The requirements to declare and complete the economics major are complex. To provide advisement to students who have not yet declared the major, we've created a pre-economics mailing list. If you're considering an economics major, we strongly advise you to join that mailing list by going to http://list.mail.virginia.edu/mailman/listinfo/pre-econ. There you will receive a flow of guidance, FAQs, and reminders. If you have specific questions about the requirements of the economics major, you may also email AskEcon@virginia.edu.

The undergraduate program in economics equips students with the tools needed to understand a wide variety of economic events and institutional arrangements. In part, this understanding comes from learning facts about economic institutions and economic history. But facts do not interpret themselves. Economic facts must be viewed through the lens of economic theory. Similarly, economic data must be subjected to careful statistical analysis. The undergraduate program in economics emphasizes applications of economic theory and statistical analysis to a wide variety of real-world events and arrangements in both the private sector and the public sector. For more information about what economics is and how it can be useful to you, go to http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AEA/students/.

Currently, there are about 800 economics majors at the University. The number of students who enroll in one or both of the introductory economics courses greatly exceeds this number. The introductory courses are taught in a variety of formats—from large sections of as many as 500 students (these are supplemented by small discussion sections led by teaching assistants) to small sections of about 50. Higher level courses typically, although not always, have 40-60 students in them.

After graduating, economics majors disperse in many directions. Most begin careers in business or finance. Of these, many enter MBA programs after two or three years of work experience. About one-fourth of the University's economics majors go to law school after they graduate. Others enter military service, work in the public sector, go to medical school, etc. Each year, a few graduates go to graduate school to continue their study of economics or related subjects.