Colgate vs. Bates: Which college is stronger for undergraduate economics?

For a student seeking the broader undergraduate economics menu and a somewhat larger economics community, Colgate has a modest edge. Its economics department supports a wide range of applied interests alongside the core sequence, and Colgate’s larger overall enrollment can translate into more regularly available upper-level electives and peers pursuing finance, consulting, policy, and related fields. Students can also pursue independent work and faculty-guided research, including an honors thesis.

Bates may be the more appealing setting for a student who values a smaller campus, highly accessible professors, and an economics education closely connected to liberal-arts inquiry. The department is small enough that sustained relationships with faculty can develop naturally through seminars, office hours, independent studies, and thesis work. Bates’ emphasis on writing, quantitative analysis, and interdisciplinary study can suit students interested in public policy, environmental economics, labor issues, or graduate study rather than a primarily pre-professional path.

The course catalogs at both colleges cover the essential preparation for economics: microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, and upper-level field courses. At either school, the depth of a particular specialty, such as financial economics or development, will depend on the courses offered during a given year and the interests of the faculty teaching them.