Departments & Programs

Political Science

Interdepartmental Major in Political Science and Economics

Purpose

The interdepartmental major in political science and economics explores important issues arising in both the public and private sectors and provides students with the basic theoretical tools necessary to investigate these issues.

Note: Any economics course may be replaced by the honors equivalent.

Required Courses

Students must meet the following course requirements for a total of 42 credit hours in Political Science and Economics:

  1. Mathematics requirements: Finite Mathematics M118 and Calculus M119 or M211. (These courses do not count toward the 42 credit hours required for the major.)
  2. Economics E201, E202, E321, and at least three additional economics courses. Two of these three courses must be numbered above E321. The following courses cannot be used to meet this requirement: E175, E370, E496, Y398.

At least 18 credit hours in political science to include the following:

  1. One course chosen from Political Science Y204, Y205, Y210, Y303, Y394, or Y405.
  2. Another 15 credit hours in political science chosen from Y200, Y202, Y204, Y205, Y210, Y301–Y308, Y326, Y343, Y346, Y349, Y350, Y376, Y394, Y401, Y405, Y481, Y490, or Y499. (Y200 or Y401 may be repeated once for credit, for a maximum of 9 credit hours possible for these two courses. No other courses may be repeated for credit.)
  3. Statistics requirement: ECON-E 370 or POLS-Y 395.

Special Considerations

  1. Students meeting requirements 1–3 above with a total of 39 credit hours will be allowed to use 3 credit hours toward the major from preapproved sections of COLL-E 104 (Topics) courses. A list of preapproved sections of COLL-E 104 (Topics) is available each semester in the Departments of Economics and Political Science.
  2. No more than 6 credit hours of honors thesis credit (3 credit hours from Economics E499, and 3 credit hours from Political Science Y499) may be counted toward the major.
  3. A maximum of 3 credit hours of Political Science Y484 (for teaching interns only) may be counted toward the major.

Students must also complete the degree requirements in the College of Arts and Sciences.