1. Two UVA Economics Classes

You must complete at least two graded economics courses at UVA.

2. Economics GPA

You must earn a GPA of 2.3 or higher on all Economics courses taken at UVA. 

This GPA calculation includes all 2000+ level Economics courses taken at UVA with the following exceptions:

• Your grades earned in courses taken outside the UVA Economics Department, such as transfer courses or direct credit courses offered through study abroad programs, are not included in the economics GPA.
• If you earn Economics elective credit for a course in another school or department at UVA, that grade is not included in your UVA Economics GPA.
• HIUS 2061 is cross-listed as ECON 2060. This course is the same whether taught under the History or Economics numbers.  Therefore, any grade you earn in this class is included in the Economics GPA.
• If you fail a class and retake it, both grades enter are included in your Economics GPA. If you take a class and pass it, grades earned on subsequent retake(s) are not included in your Economics GPA.

3. Three Prerequisite Courses

• You must earn a C+ (or higher) on each of the three courses listed below.  You can retake the class one time to try to earn a C+. If you do not earn a C+ in two attempts, you are not eligible to declare the Economics major.
• You cannot use transfer credit for these three classes after you matriculate to UVA. To use transfer credit for these three courses, you must have completed the classes (with a C+ or higher) before you matriculated to UVA.

A. Calculus I

Note: Calculus I is also a prerequisite for Intermediate Microeconomics (ECON 3010) and so you must complete Calculus I before you take ECON 3010.

• Most use MATH 1210 to satisfy this requirement, but you can also satisfy this requirement with: MATH 1190, MATH 1310, or APMA 1090.
• If you fail twice to obtain a grade of at least C+ in Calculus I (whether in the same or different courses), you are ineligible to declare the Economics major. 
• Students considering a Financial Economics concentration or graduate work in economics should take MATH 1310 (or APMA 1110) instead of MATH 1210.
• If you fail to earn a C+ in Calculus I and then opt to take Calculus II instead of repeating Calculus I, you are exhausting your second chance for this prerequisite. If you earn a grade below C+ in Calculus II you are then ineligible to declare the Economics major.
• If you matriculate to UVA with AP or transfer credit for the Calculus I courses listed above or Calculus II (MATH 1220, MATH 1320, or APMA 1110) or Calculus III (MATH 2310, MATH 2315, or APMA 2120), you have satisfied this prerequisite.

B. Intermediate Microeconomics

Most use ECON 3010 to satisfy this requirement but you can also use ECON 3110 (Mathematical Microeconomics).  Note that you cannot earn credit for both ECON 3010 and ECON 3110, and these are considered the same course for the purposes of this requirement.

C. Statistics

Most use STAT 2120 at UVA to satisfy this prerequisite.  However, you can also use STAT 3120, APMA 3110, or APMA 3120.

Note regarding Econometrics: 

One Economics major requirement is the completion of Econometrics (ECON 3720 or 4720) by the end of your sixth semester. Thus, if you declare an Economics major in your 6th semester you must have already completed (or be currently enrolled in) Econometrics. If you declare after your sixth semester, you must have already completed Econometrics.

1. Five Required Classes

You must complete the following:

• Principles of Microeconomics (ECON 2010)
• Principles of Macroeconomics (ECON 2020)
• Intermediate Microeconomics (ECON 3010 or ECON 3110)
• Intermediate Macroeconomics (ECON 3020)
• Econometrics (Econ 3720 or ECON 4720)

Note also:

• You must earn a C+ or better in Intermediate Microeconomics (ECON 310 or 3110) before you can declare an Economics major.  For other prerequisites for major declaration, see this page.

• If you matriculate to UVA with transfer credit for ECON 3010 or 3020 but no credit for ECON 2010 or 2020, you are exempt from ECON 2010 or 2020, respectively. However, you are required to complete one additional ECON elective (see below) for each exempted class. 

• If you are a declared Economics major, you must complete ECON 2020 and ECON 3720 (or 4720) by the end of your sixth semester or you will be dropped from the major.

• If you wish to declare an Economics major after your sixth semester, you must complete ECON 2020 and ECON 3720 (or 4720) first.

2. Four Elective Classes

You must complete four elective ECON classes, each with at least three credit hours. 

• Only one 2000-level class can be used to satisfy this requirement and at least two of these classes must be numbered at the 4000-level or above.

• You cannot use 1000-level ECON courses to satisfy this (or any other) major requirement.

3. GPA

You must earn a minimum 2.0 UVA ECON GPA to graduate with an Economics major. If your UVA ECON GPA drops below 2.0 at the end of your sixth semester, you will be dropped from the major.

This GPA calculation includes all 2000+ level Economics courses taken at UVA with the following exceptions:

• Your grades earned in courses taken outside the UVA Economics Department, such as transfer courses or direct credit courses offered through study abroad programs, are not included in the economics GPA.
• If you earn Economics elective credit for a course in another school or department at UVA, that grade is not included in your UVA Economics GPA.
• HIUS 2061 is cross-listed as ECON 2060. This course is the same whether taught under the History or Economics numbers.  Therefore, any grade you earn in this class is included in the Economics GPA.

• If you fail a class and retake it, both grades enter are included in your Economics GPA. If you take a class and pass it, grades earned on subsequent retake(s) are not included in your Economics GPA.

• Review your student record to make sure you have completed all the prerequisites- the grades must be posted on SIS.  If any prerequisites are in progress, you are not yet eligible to declare. 
• Prospective majors and minors should submit the declaration form independently. The economics declaration guide will help students with this process.

• Beginning with Fall 2024, Calculus II is no longer required for the Economics major.  It is not required for declaration or completion of the major.  However, some upper-level courses still require Calculus II as a prerequisite. 

• You are allowed to transfer up to two courses towards the major after you matriculate to UVA.  However, not all classes can be transferred for Economics credit. For more information, please visit the Transfer Credit section on the Economics Department website.

• Transfer students must meet all prerequisites.  You cannot automatically declare in the major.  Third-year transfer students considering the economics major are strongly advised to contact the Undergraduate Program Coordinator or schedule an appointment before selecting courses.

• No course taken credit/no credit may be used to satisfy major and concentration requirements.

• If you took prerequisite and other economics courses during the COVID grading semesters (Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, and Summer 2021) you should refer to the Economics Grade Policies for COVID Semesters.