The Department of Economics, Business, and Finance offers majors and minors in Economics, Business, and Finance. Students cannot double major, double minor, or have both a major and a minor within the Department. Each major also allows students to complete at most one area of concentration, but students are not required to do so.
As of March 2021, international students who major in Economics have the ability to apply for the Optional Practice Training Extension for STEM (OPT-STEM) in order to receive 36 rather than 12 months of OPT; however, due to federal policy, OPT-STEM is not available to students majoring in Business or Finance.
The Department enacted new major and minor requirements, including new requirements for concentrations, in Summer/Fall 2022. The new requirements apply to all students who started at the College after the Spring 2022 semester. Students who started at the College in the Spring 2022 semester or before can complete the new requirements or the previous set of requirements. (See the left navigation bar for the requirements before Summer/Fall 2022.)
Students are not allowed to count more than 15 credits, exclusive of internship credits, from the department combined across all three prefixes (BUSN, ECON, or FIN) toward graduation. Students may appeal to the Chair of the Department for exceptions to this policy.
Courses taken toward a major in Economics, Business, or Finance cannot be taken Pass-NoPass, with the exception that MATH 108 and 109 or MATH 110 must carry an assigned grade of at least C-, even if it is listed as Pass on the transcript. There are no Pass-NoPassl limits for minors.
MAJOR IN ECONOMICS
At least 11.5 credits
Pre-Core Requirements (3.5 credits)
Students majoring in Economics must complete all of the courses listed below, each with a C- or better.
ECON 110 Principles of Economics
ECON 130 Applied Statistics
Either MATH 108 Calculus 1a & MATH 109 Calculus 1b or MATH 110 Calculus I
COLL 150 Data Analytics Using Excel (0.5 credits)
Core Requirements (3 credits)
Students majoring in Economics must complete all of the courses listed below, each with a C- or better.
ECON 210 Microeconomic Theory
ECON 220 Macroeconomic Theory
ECON 330 Econometrics
Elective Requirements (3 credits)
Students majoring in Economics must complete three additional courses with an ECON or FIN prefix at the 200- or higher level, under the following conditions:
- At least 2 electives must be taken at the 300-level
- At least 2 electives must have an ECON prefix
Out-of-Department Requirement (1 credit)
Students majoring in Economics must complete one course from the following list:
CSCI 112 Computer Science I
FREN 320 French for International Affairs and Business
HIST 290 Capitalism: A Global History
MATH 111 Calculus II
MATH 240 Introduction to Computational Math
MATH 250 Introduction to Statistical Programming
PHIL 156 Logic and Styles of Argumentation
PHIL 203 Business Ethics
PHIL 325 Major Ethical Theories
POLS 140 Introduction to Comparative Politics
POLS 226 Public Policy Studies
POLS 242 Politics of the Developing World
PSYC 110 Introduction to Psychological Sciences
RELG 232 Religion and Capitalism
SPAN 321 Business Spanish
Senior Studies Requirement (1 credit)
Students majoring in Economics must complete either one course at the 400-level with an ECON prefix or an ECON senior thesis.
Concentration in Finance for Economics Majors (optional)
At least 14.5 credits are required to complete an Economics major with a Concentration in Finance
Students who major in Economics can elect to complete the general major, or they can elect to also complete a concentration in Finance within the major. The requirements for the Finance concentration are listed below. Students intending to complete a concentration in Finance must file a Declaration of Major form with the Registrar’s Office indicating this intent.
In order to obtain a Concentration in Finance, while completing all of the requirements for the Economics major listed above, students must:
- Complete FIN 210 Financial Management.
- Complete three other classes at the 300-level with a FIN prefix.
- At most one of the four FIN classes taken to satisfy (1) and (2) above can be used to satisfy the elective requirements for the Economics major.
MINOR IN ECONOMICS
At least 6 credits
Students majoring in Business or Finance cannot complete a minor in Economics. In order to complete a minor in Economics, students must complete the requirements set forth below.
Pre-Core Requirements (3 credits)
MATH 109 Calculus 1b or MATH 110 Calculus I
ECON 110 Principles of Economics
ECON 130 Applied Statistics
Core Requirements (2 credits)
ECON 210 Microeconomic Theory
ECON 220 Macroeconoic Theory
Elective Requirement (1 credit)
One 200-level or higher course with an ECON or FIN prefix
Transfer Credit Guide
A guide listing the econonmics requirements that can be satisfied by courses at community colleges near Lake Forest.