I was looking at the grade distributions for these classes on pickaprof and most of the AGEC grades were really high (around 3.5) and the ECON classes were fairly low (around 2.4). Is a major in AGEC that much easier than ECON?

I'd be willing to bet that 80% of the Econ students chose that major cause they couldn't think of anything better or because they couldn't get into a school they wanted (i.e. they're not exactly awesome students or devoted scholars).

Which classes were you looking at?

AGEC 105 is so easy that most sections are filled with football players. AGEC 317 is so hard that I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

ECON 202 is tough, but it depends on how much you study. ECON 410 is very difficult, but I ended up with an A in the course.

I will say that the biggest difference between AGEC and ECON are the people instructing the classes. I took five ECON classes and two of them were taught by someone whose first language was English. I took many AGEC classes and two of them were taught by someone whose first language wasn't English. It makes a big difference when someone says "pro-duk fun-shee-un", instead of "production function". That's only one example, but trust me, the language barrier does make it extremely difficult to learn.

Gig 'em

I can agree with that also. Although, I'd say that most of your learning in Econ will come from outside reading probably. So, the teachers never really bothered me that much. I majored in Econ, and can count the number of English first speakers on 1 hand with a couple fingers left over.

Some of the Agecon classes are that easy, but some aren't. Most of the intro classes are easy and have higher grades, but that's mainly because everyone has to take Econ 202 and 203, but only agec/agbl majors have to take the agec classes. You are going to do better in the classes that you wnt to take. As far as upper level goes the agec classes are just as hard, but like others have said the profs make the difference. Our classes are fairly small and I know every prof that i've taken a class from in our dept and some i haven't. It helps the grades alot when the profs care and are friends with the students.

i was only looking at upper level classes. I was excluding ECON 202,203 and AGEC 105

I have a 3.7 in my ECON classes.

202, 330, and 410 and ECMT 463 are generally considered the hardest classes. 202 and 330 are my only B's.

It is true that ECON is not generally people's first choice, however it is a very scholarly and higher level thinking degree.

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I'd be willing to bet that 80% of the Econ students chose that major cause they couldn't think of anything better

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I was one of those (but I graduated with good grades)

I will say - unless there is no possibility of you ever going into a field that is not Agriculture - ECON is an infinitely better degree. ECON is a degree that plays well to all who evaluate you - it is the best mix of practical and theoretical. It is practical enough that it will substitute for a Business degree in many cases, but it is broad-based enough to where grad programs which look down on technical degrees such as business will look at it as a good degree.

As far as upper level, I took ECON 323, 330, and 410. While I received an A in each class, 323 and 410 were both taught by grad students whose first language was definitely not English. I haven't taken a pure econometrics class, but I would guess that is where the grades start to dip for the major.

Gig 'em

I struggled in 410 due to the dumbass teaching it. He gave us a take home final to do during dead days! A bunch of us got together one night around 7pm, and didn't finish question 3 until about 4 the next morning. We still had 2 left that we had to work on later. Econometrics was pretty easy and nothing to sweat. If you did well in statistics, you'll do well in ECMT.

same here for 410. I had Tam, I think (can't remember for sure). The first ECMT was a stat course for the most part. The second one was AWESOME. I highly recommend it.

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Is a major in AGEC that much easier than ECON

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Yes

I choose Econ because I liked the smaller classes. But is wasn't easy getting through ECMT.

ttt