Undergraduate Student Resources

Virtual office hours with Professor Tien, the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS), are available during the Spring 2023 semester by appointment. Appointments can be made through Calendly.

Appointments are updated on a weekly basis, and there may be last minute cancellations, so if there is no availability currently do check back. 

Please be courteous to other students and book a single time slot only and remember to keep your appointment or cancel if you cannot make it.

You can also e-mail the DUS your advising questions ([email protected]).   

All major/minor declarations will be handled electronically. To declare your economics major or minor, please click on the relevant google form link below. The google form will guide you through the process of building your course plan. You are welcome to schedule an appointment with the DUS to discuss your course plan, but the google form still needs to be completed.

You are required to read the major/minor requirements and recommended schedules on our website to construct a tentative 4-year plan before you attempt to fill out the google form to declare your major or minor. Also, please wait until you have completed ECON 1011 before attempting to declare.

The DUS will look through the declaration submissions carefully. If there are no issues, you will receive a signed declaration form from the DUS electronically. If the DUS has any questions or concerns about your plan, you will be contacted. After you receive the signed declaration form, please complete the remaining required fields on the form, sign, date, and submit to your home school for processing. Declaration submission procedures vary from school to school, so please check your home school’s website and follow the specific instructions. 

During Fall and Spring semesters while classes are in session, allow a minimum of 5 business days for the request to be processed. During winter break, the processing time cannot be guaranteed. During the summer months, declarations will be paused until the new academic year’s bulletin is updated on the GW website and Degree Map.

Minor Declaration: https://forms.gle/k22jxoaXP3Ee7LpM9

BA Major Declaration: https://forms.gle/r7QKAB3xLWsWFmHw5

BS Major Declaration: https://forms.gle/YG7gaoJCZVF2gdBE6

All credit transfer approval requests for ECON courses will be handled electronically. Please allow a minimum of 5 business days for processing. Note that transfer credit requests are only reviewed during the fall and spring semesters. Submissions made during winter and summer breaks may not be reviewed on a timely basis.

Please follow the steps below to submit your transfer credit approval requests. Incorrect submissions will delay processing time:

1. Complete the Undergraduate Transfer Credit Approval Form. (PDF) Leave the “GW Equivalent,” “Dept. Approval Name,” and “Dept. Approval Signature” fields blank.
2. Send the completed form to [email protected], along with relevant syllabi or detailed course descriptions. For detailed course descriptions, direct links to information on university/college websites required, do not copy and paste information into the e-mail.

3. The DUS will confirm by e-mail whether the request is approved or if more information is needed. If approved, the DUS will return the signed form via e-mail. 

When planning to take classes outside of GW for credit transfer, please consider the following:

• View the list of previously approved courses and associated institutions. (PDF) Use the list as a guide when exploring classes to take outside of GW. Even if a course is listed, transfer credit approval is not guaranteed. Students will still need to complete the steps above to get transfer credit approval form signed.
• Students who “Study Away” (enroll in a summer program abroad that is outside of GW’s approved study abroad programs) should also follow the same steps above to submit transfer credit requests. 
• Students who “Study Abroad” (enroll in an approved GW Office for Study Abroad program) should file transfer credit requests via GW CATS.

Study Abroad Transfer Credit

Study Abroad vs. Study Away Credits

The Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) will provide Letters of Certification to international students seeking Curricular Practical Training (CPT).

While classes are in session, please allow a minimum of 10 business days from the initial completed request for the letter to be ready. The letters will be provided as a pdf file. During winter or summer breaks, requests will be handled per the DUS’s availability, and the length of time it takes for the requests to be honored cannot be guaranteed.

Please e-mail the DUS ([email protected]) with your request, include in your request the following required information:

• GWID
• expected date of program completion (as stated on the I-20)
• a training proposal letter (which describes the type of training you would like to do and how the proposed training is directly related to economics)
• an official offer letter from the entity that is offering the training (the letter needs to indicate name and address of the entity, title of your position, detailed description of your duties, number of hours of training per week, and exact training starting and ending dates)

All registration related requests for Spring 2023 will be handled online via the Registration Google Form. The Google Form will open on Nov 10^th, 2022 and close on Feb 6th, 2023. Please complete an RTF-Classic (RTF-C) form with all relevant information and attach it to the Registration Google Form.

Students can e-mail the Academic Department Administrator ([email protected]) with inquiries, but any requests for signatures would have to go through the Registration Google Form. Requests will be processed in the order they are received. RTFs will be signed electronically and e-mailed directly to the student’s advising office for processing. Please allow at least 2 business days for responses (possibly longer during peak pre-registration period).

NOTE:

• RTFs will only be signed by the Academic Department Administrator, course instructors will not sign RTFs. If a course is closed, the RTF does not guarantee enrollment, it only puts the student on the digital waitlist. 
• The only circumstances for which an RTF-C will be signed are:

       o  If you are taking a prerequisite for a GW ECON course at another institution over summer break. In this case, you must attach some evidence to the Registration Google Form showing completion of the course (e.g. transcript) and the preapproved signed transfer credit form. Note that prerequisites must be completed before RTF-C forms can be signed, so please do not fill out the Registration Google Form until you have completed your course.

     o   If you need to repeat a course for credit.  

     o   If you are trying to enroll in a course after Jan 29^th, 2023 (last day to add a course on Gweb for Spring 2023 semester). In this case, RTFs will only be signed if you have explicit permission from instructor. The instructor granting permission needs to e-mail the Academic Department Administrator ([email protected]) directly (and cc you) stating that you can enroll. Note that instructors only grant permission for late enrollment in rare cases, and would not be allowed to go over stated class cap.

Starting with seniors graduating in Fall 2022, the Economics Department will recommend Special Honors for all majors that have completed at least six graded ECON courses (18 credits) in residence and have a combined GPA of 3.8 or above for all graded ECON courses prior to their last semester at GW.

Majors who qualify must apply to be considered for Special Honors using this google form. We are currently accepting applications for majors graduating Spring 2023. The deadline for application submission is Friday, February 17^th, 2023. Late submissions may not be considered. Students will need an unofficial copy of GW transcript to complete the application. Unofficial transcript can be obtained for free through the Office of the Registrar (instructions can be found here).

For majors who fall shy of the 3.8 GPA requirement, an additional route for Special Honors recommendation is through the Hsieh or Dunn prize nominations. If the student’s proseminar paper is nominated for these departmental prizes by the proseminar instructor, and a faculty committee deem the nominated paper worthy of special honors, the department will recommend special honors for the student regardless of ECON GPA. No application is required for this path to Special Honors recommendation.

Departmental recommendation for Special Honors does not guarantee Special Honors award. Students must still satisfy the Special Honors requirements stated on the GW University Bulletin Undergraduate Regulations.