Information for Undergraduates

• Some great reasons to major in AREC.
• What will I learn in AREC classes? (It's not farming.)

Some Great Reasons to Major in AREC: 

• A great department with a strong national reputation.  In a recent ranking, the undergraduate program ranked third in the country.  (Gourman Report, 10 ^th edition.  Rating of Undergraduate Programs in Agricultural Economics.)
• Interesting classes.  Students in our department study economics and how principles of economics can be applied to understand and analyze problems in the real world.  For example:  What are the causes and implications of "urban sprawl"?  (AREC 455)  How does communally owned land in developing countries influence agricultural production and environmental quality? (AREC 445)  How can farmers and agribusiness firms use futures and options markets to manage risk?  (AREC 435)
• Graduate on schedule.  Classes you have already taken will meet major requirements.

1. Prerequisite classes (6 in all), including ECON 200, 201, BMGT 230, MATH 220.

2. Major field courses (7 upper level AREC).  You probably haven’t taken any of these.

3. A supporting field:  (6 classes that are related to each other, and that complement the material taught in AREC classes.)  Many students do the “business management field”:  BMGT 220, 221, 340, 350, 364, 380.  Other students have done fields that include language courses, government courses, science courses, etc.  See an AREC advisor for details about this.
   
   Students who have already taken MATH 220, ECON 200, 201, BMGT 220, 221, and 230 have less than 3 semesters of required courses to meet requirements of the AREC major.  (But remember, everybody needs 120 credits to graduate.)

• No courses taught by graduate students.  The AREC faculty has many world renowned scholars, including two who have been named Distinguished University Professors, five who have served on the senior staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, seven who have been selected as Fellows of the American Agricultural Economics Association, a winner of the international von Humboldt Research Award, and a winner of the John Bates Clark award from the American Economics Association.
• Money. AREC offers scholarships to AREC undergrads. These awards are based on merit and are in addition to any funding received from the campus or from the college.  Currently, scholarship awards are available to the full-time AREC majors with the highest GPAs.  They are determined on a semester basis and depend on the availability of funds.  Scholarship awardees are required to conduct themselves in accordance with the rules and regulations of the University. 
• Jobs.  An AREC degree provides good preparation for entry level jobs doing economic analysis in government and business, especially in (but not limited to) the food and fiber sector of the economy.   Recent grads have taken jobs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and in commercial real estate management, and have been accepted for graduate study in law, business, public policy, and applied economics.

What will I learn in AREC classes? (It's not farming.)

Some students have the misconception that AREC is primarily for students with farm backgrounds, but in fact very few AREC students are in this category.  AREC courses should be of interest to any student who wants to learn about how economics can be applied to real world issues faced by small business and policymakers.

To give a better idea of what these courses cover, the following describes a project or homework assignment in some of these upper level AREC classes.    As you can see, the unifying theme is the application of economics principles to real world problems in ways that are useful to managers, entrepreneurs, and policy analysts.

AREC 306:  Students will form teams of 4 to develop a plan for a small business.

AREC 382:  Analyze how forest land share changes as counties in the Mid-Atlantic region become more urban.

AREC 404.  Evaluate the evolution of wages and labor use in agriculture since 1948.

AREC 425.  Examine five approaches to calculating the benefits of policies that affect health and safety.

AREC 427.  Test the following hypothesis:  average prices are the same in grocery stores and farmers markets. 

AREC 435.  A trading project involves (virtual) hedging and speculating in agricultural futures and options.

AREC 445.  Distinguish between two different kinds of corruption: decentralized and centralized.  What kind of corruption is more likely to lead to bad policies on the part of governments?

AREC 455.  Choose a county in Maryland and describe patterns of land use and policies that influence land use.