Economics & Computer Science Major

The College of Arts & Sciences and the McKelvey School of Engineering have developed a major that allows students interested in both economics and computer science to combine these two complementary disciplines efficiently, without having to pursue them as two separate majors.

Engineering students who declare this major must fulfill the distribution and all other requirements for the BS in Applied Science degree in the McKelvey School of Engineering. Arts & Sciences students who declare this major must fulfill the distribution and all other requirements for an AB degree in addition to the specific requirements listed below.

Major Requirements

  1. Required Mathematics:  Math 131, Math 132, Math 2200 (or Math 3200 or ESE 326), Math 233 (or Econ 493)
  2. Required Economics:  Econ 1011, Econ 1021, Econ 4011, Econ 413 or 413W
  3. Required Computer Science:  CSE 131, CSE 247, CSE 347
  4. Three (3-unit) Economics electives, drawn from any prerequisite course, including Econ 4021 (and/or Econ 4021)-prerequisite elective.
  5. Economics electives of particular relevance include (but are not limited to):  Econ 407 (Market Design); Econ 4151 (Applied Econometrics); Econ 452 (Industrial Organization); Econ 467 (Game Theory); Econ 484 (Computational Macroeconomics)
  6. Three (3-unit) Computer Science electives, drawn from the list, below.

Computer Science elective coursework

CSE 330S (Rapid Prototype Development & Creative Programming)

CSE 511A (Artificial Intelligence)

CSE 332S (Object-oriented Software Development Lab)

CSE 517A (Machine Learning)

CSE 341T (Parallel & Sequential Algorithms)

CSE 514A (Data Mining)

CSE 416A (Analysis of Network Data)

CSE 516A (Multi-agent Systems)

CSE 417T (Introduction to Machine Learning)

CSE 518A (Crowdsourcing & Human Computation)

CSE 425S (Programming Systems and Languages)

CSE 557A (Information Visualization)

CSE 427S (Cloud Computing)

 

 

Additional Information

Second Major

The major in economics and computer science is available as a second major to students in Arts & Sciences, Business, and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.

Latin Honors

Students enrolled in this program and “prime” in Arts & Sciences may graduate with Latin Honors by completing 9 units (3 courses) of additional coursework, over-and-above the major requirements:

  • Math 3200 or ESE 326
  • One economics course from the list in the table below
  • One computer science course from the list in the table below

Alternatives for those who bypass Econ 1011 and/or Econ 1021

Students who by-pass Econ 1011 and/or Econ 1021 will need to complete additional elective coursework in Computer Science or in Economics.  (In Economics, elective coursework can be at the 300- or 400-level.)

  • Students who have AP credit for Math 131, Math 132 and/or Math 2200 do not have to complete additional mathematics coursework.
  • Students with pre-matriculation credit for Math 233 will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Study Abroad

Majors may receive abroad transfer credit for Econ 413 and/or any economics elective; majors must complete 2 of the 3 economics electives in residence. Majors will consult with the study abroad advisor in Engineering regarding transfer credit policies for computer science.

Alternative Electives

With permission, one course from outside Economics and the CSE list above may be used for elective credit.

Have questions?

Feel free to contact the department for further information. 

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