Frequently Asked Questions

Any time after the first semester but no later than the end of their third semester.

The economics department has moved to handling major declarations electronically. Please use the fillable Major Declaration/Change Form, which can be found on the Registrar’s Forms. Once you have completed all of your information on the form, you should forward the form to your new advisor to sign. Once they have signed, they will forward the form to the academic coordinator who signs on behalf of the department chair.  After which, the coordinator will email the form to you with a welcome note, copying the chair, your new advisor, and the Registrar’s office who is responsible for updating your information in the system.

After receiving approval from a faculty member to become your new advisor, you would complete the same form that you used to declare, the Major Declaration/Change Form. 

It is a multipurpose form used to a) declare a major, b) change or drop a major, and c) change an advisor. 

You simply complete your information at the top, select that you are changing advisors, have your new advisor sign the form, and submit it to the Registrar’s office.  The chair’s signature is not necessary for an advisor change. This can all be done via email and it is helpful to copy the department coordinator so she may update your records within the department.

It does not matter. Take whichever best fits your schedule or interests you more.

Microeconomics is the study of individual choice.  It explores the economic way of approaching problems, and how that way creates a general cost/benefit method of analyzing problems. It looks at such issues as the effect of taxes on incentives to work, tariffs and the debate about free trade.

Macroeconomics is the study of the aggregate economy.  It explores economist’s thinking about problems of recessions, depressions, unemployment, inflation and growth.  It is more problem and institutionally oriented than is micro, and studies issues such as monetary and fiscal policy, the financial sector, and the effect of globalization on the US economy.

Micro is likely to involve more math than macro. Intro micro uses primarily geometry and a bit of algebra. In macro you get less geometry, but some algebra.  It partially depends on which professor you get.

Yes, qualifying scores may still be applied to the 11-course economics major requirements. Students must request College Board to send their official score report to the Office of the Registrar. 

APMA scores of 5 may be used to fulfill the ECON 0150 requirement. APMA scores of 4 may be used to fulfill the ECON 0150 requirement when students earn a B- or better in the corresponding intermediate-level course ECON 0250.  If a B- is not earned in ECON 0250, then the student must take an additional ECON elective.

APMI scores of 5 may be used to fulfill the ECON 0155 requirement. APMI scores of 4 may be used to fulfill the ECON 0155 requirement when students earn a B- or better in the corresponding intermediate-level course ECON 0255. If a B- is not earned in ECON 0255, then the student must take an additional ECON elective.

AP scores must be a part of your Middlebury test score record to be applied to major requirements. The same rules apply where ECON courses are requirements for other majors. 

It is recommended that you begin with ECON 0250 or ECON 0255. Please note: Both ECON 0250 and ECON 0255 have calculus I as a prerequisite. Therefore, you must have met the calculus I prerequisite requirement in order to register. (Please see the ECON department placements pages for detailed information.)

It is recommended that you begin with ECON 0250; however, you will need to earn a B- or better grade in ECON 0250 for your AP Macro 4 score to be applied towards the ECON 0150 major requirement. Please note: The same rule applies for AP micro and AP Stats scores of 4; you must earn a B- or higher in the corresponding intermediate-level courses for your AP score(s) to be applied to ECON 0255 and ECON 0111, respectively.

 

Students who score a 5 on the advanced placement exam in statistics are strongly encouraged to enroll in Economic Statistics (ECON 0111) but they may choose to use their AP score of 5 or higher to fulfill the ECON 0111 major requirement. Students may not receive AP credit and course credit for the same course.

Although Middlebury College no longer awards credit for IB or A-Level exam scores, qualifying scores may still be applied to one intro course requirement. Depending on the IB (HL) scores, students can replace one intro course with an elective or by taking one intro course. Students must submit an official score report to the Office of the Registrar.  Students who wish to use qualifying IB higher level (HL) or A-Level scores in economics as prerequisites should also request a placement code by completing the Economics Placement Code Request Form found on the department’s Student Resources web page under ECON Placement Information. The same rules apply where ECON courses are requirements for other majors. 

You should begin with ECON 0250 or ECON 0255 if you have also fulfilled the calculus I prerequisite.  You will be given one course credit toward the economics major, and will be prohibited from enrolling in ECON 0150 or ECON 0155. Students majoring in Economics will need to replace the other introductory course with an ECON elective.

Students who have earned a score of 6 on IB HL economics or a grade of B on A-Level economics are encouraged to begin their studies of Macroeconomics and Microeconomics with ECON 0250 and ECON 0255, but they may elect to enroll in ECON 0150 or ECON 0155. Students majoring in Economics will need to replace the other introductory course with an ECON elective.

It is preferred that your IB (or A-Level) credit are transferred to Middlebury and that you have requested a placement code for registering for courses that have ECON 0150 and/or ECON 0155 as a prerequisite.

However, if your scores are pending transfer, and spaces are available in courses that you wish to register for that have ECON 0150 and/or ECON 0155 as a prerequisite, you may be able to get a one-time prereq override from the individual instructor prior to your on-line registration. You would need to provide the instructor with your name, ID#, course/sec that you would like to register for and the reason why.

Calculus 1 is a prerequisite for many ECON courses, so it is important to fulfill this prereq sometime within the first and third semester in order to remain on track for meeting major requirements.

Yes.

MATH 0121 (calc 1) or approved equivalent.

No. BIOL 0211 is not considered an equivalent to ECON 0111.  If students planning to major in ECON (or other majors where ECON 0111 is required) take BIOL 0211, they must still take ECON 0111 (or an approved equivalent).

No. Since there is no specific IB statistics exam, the Economics Department does not accept IB (HL) MATH scores as substitute for ECON 0111.