Hey, so as the title says, I'm going into second year economics and I'm having a really tough time finding some electives.

In first year I took:
Anthro 1A03
Art Hist 1A03
Comp Sci 1TA3
Econ 1BB3
Econ 1B03
Geog 1HB3
Inquiry 1SS3
Math 1K03
Psych 1X03

So far for second year I'm registered in:

Econ 2B03, 2D03, 2G03, 2H03, 2I03 and Math 1F03

Any suggestions for second year electives that will help me complete a B.A. degree in Economics is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hey there

I'm going into my second year of Commerce (clearly not Economics) but I do have a few suggestions since the two sometimes overlap. I don't know what you plan on doing after graduation, but it couldn't hurt to take a poli sci course. It could come in handy if you end up working for the government, but is useful knowledge because of the relationship between politics and economics (ie. fiscal policy, the economy in general, etc). If you like it that much you could even consider a minor in it, and depending on how you feel about reading and writing essays it could be a welcomed change to the math-based economics courses.

Another option would be to take commerce courses. I'm not sure if they're open to non-commerce students or not, but they're pretty practical and probably worth looking into. Chances are, especially with a degree in economics, you'll have to deal with business at some point down the road so again it's just good general knowledge to have.

Last option would be labour studies courses. Again, a reading/writing based courses, but could contribute to the future. It would be good to look into if you were every considering human resource work and could open up more job options, especially if you wanted to minor in it.

If you're not too concerned about minors, how the courses will affect your future and everything else I've been talking about, there's always taking courses out of pure interest (which is better than taking a course simply because you need a credit).

Hopefully this helped. Good luck

Thanks a lot for the advice. I'm going to look into poli sci courses. I was hoping to take a few business courses but they're restricted to commerce students unfortunately.

Originally Posted by jordko

Thanks a lot for the advice. I'm going to look into poli sci courses. I was hoping to take a few business courses but they're restricted to commerce students unfortunately.

You can try to contact the commerce department to see if you can get a waiver.

Hey,

I'm a 3rd year Honors econ student doing a business minor at the moment. If you made it into honors after first year, there are 20 seats set aside in every commerce course for non-commerce students. You'll note that most classes require you to be in a four year program, and have a minimum mark in your introductory economics classes. If you didn't make those marks, you need a B- in Econ 2G03. If you're interested in pursing a business minor, Economics 2I03 (taught by Pete Rushlaugh last year) is cross listed with Finance, and IS finance for the purposes of the minor. It's an excellent option to get your foot in the door.

Also, if you're continuing in Economics past 3rd year, you should be taking Economics 2HH3 and 2GG3 this year in order to graduate.

Finally, I personally enjoyed political sciences courses, especially PolSci 2I03 with Todd Alway. Excellent professor with easy exams.