Northwestern vs. Colby for Economics: Which Has the Stronger Undergraduate Program?

The biggest practical tradeoff is breadth and access to a major economic hub at Northwestern versus the smaller-scale, faculty-centered liberal arts experience at Colby. Northwestern offers a larger economics department, more advanced elective coverage, and unusually direct proximity to Chicago internships, policy organizations, consulting, finance, and research institutions. Colby offers a more intimate academic setting, where economics students can often build closer relationships with professors and take on substantial undergraduate research responsibility.

For a student seeking the strongest overall range of undergraduate economics opportunities, Northwestern has the edge. Its economics program is rigorous and quantitatively oriented, and students can pair economics with coursework across a large university, including mathematics, statistics, computer science, political science, and business-related areas. The quarter system also permits students to explore more courses, though its pace can feel demanding. Northwestern’s connections to Chicago can make it easier to pursue internships during the academic year, not only over summers.

Colby’s economics major is still a serious and well-regarded liberal arts program, particularly for students who value discussion-based classes and close mentorship. Its smaller department may mean fewer highly specialized upper-level offerings than Northwestern, but that can be balanced by more accessible professors, individualized thesis or research guidance, and a campus culture centered on undergraduates. Colby can be especially compelling for a student who wants economics grounded in the broader liberal arts rather than a large research-university environment.

On academic opportunity alone, Northwestern is the stronger choice for economics because of its course breadth, quantitative resources, interdisciplinary options, and Chicago-based professional access. Colby is the more compelling option only when the close-knit liberal arts setting and sustained faculty attention matter more to you than those larger-scale opportunities.