Susan Elmes

Advanced Micro with Professor Elmes was a phenomenal class, and she is definitely one of the best professors I have had at teaching. Everything is done on the blackboard, so she absolutely 100% knows her shit. First half of the class is consumer theory and expected utility. Second half of the class is game theory (definitely more extensive form than normal form). The content is fairly similar to intermediate micro, but you go through the rigorous derivations and proofs for the concepts you learned previously. Depending on who you had obviously for intermediate micro, the game theory content might also be a lot less familiar (as it was for me). One word of caution, is that she definitely is not the type to give out all A's. Spring 2026, out of 16 total students, she gave 4 A's, 7 A-'s, and 5 B+'s, so both lenient and not at the same time. Overall though, Advanced Micro was a great experience, and I highly recommend if you have any interest at all in pursuing a PhD in Econ. Professor Elmes is also retiring soon, so definitely take her class while you still have the chance!!

Clearest lectures I've ever experienced. Everything is done on the blackboard, so you know Susan knows her stuff.

Imagine trying to start a fire after your plane crashed and there's nothing but some kindling and a couple of matches. Now, in the beginning, you may be confused, breaking a few matches as Professor Elmes overwhelms you with the realization that you are maybe not as suited for this as you thought. So you forge onwards, giving up on starting a fire and instead start foraging for food. You do a couple problem sets and realize that like foraging for berries, it is difficult and time-consuming. Yet, they make you whole again somehow and you grow as a person. Soon the first midterm comes and this is the first critical storm that you must weather with the tent of confidence that you have built from your passable problem set grades and the breather of a quiz. Now, this is where the strong persist and the weak succumb. Yet, the midterm was relatively straightforward, and you know that to do well, you merely needed to what you had always done. Study, memorize and repeat. And so life seems better. The next quiz isn't too bad and the sun has started shining and you've figured out a routine. Your problem sets are manageable and though you may be up late one night trying to find the elusive proof for a question out of left-field, ultimately even if you don't get it, it probably doesn't matter, they don't grade all the problems. But then, the hurricane comes. The final storm hits and you fe…

Susan Elmes is outstanding. She's clear, crisp (mildly intimidating?) and never fumbles with words. Microeconomics may not be the most interesting subject in the world, but you'll never not want to go to her class. Information loaded lectures, need to note down every word that she says. If you do that, don't buy the textbook. You won't need it other than to reinforce concepts, which if you go to class, will never be the need. Her dry sense of humor, and occasional jokes she cracks have a lasting impression. She knows exactly what she's doing, and she's darn good at it. Plenty of work. Frat row isn't exactly buzzing on Thursday nights, but even if it was, you'd find it hard to party. Her assignments are due Friday, and you'll probably be working late into Thursday night. Good thing - can work on assignments in groups. Avoid dividing work though. It'll all come back on the exams. Plenty of Calculus, no other section of Micro uses even a tenth the amount that Elmes does. Brush up on total derivatives for function of two, three variables. They'll appear on the final. There are other options for Micro. But take Elmes. It's a thrilling ride, and you'll probably be happy at the end, regardless of your grade. All in all, easily the best instructor I've had at Columbia.

Excellent teacher. Her lectures are extremely clear and straightforward, and consequently you'll never really need to read the book. Go to class and be prepared for a tough midterm with a slightly easier final. The weekly problem sets are very long, but it helps that you are allowed turn them in, in groups of three. Studying the problem sets will help immensely on the Midterm/Final, as the topics and problem types covered, are often similar.

Having no background in economics/business at all, I found this class fairly easy to understand and follow. Professor Elms is great in her lectures, comes very very prepared and makes good use of the chalkboard when drawing lots of diagrams. Sometimes she can be a bit sarcastic in her jokes/comments, but I found it a bit funny (and apparently other students as well, since I wasn't the only one laughing/giggling). Her lectures follow the book almost exactly, though she adds a bit more examples from current events and makes other points clearer. The textbook (Principles of Economics by Mankiw) is actually one of the best ones I've seen. Very clear and concise, with lots of examples and graphs/diagrams, and not boring at all. The TAs were not as competetent as they could have been, and the whole TA / Recitation structure could have been much improved or maybe just eliminated. The recitations were mostly for going over homework problems, so they could have just had a few "open recitations" where anyone could show up and get questions answered, instead of making you go to assigned weekly recitations that sometimes were a waste of time...

- A good opportunity to explore your interests in economics research 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2023 Course: ECONGU4996_001_2023_3-RESEARCHCOURSE : Fall 2023 CC Research Credit-ECONGU4996_001_2023_3 - RESEARCH COURSE Instructor: Susan Elmes

As mentioned above, professor Gulati is a fantastic professor. If you were lucky enough to have him as your professor for Principles, you will be afforded a similar experience of deep economic understanding related to the real world, but in an intimate seminar setting. It has been an amazing experience and I would recommend everyone take professor Gulati's sports economics class if you are able to! 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2021 Course: ECONGU4911_001_2021_3-MICROECONOMICSSEMINAR : ECONGU4911_001_2021_3 - MICROECONOMICS SEMINAR Instructor: Sunil Gulati

One of the best classes I've taken at Columbia and certainly one of the best Economics courses. If you are interested in graduate school or advanced studies in economics, take this course. It requires some pure math, but at a very reasonable level- there are very few really challenging proofs in HW, nothing like you might have seen in Modern Analysis. The tests are manageable to easy (see below), the problem sets long but not too hard, and you can do them in pairs. The material itself is hard, but… Susan Elmes' legendary teaching abilities are even more manifest in this course than in her better known intermediate micro course. She elucidates concepts and performs proofs in such a clear way that you will hardly ever be confused even by very complex material. She's also much more light hearted in the class, so it's a real treat to listen to lectures- I was often on just a couple of hours of sleep in class but never felt even the slightest bit tired or bored. Note: I found recitations pretty useless, since you learn the math through lectures and especially PSets, but it might be different in a different year. The material is extremely interesting, because it is an economics course from a pure math point of view- everything is proven, axioms are created and challenged, and the last chapter has mathematical axioms leading to conclusions about social welfare, like Arrow's impossibi…

Professor Elmes was an incredibly thorough lecturer - the way in which she taught material was very intuitive and placed more emphasis on concepts and reasoning (though math was still present). However, she is also one of the faster lecturers; compared to other economics professors, she covers significant amounts of content every class, so skipping class has more consequences.