General College Requirements

General College Requirements (see Curriculum section), including the following requirements to satisfy the major

Minimum of 48 Credit Hours of Coursework

A minimum of 48 credit hours of coursework carrying economics credit and distributed as follows:

Theory core: 16 credits consisting of

• ECON 102: Principles of Microeconomics
• ECON 103: Principles of Macroeconomics
• ECON 251: Intermediate Macroeconomics
• ECON 252: Intermediate Microeconomics

Analytical skills

• four credits consisting of ECON 253: Economic Statistics

Field-specific economic analysis

• twenty-four credit hours of economics coursework at the 300-level

Up to 4 credits of 300-level coursework can be satisfied through any combination of directed research, independent study, or internship experiences.  A minimum of 20 credits must be earned by taking named courses in the ECON 300 – ECON 380 range.

Senior Experience

Senior Experience: The objectives of the courses in this requirement are to give students a way to build on the theory and methods of economics learned during the first three years, to allow students to gain expertise in the area they choose to study, and to improve their research and writing skills. Students must choose at least one of the following courses:

• ECON 405: The History of Economic Thought
• ECON 412: U.S. Economic History
• ECON 425: Econometrics
• ECON 459: Senior Seminar in Economics
• ECON 493/494: (An eight credit hour St. Mary’s Project in economics or other major may fulfill the senior experience with the permission of the chair of the Economics Department)

Minimum Grade and GPA Requirements

Students must earn a minimum grade of C- in all required economics courses and maintain an overall GPA of 2.0 or better in these courses.

Sequence of Study

The following model is suggested as a possible basic program to satisfy requirements for the major in economics:

• First Year:
  ECON 102 and ECON 103 and the Core Curriculum requirement in Mathematics.
• Sophomore Year:
  200-level courses in the major requirements and one upper-level course in the major.
• Junior Year:
  Two or three 300-level courses in economics.
• Senior Year: Two or three 300- or 400-level

General College Requirements

General College Requirements (see Curriculum section), including the following requirements to satisfy the minor

At least 24 credit-hours in Economics

Required Courses (12 Credit Hours)

• ECON 102: Principles of Microeconomics
• ECON 103: Principles of Macroeconomics
• ECON 251: Intermediate Macroeconomics or ECON 252: Intermediate Microeconomics

Elective Courses (12 Credit Hours)

• Three other 4-credit economics courses, two of which must be at the 300 or 400 level.

Minimum Grade and GPA Requirements

Students must earn a grade of C- or better in all required economics courses and maintain an overall GPA of 2.0 or better in these courses.  Prerequisites for economics courses must be fulfilled with a grade of C- or better.

Requirements for Certificate in Economic Statistics and Analysis

Jointly Endorsed by SAS

St. Mary’s College of Maryland economics majors have the opportunity to earn a certificate documenting the attainment of advanced statistical and analytic skills, jointly endorsed by St. Mary’s College of Maryland and SAS a data analytics company primarily known for their eponymous statistical software.  An ability to design, execute and interpret statistical analyses is attractive to employers, many of whom especially value the ability to write code (syntax) for data handling and analysis.  SAS is an analytical software package that is widely used by Fortune 500 companies and Federal agencies.

General College Requirements

General College Requirements (see Curriculum section), Requirements for a Degree in Economics (see Degree Requirements for Economics Major) and the following requirements to satisfy the certificate:

Required Foundation Courses (8 Credit Hours)

• ECON 252: Intermediate Microeconomics
• ECON 253: Economic Statistics (must be a section that utilizes SAS)

Elective Course (4 Credit Hours)

• Any 300 or 400 level course in which SAS is utilized extensively. Currently this requirement can be met by:
• ECON 353: Corporate Finance (must be a section that utilizes SAS)

Capstone Requirement (4-8 Credit Hours)

The Certificate in Economic Statistics and Analysis, jointly endorsed by SAS, requires the successful completion of a capstone project which makes use of SAS (including writing syntax) to execute a statistical analysis of the student’s own design.  Additionally the student must present his or her findings in both written and oral form.  This requirement may be satisfied by:

• ECON 493/494: Mary’s Project (project must be consistent with requirements outlined above)

OR

• ECON 459: Senior Seminar in Economics (course must be consistent with requirements outlined above)

Minimum Grade and GPA Requirements

A grade of B- or better must be received in each course used to satisfy the requirements for the certificate, and the cumulative grade-point average of courses used to satisfy the major must be at least 2.5.