If you’re one of those types that does nothing over the summer but obsessively check the academic bulletin on the CC website you’ve known about this for a while, but way back in late June the Econ department dropped a bombshell: the introduction of a new “Financial Economics” major replacing Econ-Operations Research.

The ostensible rationale behind the change is to spare all the Wall Street-aspiring Econ majors who dream sweet dreams of Lloyd Blankfein from having to worry about things like Rational Choice Theory and welfare economics so they can spend more time worrying about the Black and Scholes formula and corporate accounting (and hopefully bigger checks to the Annual Fund). The major adds a “finance core” to the Econ major and allows electives from a number of departments outside Econ including Math, Stats, IEOR and the B-School.

According to Econ Director of Undergrad Studies Susan Elmes, “the department had contemplated adding the major for a number of years due to strong student interest in the subject,” and the final major came about through cooperation with the business school. Additionally, the major is currently “predominantly quantitative,” but Elmes hopes that “over time other departments will offer classes suitable for the major now that there will be a demand for them.” Sociology of Finance, anyone?