Pre-enrollment for incoming students takes place in July. In addition, you will have the opportunity to adjust your schedule during add/drop period, which opens the week before classes start and continues through the first two weeks of classes. Hence, you are not committed to the decisions that you make in July.
On this page, we provide our recommendations for incoming students who intend to major in Economics.
For Incoming First-Year Students
We recommend that you enroll in ECON 1110 (Introductory Microeconomics) and/or ECON 1120 (Introductory Macroeconomics).
You can later drop this course if you pass the relevant Economics Placement Exam.
However, even if you pass the relevant Economics Placement Exam, if the exam seemed difficult to you, you might consider forgoing the placement credit and taking the course any—there is nothing wrong with developing a strong foundation in economics!
We recommend that you take a math course. This might be MATH 1110: Calculus I, or it might be a more advanced math course if you have math placement credit.
While no further math beyond MATH 1110 is required for Economics Major, it can be useful.
Note: For your first semester of college, we generally recommend that you do NOT take core economics courses (intermediate micro, intermediate macro, probability and statistics, econometrics). These are highly demanding courses populated mainly by students in their second year and beyond, and, based on what we have seen over the years, it is best to wait until at least your second semester of college.
For Incoming Transfer Students
Recommendations for incoming transfer students depends on your situation at the time you enter. Transfer students interested in the Economics Major should set up a meeting with the Director of Undergraduate Studies to discuss which classes taken at their previous institution(s) can count toward the Economics Major at Cornell. Please bring copies of transcript(s) and course syllabi; in addition, it may be necessary to provide copies of problem sets, exams, and lecture slides (especially to receive credit for any of the 4 core courses).
To schedule a meeting, please email econdus@cornell.edu. The DUS will be happy to meet via Zoom in June or July to provide an assessment and recommendations prior to your pre-enrollment period.