Student Testimonials

Ethan Purdy 

Class of 2013, BAH Economics 

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When I initially came to Acadia I was a political science major but switched in my second year to economics. In high school I had the opportunity to take two years of economics which introduced me to the subject and piqued my interested in it. The field of economics was one in which I did not know a great deal about before I took it in high school. That has been the experience of many people I know. Everyone knows about business, the sciences, and history but relatively little about economics. Signing up to spend four year in a field unknown to both yourself and parents is daunting.

What can you do with an economics degree? What do you study? How much money can I make? Those are all questions students face when choosing an economics degree. The answers to these kinds of questions can be found online or from your professors. The latter is where the economics department at Acadia excels. The professors of this small and close department truly shape students’ lives. It was one of the main reasons that I switched from a Political Science major to an Economics major. You truly do get to know your professors at a personal level which makes a huge difference as a student. You are not a number but a face, a personality, and a friend. I have dropped in to discuss sports, television shows, or simply to joke around with the economics department professors. A personal relationship was something I was looking for back when I was applying to university and I most certainly found it in the economics department at Acadia.

Of course the professors aren’t the sole reason to choose a degree in anything. You have to find the material interesting and stimulating. That is something for each individual to decide but the introductory economics courses offer insight into the type of material that you will potentially be studying for the next four years. Courses such as International Trade Theory, Econometrics, Labor Economics and so many more are directly applicable to the real world even though you may not realize it. The fact that economics is so applicable is one of the things that drew me to the field. Furthermore, it opens up many job opportunities from the financial sector to Inter-Governmental Organizations. In fact, many have argued that if you’re interested in working in the business sector you’re actually better off taking an economics degree because of the wide range of skills you learn and develop.

My degree in economics has set me up well for the future. Next year I will be attending the University of Toronto for a Masters in Economics. The department at Acadia has helped set me up for bigger and better things and much of that credit goes to the tireless work of the professors. They were always willing to do what it took so that their students understood the material. That kind of dedication from tenured professors helping out undergraduate students is not something that can be found at many schools or in many departments and it is what separates the Acadia economics department from all others.