<p>Looking at Chicago's course guide I see that the main Econ track, starting with 20000, requires a year of calculus. Thus, it seems that most people begin taking these courses either spring of their first year or the fall of their second year. I'm wondering if anybody takes these courses right away / is this even possible? If you perform really well on the Calculus placement test and test out of 161-162-163 (which I realize is extremely unlikely), can you start the main Econ sequence right out of the door? </p>
<p>The course catalog is pretty clear about this:</p>
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<p>To summarize: If you place into Math 15300 or 16300 or higher, you can start the Econ 20000 sequence in the fall of your first year if you take it concurrently with the last quarter of calculus (or you placed out of it). Otherwise you would start it in the spring cycle, and finish it winter of your second year. Which you might choose to do anyway if you needed to take Econ 19800 and/or 19900 first – you would do that in fall/winter quarter, then take 20000 in the spring.</p>
<p>No one will be trying to hold you back. You won’t be under-stimulated. I promise.</p>
<p>As I understand it, you can only take Econ 200 in the fall of your first year if you place into Math 199 or higher and have taken a prior course in microeconomics (presumably AP credit would suffice). Note that the latter requirement is stricter than it used to be—if you haven’t taken economics before, you will not be allowed to start with Econ 200 (and I wouldn’t suggest talking your way into it; they WILL kick you out of the course if you’re discovered).</p>
<p>No, you can most definitely take Econ 200 without any of it. I know multiple people who took Econ 198 Fall, Econ 199 Winter, Econ 200 Spring; and took Math 161-162-163 (and many more who skipped Econ 198/199 though skipping 198/199 is becoming more difficult unless you have AP credit).</p>
<p>This year, the Econ Department instituted an Economics Placement Exam, specifically for those who wish to begin the 200’s Econ sequence in their freshman year. Essentially, if you want to take 200 in your first year you have to first:</p>
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<p>Those requirements qualify you to take the Econ Placement Exam, which occurs roughly once a quarter. If you pass said exam, then you become eligible to take 200.</p>
<p>If you choose to take Econ 200 in your second year or later, then you do not have to take the placement exam and may directly enroll in the class.</p>
<p>Rny2, are you saying that first-years can’t take Econ 200 in the spring? The Economics section of the course catalog, which is where these requirements are supposed to appear, pretty clearly reflects an expectation that a fair number of first-years are going to be taking Math 151-153 or 161-163 and Econ 198-199-200 over the course of the year’s three quarters. I don’t understand why someone who had just passed 198-199 and 161-162 (or 151-152 with at least A-s) would need to take an additional placement test to enter the spring section of 200 (or, worse, would be flat ineligible to take it).</p>
<p>Obviously, it’s not the end of the world if you have to wait until fall of your second year to start the Econ 200 series. But it doesn’t make a lot of sense to offer 200 in the spring unless you expect a bunch of first years to take it then. I think it would be pretty hard to complete an Econ major if you didn’t start Econ 200 until your sixth quarter at Chicago. You wouldn’t be eligible to take many courses that are necessary for the major until spring of third year.</p>
<p>Ah, yes, I was unclear about that. The placement exam is if you don’t want to take Econ 198 and 199 before you take 200. Concerning when people start the Econ 200 sequence, there are plenty of people who start it in spring of their second year, finishing Econ 203 and Econometrics in spring of their third year which are the major prerequisites for higher Econ classes. Even if a student began 200 in fall of their third year, they would still be able to take higher Econ classes for five quarters.</p>
<p>Here’s the information about the placement exam, from Robert Herbst, administrator of the undergraduate Econ program:</p>
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<p>At this point, I think it might be helpful to have the actual Econ major requirements too:</p>
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<p>For those without course catalogs, MATH 133/153/163 is the third quarter of calculus, 200-201-202-203 forms the core Econ sequence with 200/201 focusing on price theory and 202/203 focusing on macroeconomics. Stat 234/244 and Econ 209/210 form another sequence of Statistics and Econometrics (with regular and honors flavors of each). MATH 195 and 196 are Multivariate Calculus and Linear Algebra, both of which can be replaced by 203-204 Real Analysis or 207-208 Honors Analysis.</p>
<p>For example, like many by the end of my first year I’ll have 153, 195, 196, and the non-Econ elective completed, making 9 out of 13 classes left. Take out the main Econ sequence, and there’s just 5 classes to take; that can be squeezed into two quarters, making when one begins the Econ sequence not as important.</p>