Preapproval of Summer Courses

The Economics Department only pre-approves transfer credit for either an ECO 100 (Introductory Microeconomics) or an ECO 101 (Introductory Macroeconomics) equivalent summer course offered in-person by an accredited university. Online courses are not accepted. We also do not approve transfer credit for ECO 202 (Statistics) or for any 300 or higher level economics course.

For pre-approval of mathematics summer courses, students should ask the Mathematics Department by contacting the Mathematics Department Placement Officer, Professor Ana Menezes. If the Mathematics Department approves of a course as equivalent to MAT 175, they should email certification of the decision to the Economics Undergraduate Program Manager, Gina Holland.

To have a summer course considered for pre-approval, students should submit the full course syllabus, including information about the textbook, a week-by-week plan of topics and chapters, the number of hours per week, the number of weeks of instruction, and grading criteria. A short paragraph like that in our Undergraduate Announcement is not enough. The syllabus must be submitted as an attachment to the “Summer Course Pre-Approval” request form, found in TigerHub under the “Academic Tasks” tile. We will not accept links to an online syllabus. 

If the syllabus for the coming summer session is not yet available, we can give preliminary approval based on the syllabus for last year’s summer session, to be confirmed if the actual syllabus for this summer proves to be essentially equivalent. But please note: A syllabus for an academic year semester course is not acceptable as presumptive evidence of what will be covered in a summer course. Summer versions often cover less material and are at a lower level than academic year courses.

For an introductory microeconomics course, indifference curve analysis, externalities, and public goods are important topics. For macroeconomics, simultaneous equilibrium in markets for goods and money and long-run growth are important topics. For both, coverage of international aspects is important. Summer courses often skip these topics or skimp on them for want of time, so check carefully in advance. 

Finally, know that the statistics pre-requirement cannot be satisfied with summer courses taken after you have begun your studies at Princeton, except in very unusual circumstances approved by the Executive Director of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Smita Brunnermeier.