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.

It is recommended that you begin with ECON 0250; however, you will need to earn a B- or better grade to receive credit for your AP Macro 4 score.

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 course in order to receive credit for your AP score.

 

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 calculus I credit or been placed in a higher-level math course by the Math Department in order to register. (Please see the ECON department placements pages for detailed information.)

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.

You will be given one course credit toward the economics major, and are encouraged to begin with ECON 0250 or ECON 0255 (if you have also fulfilled the calculus I prerequisite). However, you may elect to begin with ECON 0150 or ECON 0155.

You will get one credit towards the economics major and will have to replace the other intro 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.

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 credit instead. Students may not receive AP credit and course credit for the same course.

Calculus 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.

The short answer is that with the correct scores your AP CREDITS count 1 for 1.  AP Macro scores of 5 (or 4 with additional requirements) count as 1 credit towards ECON 0150 and AP Micro scores of 5 (or 4 with additional requirements) count as 1 credit towards ECON 0155. The AP credits must be a part of your Middlebury transcript record to be applied to the major requirements.

Yes.  AP, IB, A-levels are applied to other majors with economics course requirements as part of their minimum major requirements the same way as how they can be applied to the ECON major requirements. Example:  AP credit that is accepted by the econ department as meeting an econ major intro course requirement is also acceptable by other majors with the same intro course requirement.