Careers
Study Economics. Do Anything.
What can I do with an Economics major?
Economics students do go on to do almost anything. Many graduates find careers in finance, banking, consulting, and in other fields like education, sports, entertainment, healthcare, and technology.
Economics' strong foundation also enables graduates to pursue professional studies such as business, law, and public policy.
Some alumni go on to post-graduate work in Ph.D. programs in economics and related fields. Others advance to service opportunities.
Skills you'll learn
As an economics major, students will learn skills that position you for professional success, including:
- Critical thinking and analytical reasoning
- Data-driven problem solving
- Ability to think like an economist and apply these tools to real-world problems
- Econometric theory and applications
- Ability to articulate complex thoughts and theories
- Effective oral communication
- Strong writing
- Team work
- Ethical judgment and decision-making
- Ability to analyze and solve problems with people from different backgrounds
Henry Dickman '17
Attorney, Jones Day
“As a lawyer, I have to take a complicated set of facts, separate them out, and analyze them individually to reach the right legal conclusions. That's a skill that I first learned as an economics major at Notre Dame."
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Henry Dickman '17
Attorney, Jones Day
“As a lawyer, I have to take a complicated set of facts, separate them out, and analyze them individually to reach the right legal conclusions. That's a skill that I first learned as an economics major at Notre Dame."
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Bryan Samuels '89
Executive Director, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
"A big part of undergraduate for me was trying to find a purpose. It was really through the time that I spent at Notre Dame that I found a purpose. The liberal arts education makes you think about the big world, right? Not just the one that you came from, but this larger world and it challenges you to look at it from different perspectives. So it has the power of not only making the world bigger but helping you understand the behavior of others and I think, in the end, gives you a level of empathy and intellectual honesty that you really can't find anywhere else."
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Giuliana Carozza Cipollone '16
Judicial Law Clerk, Supreme Court of the United States
“My economics degree was excellent preparation for the field of law. I learned how to approach complex problems in a principled and rigorous manner, and I developed the ability to reason both inductively and deductively.”
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Bill Kennedy '90
Portfolio Manager, Fidelity Investments
"I was very interested in learning about international history in global markets and how they work together. With my economics degree, I got all of that. To better appreciate something that's going to grow over three to five years, you really need to use a lot of tools that you learn in Arts & Letters. A lot of those skills in asking questions and asking them the right way come directly from my Arts & Letters background."
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Lauren (Thompson) Moran '11
Portfolio Manager & Wealth Advisor, William Blair
“My experience in the Department of Economics was my first opportunity to take mathematical concepts and begin to understand how they work in the world. These building blocks are the foundation of my approach to my role as an equity investor, in terms of how to think about a company’s opportunity, durability, and value in the context of the stock market."
96% of recent Notre Dame Economics majors found full-time employment, enrolled in graduate school, or entered service programs upon graduation.
Note: Outcomes data comes from First Destination reports, a survey of recent graduates conducted by the Notre Dame Center for Career Development and Office of Strategic Planning and Institutional Research. Status is known for more than 90% of each graduating class.