Study Abroad

Note on "Study Away": Due to COVID-19, Ec concentrators and secondary field students in the Classes of 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 are allowed to count approved Study Away courses taken during the 2020-21 academic year for ec credit. Details here.

How To Apply for the Study Abroad Program:

  1. Visit the Office of International Education (OIE) (1414 Massachusetts Avenue, 3rd Floor). They will help you figure out where/how to apply. Applications are done through the OIE Study Abroad website.
  2. Once you have been accepted to a program, please bring or email relevant course syllabi to a concentration advisor. They will determine whether a course can count for Economics credit and submit department approval through Study Abroad when you meet.  Your course plan is tentative at this stage. If you change your course plan while abroad, Study Abroad will notify your concentration advisor, who can approve (or not) changes.

Will My Course Count?

To count as an economics elective, a course taken abroad must:

  • Have substantial economic content
  • Employ primarily an economic methodology (i.e., use the tools from introductory and intermediate economics, not primarily case studies, interviews, etc.)
  • Have mostly readings with economic content and economic methodology

Keep in Mind:

  • Ordinarily, students can count only one non-Harvard-term-time course towards their Economic concentration requirements. This includes approved Harvard Summer School economics courses, approved study abroad economics courses, and approved cross-registered economics courses at MIT.
  • All courses taken abroad are taken for a letter grade; however, they do not count toward the Harvard GPA nor appear on the Harvard transcript. These courses do count toward the limit of two Pass/Fail Economics electives that may fulfill Economics concentration requirements.  
  • You can get theory prerequisite credit for a course if it counts as an Economics elective and requires intermediate micro-economics or macro-economics.
  • You can get writing credit for a course if it counts as an Economics elective and requires a 15+ page research paper. To get writing credit, show your concentration advisor the graded paper when you return to Harvard. 
  • The Economics concentration does not grant credit for internships.

Want to learn more about Study Abroad from Economics Concentrators who have been there? Reach out to your advisors or Undergraduate Program Coordinator and get connected to hear what it is like first hand!