Students interested in the Economics minor can declare the minor at any time following the instructions on our Declaring Econ Major/Minor webpage. Once you complete the process, we will add the Econ minor in progress to your Spire record.
Note that minor requirements do not show on your ARR. You are encouraged to keep track of your classes for the minor using the requirements list and restrictions below.
See an Econ Peer Advisor for questions or progress checks during fall and spring when the Econ Peer Advisor office is open. See our Advising webpage for their schedule each fall and spring.
If you'd like to check in with your Staff Econ Minor Advisor, or you have a question when the Econ Peer Advisor office is closed during summer or winter, you may email your Staff Econ Minor Advisor. Find Advisor email addresses on our Advising webpage.
Your declared minor will be automatically reviewed in the semester in which you graduate to assure you've successfully completed all requirements as listed below. You are not required to submit any additional paperwork after you declare the minor.
Due to high demand for certain Econ courses, we cannot guarantee seats for prospective or declared minors in all of our classes. Some courses are also restricted temporarily to Econ primary majors at the beginning of Course Registration. Find more info on these course restrictions on our Courses webpage. Note that Economics offers a number of online courses in the fall, spring, winter and summer through UMass University +. We offer a wider selection of online courses in the summer and winter. Find more information on our online courses here.
Minor Course Requirements
1. ECON 103 – Intro to Microeconomics OR RES-ECON 102 – Intro to Resource Economics
2. ECON 104 – Intro to Macroeconomics
3. One of the following courses:
MATH 127 – Calculus for the Life and Social Sciences I
MATH 131 – Calculus I
4. One of the following courses:
MATH 128 – Calculus for the Life and Social Sciences II
MATH 132 – Calculus II
RES-ECON 212 – Intro to Stats/Social Science
STATISTC 240 – Intro to Statistics
STATISTC 501 – Meth Applied Stats
STATISTC 515 – Statistics I
PSYCH 240 – Statistics in Psychology
OIM 240 – Business Data Analysis
EDUC 240 – Introduction to Educational Statistics
5. One of the following courses:
ECON 203 – Intermediate Microeconomics OR RES-ECON 202 – Price Theory
ECON 204 – Intermediate Macroeconomics
6. Two additional upper level ECON courses, 3-4 credits each, numbered 200 or higher.
- RES-ECON courses do not fulfill this requirement
- If RES-ECON 202 is taken to count toward the Economics minor, then ECON 203 cannot also count
Restrictions
- The following courses do not fulfill Economics minor requirements: Independent Study (ECON 396, 496, 499Y, 499T or 596), Practicum (ECON 298, 398, 498, 598), ECON 365 (formerly 397W) – Writing in Economics
- A minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0 must be earned in courses applied to Economics minor requirements
- No course required for the Economics minor may be taken Pass/Fail.
- A minimum of two of the required ECON courses must be taken in the Department of Economics at UMass Amherst.
- Double dipping policy:
For students entering UMass Fall 2018 or later - Econ 300 level or above courses used for your Econ minor are not allowed to also be used for your primary major requirements. Overlap between Econ 300 level or above Econ minor courses and your college level requirements is allowed (for example, for the SOM breadth requirement). This Econ 300 level or above restriction does not apply to Econ 203, Econ 204 and Econ 205. Any of these courses can be used towards Econ minor requirements and simultaneously towards primary major requirements.