Major Requirements

COURSEWORK

Choosing Electives

The economics department offers many electives, please choose from the following. If you would like to know how these electives might be grouped with other non-economics courses to give more intellectual continuity to a course of study, please refer to the department website: https://www.oxy.edu/economics/courses-requirements/choosing-electives.

Please select three of the following electives for your major requirements:

SECOND-STAGE WRITING REQUIREMENT

Students majoring in Economics will satisfy the Second-Stage Writing Proficiency Requirement by arranging (with the instructor) for ECON 272 or an ECON 300-level course to be designated as the student's writing course. Students need to notify the instructor of the course they are wishing to designate as their writing course before the end of the semester. Writing courses cannot be retroactively counted. Also, students can only designate one course as their writing course in a given semester. Writing proficiency will be determined through faculty assessment, and is independent of the course grade. The Second-Stage Writing Requirement must be satisfactorily completed by May of the student's junior year. Students who fail the requirement or who fail to meet the deadline will be required to both take (and pass) a college writing course in the senior year, typically WRD 201, and demonstrate acceptable writing skills in the senior comprehensive in order to graduate. Students should familiarize themselves with the departmental requirement at the time of declaring the major. See information about Writing Requirements in the college catalog and consult the department chair for additional information.

COMPREHENSIVE REQUIREMENT

Economics students meet their comprehensive requirement by successfully completing ECON 495 with a grade of C or above in the fall semester of their senior year. Students who will be off campus during the fall semester of their senior year must contact the department chair by the end of their junior year to make alternative arrangements.

HONORS

Majors can earn honors by taking ECON 498 in the spring semester of their senior year and by writing and defending, in that class, a thesis that is judged by the department faculty to be of honors quality. Enrollment in ECON 498 is limited to students with GPAs of 3.5 or higher (both overall and within the department). Interested students should consult with their academic advisor and then apply to the department chair in the fall semester of their senior year.

OFF-CAMPUS AND TRANSFER CREDITS

• Students who have passed a microeconomics or macroeconomics class at another college or university will be allowed to skip ECON 101.
• Economics majors must complete the following courses at Occidental and may not satisfy them with transfer credits: ECON 250, ECON 251, ECON 272, at least two 300-level electives, and their Senior Comprehensives course.
• Students may take one accounting course for College credit, either at Occidental or through transfer credits. Students may not receive College credit for any other business-related course.
• Students who have received a score of 4 or 5 on either AP Calculus test have met the departmental Calculus I major requirement (and the calculus pre-requisite for courses that require Calculus I).
• Students who have received a score of 5 on both the AP Microeconomics test and the AP Macroeconomics test will be allowed to skip ECON 101 and ECON 102. Students who have received a score of 4 on both the AP Microeconomics test and the AP Macroeconomics test, or a score of 4 in one and 5 in the other, will be allowed to skip ECON 101. Students who have an AP Microeconomics score of 5 may be allowed to skip ECON 101 after consultation with the economics department.