Frequently Asked Questions

You should contact the Economics undergraduate registrar.

No, courses taken Credit/D/Fail may not be counted toward the requirements of the major.

The only two exceptions are: (1) courses taken Credit/D/Fail or Pass/Fail in spring 2020; (2) courses taken in fall 2021 where the final exam was administered on or after December 19, 2021 and the student opted for a mark of Credit. 

No.

No, you can only use ECON 117, 123 or 136.

No, there is no need to meet with the DUS. In fact your first line of advising should be your economics college advisors (see "Get Advice" in the main menu to find out the economics professors who are assigned to your college). It can also be very helpful to consult the Peer Mentors. And the Economics undergraduate registrar is also able to answer most questions about major requirements and courses. The DUS should be consulted only for exceptional or unusual questions (by email or during the DUS office hours).

Yes, but then you will have to take an additional elective. You can skip introductory courses if you feel confident about your background in economics, but we strongly recommend shopping both introductory and intermediate courses before making a decision.

Yes. In the past there was a time limit to apply for related course credit, but it has been removed.

No. We provide each incoming first-year student with placement recommendations based on a survey and AP (or equivalent) exam scores.  Students receive a personal e-mail with their recommended placement. Students can also find the placement on canvas. See our first-year placement page for more information.

The economics and math major continues to retain the STEM designation.

The CIP code (for Classification of Instructional Programs) assigned by the National Center for Education Statistics at the Department of Education is 45.0603 (Econometrics and Quantitative Economics).

The STEM designation allows our international students to apply for a two year OPT extension in addition to the standard 12 months of F1 student visas for all other degrees.

The instructor owns the copyright to the course syllabus and therefore it must be requested from him/her.

They will not. To earn distinction you must write a thesis that earns a grade of A or A- and earn A or A- in 3/4 of your major courses (excluding the introductory courses and math requirement in the economics major and the prerequisites in the math-econ major) taken in all semesters except Spring 2020.

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions makes the decision on admissions to Yale College, not individual departments. Please refer to their website for more information. Once you are admitted to Yale College, you may choose to major in economics or economics & mathematics.

The Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) offers several tutoring options in quantitative reasoning and science. See the CTL’s tutoring page for all their offerings.

MGT classes are treated like any other non-ECON classes, so the rules for related course credit apply to SOM classes as well. 

Yes, but you cannot participate in preference selection. You will have to go through the regular registration process and ask for instructor permission.

Both Econ 121 and 125 cover microeconomics with a more mathematically sophisticated treatment than introductory micro. However, Econ 125 covers other additional topics, and is recommended for students considering graduate study. The same holds for Econ 122 versus 126, which both cover macroeconomics.

ECON 136 is a theoretical econometrics course, with ECON 135 a prerequisite. This sequence is quite technical. It is recommended for example for students planning to pursue graduate studies (and is a requirement for the Econ-Math major).

ECON 117 is a more applied and data-oriented econometrics course. ECON 123 is the next level up in this applied econometrics sequence, and is highly recommended for students who plan to write a senior essay. 

Econ 108/110/115 is a prerequisite for Econ 117, Econ 111/116 is not.