far right is, I think, the number of pre-registered students. Other numbers are the enrollment in the class for prior years. I am not sure what the missing numbers mean for courses like ECON 363. Not being offered? The number of courses offered seems small.
It sure does seem that Ronit does not have a lot of options. Indeed, is there a single 300 level class that has space for him to sign up?
If the situation is really as dire as Ronit makes it out to be, I would expect the department to bring in some visitors, at least for a semester or two. But perhaps I am reading too much into his comments . . .
Details please.
2006-01-28 19:09:02
Here’s the problem with the information you post: It was last updated on 10/21/2005. Therefore, it is all extremely inaccurate seeing as how some courses — three of the four courses I am taking, for instance (Math 327T, Math 352, Psych 355) — are not even on the list, making it hard to draw any sort of conclusions about course options for students.
2006-01-28 19:43:01
First of all, let me note that I did get permission from Prof. Bradburd to enroll in one of the five or six electives that I attempted to get into - since this one was at the bottom of my list of preferences (it was the only one left open), I think I’m better off not taking it and waiting for something more attractive in senior year.
Also, let’s not forget 06eru’s comment from the previous thread:
I have no problem defending my track through Economics as rigorous, but the overwhelming number of majors is still a problem: I was dropped from two electives this spring (ie, my last semester here) because they were full of people who still needed to meet graduation requirements. No amount of pleading with Prof. Bradburd could get me into a class I’d been waiting to take until senoir year (because it typically is closed to juniors). Getting locked out of classes in my major as a senior wasn’t in the forefront of my mind when I chose Williams.
2006-01-28 21:44:57
Now there’s an interesting senior thesis topic: supply and demand in the Williams Economics department. Ahem, I mean, “The Shifting Market in Major Concentrations at Williams College: 1996-2006.”
2006-01-29 09:17:42
Thanks to Diana for pointing out the date issue. I do not think that there are a lot of missing classes, at least in economics. Note that no tutorials are listed.
But I would still like to find out more details. Which electives are already filled up? How many students are in them? Which electives are still open? How many spots are left? Are most economics students fine or are most unsatisfied like Ronit?
Details please.
2006-01-29 23:10:54
I know both Global Competitive Strategies (Fortunato) and Games and Information (Rai) were overenrolled after pre-enrollment (I was booted from both). I believe the target enrollment is about 20 (with perhaps a little flexibility for the professor to grow to 24 or 25). Judging by the number of people on the drop email, Global Competitve had at least 60, perhaps 75 people sign up. To my eye, at least 40 of those are senior economics majors. Games and Info wasn’t quite as badly overenrolled.
When I received the drop emails, Bradburd mentioned that Industrial Organization (Gazzale) still had some space, Money and Banking might have also. As people were dropped from Global and Games, I expect the trickle down to knock people out of others as Bradburd was giving priority to seniors who needed advanced electives in order to graduate.
2006-01-30 00:34:17
I tried to get into all of these:
ECON 362 Global Competitive Strategies ECON 363 Money and Banking
ECON 382 Industrial Organization
ECON 383 Cities, Regions & the Economy
ECON 385 Game and Information
ECON 386 Envir Policy&Nat Resource Mgmt
I was told the only one with room was 386 (environmental policy).