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The economics help centre will not be open during the Fall 2021 semester due to Covid-19 restrictions. If this changes, hours will be posted on this page.

Course Selection Guide for Undergraduate Economics students

Students who intend to major in Economics should include ECON 1100 and  ECON 1110 in the first year, since these are prerequisites for all other Economics courses.

In selecting other first-year courses, students have a great deal of flexibility. However, in selecting courses you should make sure they are consistent with the requirements of the program in which you are registered. In selecting courses, students in the General program should also consider the requirements of the Honours programs since, after the second year, students frequently decide that they would like to pursue an Honours degree. If you initially select courses without concern for the Honours requirements, switching in later years may lengthen the time required to complete the program.

  • For the General program, the most appropriate options would be Math (see note below), Political Science, Business Administration, Psychology and other Social Sciences, English (expository writing) and Languages.
  • In the Honours programs, some of the non-economic courses are specified. The remaining options would also most appropriately fall in the areas previously mentioned, subject to your personal interests.

ECON 2210, ECON 2220, ECON 2310, ECON 2320, ECON 2110 and ECON 2120 should be taken in the second year. You should not delay taking these until Summer or Intersession, since there is no guarantee they will be offered. Also, all third-year courses are not offered in each semester (or year) so do not delay taking a course you may want or need.

Statistics Requirement

  • In both the General and Honours programs, statistics is required.
  • However, it might be advantageous for someone with a good math background to substitute the appropriate statistics courses offered by the Mathematics Department (65-250 and 65-251).
  • The use of any other statistics courses requires the approval of the Department of Economics. If such approval is given, then two additional Economics courses at the 3000 or 4000 level would be required.

Mathematics

In the first and second year economic courses, some elementary algebra is required. In this case, the mathematics provides additional structure that is difficult to convey in a picture. 

  • Those considering the possibility of doing graduate work should take as much math as possible.
  • The Department recommends that you take MATH 1720, MATH 1730 and MATH 1250

Students interested in additional math courses should consult with a faculty member about which courses are best suited to meet your objectives.


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