Undergraduate Major Economics

These requirements apply to 4-year students who matriculated at Cornell AFTER July 1, 2013, and to some transfer students (see Requirements for Transfer Students below).

Admission to the Major: Before applying for admission to the Economics Major, students must complete ECON 1110, ECON 1120, and MATH 1110 (or equivalents).

Students who matriculated at Cornell before June 1, 2017 must have grades of C or better in ECON 1110, ECON 1120, and MATH 1110 (or equivalents).

Students who matriculated at Cornell after June 1, 2017 must have grades of B- or better in ECON 1110 and ECON 1120 (or equivalents) and a grade of C or better in MATH 1110 (or equivalent).

After completing these courses, you are ready to declare the major (see Declaring the Major below).

Note: We have prepared this worksheet to help declared majors check off the requirements of the Economics major. Save a copy of the worksheet on your desktop in order to use the fillable fields fully.

Basic Requirements: Twelve courses listed by the Department of Economics, or approved by the student’s major advisor, all with grades of C– or better (S–U grade option is not allowed). These twelve courses must satisfy the above and following requirements:

(1) Except for ECON 1110 and ECON 1120, all courses must be at the 3000-level or higher.

(2) All students must take four core economics courses, one each in:

(3) All students must take at least three courses at the 4000-level or higher.

Note: Courses numbered 4900-4989 are seminar courses, which have a writing component and a smaller number of enrollees. The Economics Department recommends to take at least one of the 4000-level seminar courses.

(4) ECON 4990-4991, which is the two-semester honors sequence, can count as one course toward the twelve-course requirement. ECON 4999 cannot be counted toward the twelve-course requirement.

(A) ECON 1110 or ECON 1120 will count toward the 12 Economics courses required for the Major only if the student receives official Cornell credit for the course (see Policy for Intro Course Credit).

(B) Courses taken to fulfill Requirement (2) MUST be taken at Cornell*. Majors are strongly advised to complete these courses as soon as possible as they provide foundations for many of the more specialized courses.

(C) For students who take Economics courses at a Cornell-sanctioned Study Abroad or at another university (e.g., during summer session):

(i) At least 8 of your 3000-level or higher Economics Major courses must be taken at Cornell*. The only exception is if you participate in a Cornell-sanctioned two-semester Study Abroad program, in which case at least 6 of your 3000-level or higher Economics Major courses must be taken at Cornell*.

(ii) In addition, you can take at most 2 non-Study-Abroad courses at another university (and you still must satisfy (i)).

(iii) To obtain Economics Major credit for courses taken away from Cornell (including Study Abroad), you must get approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

*Note: Economics courses taken through Cornell Winter Session, Cornell Summer Session, or Cornell in Washington count as being taken at Cornell. Economics courses taken in a Cornell-sanctioned Study Abroad program or at another university, do NOT count as being taken at Cornell.

(D) For students who transfer into Cornell with advanced standing:

(i) For requirements (B) and (C) above, Economics courses taken at your prior institution previous to your enrollment at Cornell and approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies to count toward the Cornell Economics Major will count as being taken at Cornell.

(ii) In addition, at least 4 of your 3000-level or higher Economics Major courses must be taken during Cornell regular sessions, Cornell Winter Session, Cornell Summer Session, or Cornell in Washington. Please note that Economics courses taken at your prior institution do not count toward this requirement.

(iii) Upon arriving at Cornell, transfer students should immediately set up a meeting with the Director of Undergraduate Studies to discuss which classes taken at your previous institution(s) can count toward your Economics Major at Cornell. Please make sure you bring copies of your transcript(s) and course syllabi to this meeting to facilitate a determination of how courses you have taken translate to economics courses at Cornell.

Note: Policies regarding specific courses appear under Course Policies.

If you are using placement credit for ECON 1110, ECON 1120, or MATH 1110, the placement credit must appear on your Cornell transcript before applying to the major.

When you are admitted to the College, transfer students are given preliminary transfer credit equivalencies for courses taken at other institutions (usually designated by 1000E or 2000E on College of Arts and Sciences student transcripts). This preliminary evaluation displays how your transfer credit fulfills any College requirements. For questions and information relating to satisfying general College of Arts & Sciences requirements, we suggest that transfer students also meet with an Arts & Sciences advisor. All economics and math (calculus) transfer credit must be evaluated by the relevant department before applying to the major.

To have math credit evaluated, please submit a request on the Math Department's transfer credit website. Wait until your MATH 1110 credit appears on your transcript, before applying to the major.

The Economics Department does not grant credit for either ECON 1110 or ECON 1120 for a single semester “Principles of Economics” course that covers both introductory microeconomics and macroeconomics. There are no exceptions to this rule. If you have taken such a course, you will need to take both ECON 1110 and ECON 1120 before you can declare the major. Thus, if you intend to transfer to Cornell and major in economics, do not take such a course. Look for semester-long introductory courses focusing on either microeconomics or macroeconomics.

Before applying for admission to the Economics Major, students must complete ECON 1110, ECON 1120, and MATH 1110 (or equivalents).

