Where will this take me?

Overview

Economics teaches you transferrable skills that are highly sought after in many corporate environments. You can pursue a career path in:

  • Consulting and political analysis
  • Government
  • Industry associations and trade unions
  • Merchant and trading banks, investment firms, and stockbroking and insurance companies
  • Transport, communications, mining, retail and manufacturing
Career outcomes

Your first job could see you as a:

  • Analyst
  • Associate
  • Researcher

In 5-10 years, you’ll progress to roles such as:

  • Economist
  • Senior analyst
  • Manager

And in 15-20 years you could be a successful:

  • Director
  • Partner
  • Chief Economist

Graduate pathways from this major

The skills and competencies you will develop by completing the Economics major will put you in a good position to undertake further study in a range of business and economics or different social science disciplines, such as political science and psychology.

coursework

The Economics major leads to a range of professional specialisation pathways, in or outside of your discipline, that will prepare you for a wide range of professions.

Some of our economics focused graduate study options include:

research
Honours

Honours is an optional fourth year of study that gives you the opportunity to draw together your undergraduate studies and focus on an exciting piece of original research thesis and complete advanced level subjects. Honours can prepare you for employment or graduate research.

  • Offered in Accounting, Actuarial Studies, Economics and Finance majors.

Research training within the honour’s year, a postgraduate diploma or a master’s degree will be required as preparation for further graduate research.

Doctoral Programs

If you’re interested in a pathway to academia or becoming an industry expert in economics, you can undertake further study at Melbourne Business School. They offer a Doctoral Program in Economics which involves 2-year Master of Commerce + 3-year PhD research.

Profile

Thomas Duke

In high school, my main academic focus was science and mathematics. However, after studying Philosophy and Classics in VCE, I discovered a new passion for the humanities.

I realised that my interests lay at the intersection between politics, philosophy and economics. I was fascinated by questions about how our society operates at both the micro and macro levels. I wanted to keep developing my quantitative skills, so I enrolled in a concurrent Diploma of Mathematical Sciences.

What amazes me is how different academic disciplines are often deeply interrelated. For example, economists have developed a school of thought known as game theory, which models strategic decision-making. Game theory has numerous applications in politics — such as predicting the outcome of elections or planning negotiation strategies in foreign diplomacy. This kind of interdisciplinary knowledge is what motivates me to learn as much as I can about the world.

In third year, I completed an internship at McKinsey & Company which gave me the opportunity to explore the world of management consulting, build my professional networks and to gain exposure to the private sector. I conducted a research project for Victorian MP David Southwick as part of the Parliamentary Internship subject (for Politics students) in my fourth year analysing the risks and opportunities faced by Victorian policy-makers due to the rise of artificial intelligence.

After my internship at McKinsey, I was lucky enough to receive a job offer to work for the firm as a Business Analyst. I’m excited to see where that experience takes me.

Thomas studied a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Economics and Politics and International Studies. He also completed a concurrent Diploma of Mathematical Sciences.