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Department of Economics

Undergraduate student FAQs

It is expected that students will have questions that are specific to Economics programs. The information below answers some of the most common undergraduate student questions we receive.

Course requirements and prerequisites

Your program will normally be governed by the regulations in effect at the date of your first registration in the faculty. If the requirements change in subsequent Calendars before you have finished your degree, you can usually elect to take advantage of those changes if it is in your interest to do so.

Exceptions are courses listed in the Options and BSc required courses. If you have not already taken a de-listed course, then the new program requirements apply.

This is the purpose of your Curriculum Advising and Program Planning (CAPP) report. Once you've declared your program in Economics, your CAPP report will be available through Online Tools. Make an appointment to see an advisor in the Advising Centre for an explanation of your CAPP report.

Changes in course prerequisites take effect when they appear in the Calendar and apply equally to all students regardless of what year they started.

Probably not. Careful consideration is given in setting course prerequisites, and they normally constitute essential background to a course.

If you think your academic background includes equivalents to the stated prerequisites, you can fill out and submit the Prerequisite Waiver form and carefully explain why you believe the courses you have taken are equivalent to the prerequisites. Submit this form to econreg@uvic.ca.

A comprehension and writing test will be given in the first seven calendar days of the course. Students who fail the test will be required to see the ECON 225 teaching assistant during the term to upgrade their writing skills.

Yes. This requirement is satisfied if you have completed ENGR 240. However, only students in Engineering can take ENGR240. If you are an ECON major or minor, you must take ECON225 to fulfill your program requirement.

There are no courses from elsewhere that transfer to UVic as credit for ECON 225

Yes, if you have declared your major in a writing-intensive discipline (for example, English, Geography, History, or Political Science). Also, the requirement may be waived if you have a background as a writer (for example, reporter for a newspaper). See an academic advisor if one of these applies to you.

You will be dropped from the course when the department performs its prerequisite check (usually in the first week of the term that the course is scheduled).

You can only take courses in any given term for which you meet the prerequisites, unless you apply for a prerequisite waiver and that waiver is granted. However, having failed a prerequisite course is not a good argument to seek a waiver and hence such a request will likely be denied.

Yes - we have created a spreadsheet which lists all 300-level Economics courses (both mandatory and electives) and their prerequisites. We hope this will be a helpful resource for students trying to plan out the sequence of courses they will take.

Look at Admission and program requirements info that is already on our new site and see if this is doubling up.

Admissions and program requirements

Admissions to Economics Programs – learn about the different Economics programs, which courses to take and how to apply.

Economics Requirements – Notes on specific course requirements for Economics.

Economics undergraduate advising

Yes! Contact the Economics undergraduate advisor, Brooklynn Comish-Trimble at ecadvice@uvic.ca if you have questions related to your Economics program that can’t be answered in these FAQs.

Declare your Program – Everything you need to know about declaring your program.

If you’d like to register in more than the standard course load, you must complete the Request for Course Overload form.

Please use extreme caution when dropping courses. If you dropped yourself by accident from a course in which there is still space, re-register yourself as soon as possible. If you dropped yourself from a course with a waitlist, the department cannot help you get back in. As soon as you drop yourself, a waitlist offer goes out to another student, so your spot is gone.

Economics and business

Many prospective commerce students end up becoming economics majors. Pre-commerce requirements can be satisfied in a number of ways; however, only some also meet the economics requirements.

Plan your program in a way that will also allow you to pursue an economics degree, possibly with a Business Minor.

To be consistent with the requirements for economics majors, students should meet the pre-commerce requirements in the following way:

Economic prerequisites for pre-Commerce
Commerce requirement Met with
Mathematics MATH 102
Statistics ECON 245 and 246
Computing CSC 105
Economics Both ECON 103 and 104

Note: MATH 151 and STAT 252 cannot be used to satisfy program requirements in Economics.

Yes, here are some possibilities:

  • Our department offers a Finance Option that can be done in conjunction with a BA or BSc Major or Honours degree
  • The School of Business offers a Business Minor for students pursuing a non-business degree.

Other considerations:

  • It is not possible to do a minor in economics from within the BCom Program or a double major in economics and business.
  • If you're interested in accounting or finance, please see our Careers page

Yes. You should be aware, though, that COM 240 will only count towards the Minor. You will not be able to include COM 240 as one of the five Finance Option courses.

There are many things to consider when choosing between a business or economics degree, which depend on the structure of the programs and your aptitudes and preferences.

If you choose a degree in economics, you will have the flexibility to take courses in other areas, including business courses, which can lead to a Business Minor. If you are considering a BCom degree at UVic, you should be aware of the regulations that limit the number of Commerce courses you can take as part of your Pre-Commerce coursework. Limitation of Commerce Credit and Course Waivers.

An economics degree can lead to a career in finance. The advanced economics courses in the Finance Option are quite technical and are good preparation for the coveted Chartered Financial Analyst Program or for a technical MBA with a specialization in finance. The additional complementary courses in the BSc or the Combined Major in Financial Mathematics and Economics provide preparation for graduate work and research in finance.

Are you interested in accounting? Although accounting courses are not taught in our department, with early planning it is possible to combine an economics degree with preparation towards the highly respected Chartered Public Accountant designation. Economics is a particularly nice complement for their managerial accounting specialization. An economics background in industrial organization, finance, and statistical inference is valuable for this career path.

Studying economics, particularly the BA program, will provide you with flexibility to take a wide range of courses for a liberal/mathematical education. Economics training emphasizes sophisticated approaches and tools for critical thinking that are applicable in both business and social sciences. Economics is great training for law, and it will also prepare you for a business career. See our Careers page for more information about the many career paths you can take with a degree in economics.

The Gustavson School of Business at UVic specializes in the areas of entrepreneurship, international business, and service management. If these are your main areas of interest, this could be a good choice for you.

Economics, mathematics and statistics

MATH 102 is the more appropriate course for most BA students because it provides calculus training that can be directly applied to economics. MATH 102 is adequate background for BSc students taking the subsequent mathematical economics course, MATH 208. However, MATH208 will no longer be offered after the 202301 (January to April 2023) term. If you started your BSc program before September 2023 and have taken MATH102, but don’t have MATH208 yet, please contact academic advising: advising@uvic.ca  for a substitution of MATH208 that is available for our students during the transition of our BSc program requirements.

MATH 100 and 109 are for those students who are undaunted by theoretical mathematics and are interested in the BSc program and graduate work in economics. Starting September 2023 students satisfy BSc requirements by subsequently taking the rigorous sequence: MATH 101, 200 and 211. Students who take MATH 102 are usually precluded from taking MATH 101 and this rigorous sequence (though in the past, students with an A- or better have been allowed into MATH 101 by making a request to an advisor in the Math Department.)

Not at UVic. ECON 245/246 are calculus-based courses (245 has MATH 102 as a prerequisite) and so only calculus-based statistics courses are allowed as substitutes. At UVic the only such courses are STAT 260/261. For the most part, community college statistics courses are not calculus-based and so do not substitute.