Credits for ECON 1110, ECON 1120 and Math 1110 must be shown on your Cornell University Transcript. There are no exceptions to these rules. Once these requirements are met, students should proceed as follows (For more information see Advising and Declaring):

Once we receive both your application and transcript, you will be contacted to confirm your acceptance into the major and to let you know the name of your Economics Major Advisor.

Note: On your Application for Admission to the Economics Major, you are asked to list your preferences for your Economics Major Advisor. For guidance in making this choice, please see the list below of available advisors along with their fields of interest.

We will do our best to meet your preferences. However, we also need to spread advisees relatively evenly across department faculty, and thus we cannot promise that you will get one of your top choices.

Please note: We cap the number of advisees that any one faculty member can have, and thus you may not get your top choice for an advisor. However, faculty sometimes agree to take on an additional advisee (i.e., to increase their cap) when they have an established relationship with a student. If a faculty member agrees to increase their cap in order to take you on, please have that faculty member send an email to the Director of Undergraduate Studies to confirm.

When you declare an Economics major, you will be assigned an advisor who is a member of the Economics Department. Your relationship with your advisor is very important and we recommend that you meet regularly with your advisor --- at least once per semester. This is your chance to develop a long-term relationship with a faculty member, who is there to provide advice, support, and potentially letters of recommendation.

You can meet with your advisor to map out a set of courses for your major and to discuss other courses at Cornell (although since Economics faculty advise only Economics majors, our knowledge of non-economics courses is limited). You can also see your advisor to discuss career planning or to discuss any issues that you are currently dealing with.

Your faculty advisor will not always have the answers you seek, but when they cannot, they should able to help you find someone appropriate to contact. For more details on the advisor-advisee relationship, see the bottom section of this page.

You are eligible to declare an Economics major once you have completed ECON 1110, ECON 1120, and MATH 1110 (or equivalents), all with grades of C or better --- for the formal procedure, see Declaring the Major.

However, there is no need to rush this decision, and you need not declare the major as soon as you are eligible. Although some students declare as early as the second semester of their freshman year or the first semester of their sophomore year, more typically, students declare at the end of their sophomore year --- often after taking one or more intermediate core courses in addition to ECON 1110, ECON 1120, and MATH 1110. Indeed, an advantage of delaying declaring your major is that it permits you to keep communicating with your freshman advisor, who might better be able to guide you through other A&S requirements than your Economics advisor.

Before declaring the major, you are welcome to speak with the Director of Undergraduate Studies or the Undergraduate Experience Coordinator to get general advice about the Economics major. In addition, you are welcome to seek advice from the instructors of your Economics courses.

Please note that Arts College rules require you to declare at least one major—and process all the paperwork—by the end of your sophomore year (which really means by the end of sophomore summer). If you are declaring Economics as a second major, it is perfectly fine to do so in later semesters.

When you are admitted to the major, you will be assigned an Economics advisor. On the Major Application Form, you will have the opportunity to list your top three choices for an advisor. We suggest that you list faculty members with whom you have already developed a relationship, faculty from whom you have taken courses, or faculty who work in a field that interests you. On the Declaring the Major page, you’ll find a list of available advisors along with their research interests.

We will do our best to meet your preferences; however, we also need to spread advisees relatively evenly across department faculty, and thus we cannot promise that you will get one of your top choices.

Please note: Faculty members of the Economics Department come from many different colleges at Cornell (Arts & Sciences, the ILR School, CALS, CHE, etc). Economics majors from the College of Arts & Sciences must have an advisor whose primary appointment is in the College of Arts & Sciences, and thus there are many faculty who teach Economics courses who are ineligible to be your advisor. Again, for a list of possible advisors, see the Declaring the Major page. Of course, you should feel welcome to get advice from any faculty member at Cornell, even if they are not your official advisor.

As discussed above, because we need to spread advisees relatively evenly across department faculty, we cannot promise that you will get one of your top choices for an advisor. However, occasionally, a faculty member who already has a full set of advisees will agree to take on an additional advisee when it is a student with whom they have already established a relationship. If a specific faculty member agrees to take you on as an advisee, please have that faculty member send an email to the Director of Undergraduate Studies stating that they will accept you as their advisee.

Here are some general guidelines to keep in mind as you develop your relationship with your advisor.

(1) Take these courses at Cornell, including Cornell Winter Session or Cornell Summer Session (online versions are acceptable). If taken in this way, credit will automatically show up on your Cornell transcript.

Note: Econ 1110 and Econ 1120 can be used to declare the major and count toward the 12 major courses only with a grade of C or better for students who matriculated at Cornell before June 1, 2017 and with a grade of B- or better for students who matriculated at Cornell after June 1, 2017.

(2) Receive placement credit by (i) receiving a score of 4 or better on the associated AP Exam (AP Microeconomics for Econ 1110, AP Macroeconomics for Econ 1120), (ii) receiving a score of A on the GCE "A" Level Examination in Economics (yields credit for both Econ 1110 and Econ 1120), and (iii) receiving a score of 6 or 7 on the IB Higher-Level Examination in Economics (yields credit for both Econ 1110 and Econ 1120). If taken in this way, credit will show up on your Cornell transcript only after appropriate paperwork is submitted to the Arts & Sciences Academic Advising Office.

Click here for more information on Honors and Independent Study for Economics majors.