Ranked #15 in popularity, economics is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 4 schools in Maine to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of economics. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 285 bachelor's degrees in economics during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great Economics School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The economics bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on economics students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of economics students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for economics to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized economics related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for economics students working on their bachelor's degree.
The economics school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Economics Bachelor's Degree Schools in Maine.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
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Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in economics has to look into Bowdoin College. Bowdoin is a small private not-for-profit college located in the town of Brunswick.
Those economics students who get their bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College receive $12,110 more than the average economics grad.
Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in economics has to take a look at Colby College. Located in the remote town of Waterville, Colby is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the economics degree program at Colby College make $12,644 more than the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
It's hard to beat Bates College if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in economics. Bates is a small private not-for-profit college located in the small city of Lewiston.
Those economics students who get their bachelor's degree from Bates College receive $7,430 more than the average economics grad.
University of Maine is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in economics. Located in the suburb of Orono, UMaine is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the economics program state that they receive average early career earnings of $46,159.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).