Program FAQs

Yes. The Department of Economics has residency requirements for each major.

To receive a bachelor of arts degree in Economics (ECON-BA-001. Formerly EN25), no more than four upper-division courses taken externally from UC San Diego can be counted toward the major.

To receive a bachelor of science degree in Joint Mathematics-Economics (ECON-BS-002. Formerly EN28), no more than three upper-division courses taken externally from UC San Diego can be counted toward the major. 

To receive a bachelor of science degree in Business Economics (ECON-BS-003. Formerly EN30), no more than one upper division Economics (Econ) course and one upper division Rady School (MGT) course may be taken externally from UC San Diego and be counted toward the major.

The Department of Economics reviews online courses by exception only and will accept an online course only if the content is appropriate and equivalent to a UCSD Economics course.

If the course(s) does not appear in an articulation agreement with the California Community College system, please follow the steps below to petition your course for UCSD major credit.

1. Have an official transcript for the transfer course sent to UCSD Admissions.
2. Check your academic history to see if the course is posted to UCSD.
3. When the class is posted, complete an Undergraduate Student Petition.
   1. Include all supporting course materials such as: the syllabus and course description.
   2. Submit a separate petition for each course if you are petitioning more than one class.
4. Submit the completed petition, and supporting documentation via: https://forms.gle/6BBkrrHuDDvHfYrn8 (must be logged into Google with your ucsd.edu email). We will forward the petition to our Vice Chair of Undergraduate Education for review.
5. Check your UCSD email account for VAC notification confirming that your petition has been reviewed and processed and that outcome has been provided. (Process takes approximately 10 business days. May be longer during peak periods).

No. Unless the course was taken during COVID quarters (ie SP20, FA20, WI21, & SP21), all courses taken to meet major requirements must be taken for a letter grade. A course taken for P/NP will not apply towards major requirements. This applies to both upper and lower division requirements, all required Math classes, MGT classes, and ECON classes. 

The only exception to this rule is ECON-195P, 198, and 199, which are only offered with a P/NP grading option. No more than 12 units total of these classes may be applied towards your major. No more than eight units of ECON-195P may apply towards your major. No more than eight units of ECON-199 may apply towards your major. For ECON-BA-001 (Formerly EN25) and ECON-BS-004 (Formerly EN31) majors, these courses will count as standard electives, not advanced.

We do understand that sometimes life happens and there are situations where a P/NP grading option is needed. If this is the case, we will accept a major requirement class taken for P/NP, but you must fill out an undergraduate petition asking for an exception and send it to econugadvisor@ucsd.edu for departmental review. As a consequence, you will need to take an additional class for each class you took for P/NP per the chart below.

Yes. Major requirements taken during SP20, FA20, WI21 and SP21 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are accepted for a P/NP grading option (effective FA21). Such courses must be passed with a P in order to apply to major requirements.

Courses taken for P/NP outside of these specified quarters will not count toward major requirements. Outside of these specified quarters, all major requirements must be taken for a letter grade and passed with a C- or better.

In general, all upper division courses, including electives, for our majors must be 4 units in order to apply toward major requirements.

However, students can use 2 one-unit honors (H) classes with 1 two-unit topics (T) course to use as 1 standard Econ elective. Students can also use 2 two-unit topics (T) courses together for 1 standard Econ elective. This applies to all majors within the Economics Department and can only be done to replace a maximum of 1 elective requirement.

Please note that using H courses is possible only if the student is not looking to use the H courses to graduate with honors, and only a maximum of 2 H classes can be used.

For ECON-BA-001 (formerly EN25) and ECON-BS-004 (formerly EN31) students, please note that the combinations above can count only toward a standard Econ elective, not an advanced Econ elective. 

In general, all upper division courses, including electives, for our majors must be 4 units in order to apply toward major requirements.

ECON-186 cannot be used toward major credit as it is a 2 unit course. Furthermore, it cannot be combined with ECON-190 nor with H or T courses to count toward elective credit.

Previously, ECON-190 was not accepted to fulfill major requirements for any of our majors. However, the Department now does accept the following:

ECON-BA-001 (formerly EN25), ECON-BS-002 (Formerly EN28), and ECON-BS-003 (Formerly EN30) majors CAN use ECON-190 (2 units) IN COMBINATION with H courses (1 unit) or T courses (2 units) to count at 1 standard Econ elective (total of 4 units). Using H courses is possible only if the student is not looking to use the H courses to graduate with honors, and only a maximum of two H classes can be used. In other words, students can use ECON-190 (2 units) + 1 T course (2 units) = 1 standard Econ elective (4 units total), OR ECON-190 (2 units) + 1 H course (1 unit) + 1 H course (1 unit) = 1 standard Econ elective (4 units total) with these H classes NOT counting toward honors.

ECON-BS-004 (formerly EN31) students CAN use ECON-190 as an ADVANCED elective for the 2024-2025 academic year (ie FA24, WI25, SP25, or SS25) per the 2024-2025 general catalog as well as for the 2025-2026 academic year (ie FA25, WI26, SP26, or SS26) per the changes pending for the 2025-2026 catalog: https://catalog.ucsd.edu/curric/ECON-ug.html. Once the catalog is updated (specific date pending), ECON-BS-004 (formerly EN31) majors must use ECON-190 (2 units) IN COMBINATION with H courses (1 unit) or T courses (2 units) to count at 1 STANDARD Econ elective (total of 4 units). Using H courses is possible only if the student is not looking to use the H courses to graduate with honors, and only a maximum of two H classes can be used. In other words, students can use ECON-190 (2 units) + 1 T course (2 units) = 1 standard Econ elective (4 units total), OR ECON-190 (2 units) + 1 H course (1 unit) + 1 H course (1 unit) = 1 standard Econ elective (4 units total) with these H classes NOT counting toward honors.

No. Once you have received your degree, your undergraduate record is officially closed. You can take UC San Diego Summer Session courses, but these appear on a separate record and are not included with your undergraduate work. You can also take UCSD Extension courses because they maintain their own student records.

Students with a bachelor's degree should consider applying to graduate programs. Please contact the Office of Graduate Studies for information on graduate programs offered at UC San Diego.