B.A. or B.S. in Economics?

The  B.A. and B.S. degrees in economics are identical except for two requirements:

• B.A. degree students must demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language by earning a passing grade in an intermediate level course(107 or 112) offered by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. Students with four or more years of high school work in a single foreign language may attempt to fulfill the requirement in that language by taking an exemption examination. B.S. degree students do not have a language requirement but are required, instead, to demonstrate proficiency in quantitative methods. This involves successfully completing 12 credit hours of course work; for further information about courses that satisfy this requirement, click here.

• B.S. majors must take ECON301, which uses calculus, as their intermediate-level course in microeconomics;  B.A. majors may take either ECON300 or ECON301.

If you have strong quantitative skills, we encourage you to do the B.S. degree. If you prefer to study a language, the B.A. is for you.  It is worth noting that quantitative skills are an important part of more advanced study in economics, and, indeed, several 400-level courses in economics require calculus.