Welcome to the WMU Department of Economics Mentor Web Page
The Department of Economics is pleased to announce the availability of a Mentor to assist all students, particularly Women and Minority students who are interested in majoring or minoring in Economics, or learning more about Economics as a possible career.
The first Mentor is Prof. Emily Hoffman, who is ready to discuss your academic and career plans with you and advise you on how Economics may fit into them. Dr. Hoffman's office and schedule for Fall semester are:
Room 5317 Friedmann Hall
M Tu Th Lunch time
W F Afternoon
To confirm her availability, or if you can not come at the
scheduled times, please leave a message for her at:
Telephone 269-387-5546
e-mail to <emily.hoffman@wmich.edu>
You might well ask "What is mentoring?" and "What does that
mean to me?" Well, the easiest way to start is the Academic Way, which
is to tell you what mentoring is not. It is not tutoring - if you need help
with class materials or an Economic topic, you should see your professor.
It also is not formal course advising, for which you should see Prof. Werner
Sichel.
Now, let us get down to the nitty gritty. Mentoring is advice from someone
who has "been there, done that." It is like advice from a wise old
uncle (or aunt in this case). The mentor can advise you about what jobs you
might expect to qualify for with your bachelor's degree in economics, or the
greater opportunities available if you go on to further studies in graduate
school.
Unlike your doting grandparents, who may think that Economics is "learning how to make lots of money", you should know that Economics is the study of how to rationally allocate limited resources among competing ends. In this case, your time, effort, and funding are the limited resources, and your choice among the many paths your life might take are the competing ends. As you will find, Economics, by making some simplifying assumptions, and applying some higher mathematics, can produce "a" solution to this problem. But real life is not so simple and straightforward. The mentor will make every effort to assist you in making these decisions rationally. The mentor can not guarantee you the optimum result, but make the best effort to help you in what is ultimately your decision.
Last updated: September 14, 2004
| Top 10 majors in 2002 by # of offers and ave. starting salary | ||
|---|---|---|
| Accounting | $40,293 | |
| Mechanical Engineering | $48,654 | |
| Economics/Finance | $40,047 | |
| Business Administration | $35,209 | |
| Electrical Engineering | $50,387 | |
| Chemical Engineering | $51,254 | |
| Marketing | $35,374 | |
| Civil Engineering | $40,848 | |
| Mgt. Info. Systems | $43,732 | |
| Computer Science | $50,352 | |