FAQs & Answers

The Alternate PIN is your registration code and allows you to enroll in classes during the upcoming semester. To obtain your PIN, you need to meet with your academic advisor duringpre-registration advising. Prior to pre-registration advising, you will receive an email from your academic advisor regarding scheduling a meeting. If you don't see an email received from your advisor, then email the professor to request an advising appointment. Failure to schedule a meeting with your academic advisor can result in a lengthy delay in acquiring your PIN and registering for classes. You will not be able to obtain your PIN from anyone other than your assigned academic advisor.  After receiving your PIN, you will be able to register for classes beginning on your assigned registration date. You can check your registration date in the Office of the Registrar's Registration Handbook.

If you are a returning student who has not been enrolled during the most recent semester, you must submit an "Intent to Register" form online using MyInfo. Once this form has been processed by the Registrar's Office you will receive your registration PIN and advisor information. Schedule an appointment with your advisor to plan your classes for the semester. For more information on returning to MSU visit the Registrar's Returning Students page.

For information on how to register for classes visit the Registrar's page on the Registration Process.

• Add/Drop Instructions for Instructors & Advisors
• Add/Drop Instructions for Students

The Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics offers three baccalaureate degrees: Agricultural Business with concentrations in Agribusiness Management or Farm and Ranch Management , Economics, and Financial Engineering. The department also offers two minors: Agricultural Business and Economics. For more information on these programs please visit The Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics Website.

To change your major and/or minor you will need to completea Curriculum & Catalog Change Request Form. To complete this form, you will need to know the name and email for your current advisor and new department. Within the DAEE you may use ageconadvising@montana.edu as your contact. When the form has been signed and completed by all parties you will receive a copy of the completed form. It can take at least a week to see curriculum changes in DegreeWorks. For more information on this process, please visit the Registrar's page forCurriculum & Catalog Changes.

Typically every other year, the Department offers a course that has an international experience component. The purpose of the course is to provide interdisciplinary, integrative, experiential learning opportunities to undergraduate students by offering courses that combine traditional classroom study with international experiences and research. To view past courses and international experiences offered by the Department, visit www.montana.edu/econ/globalcourseexperiences.html

If you're interested in participating, there will be announcements circulated during Fall semesters. If you have any other questions regarding these courses, contact Dr. Isaac Swensen.

MSU CORE is a combination of courses with qualities that integrates education in communication, thinking and problem solving, and local and global citizenship with knowledge and experiences with knowledge and experiences int he natural sciences, arts, humanities and social sciences. These courses are essential in deepening the experience of the undergraduate education, enrich disciplinary pursuits, and establish MSU's graduates as lifelong learners. Many of the DAEE programs have University Seminar (US), College Writing (W), Quantitative Reasoning (Q), Social Science Inquiry (IS) and Additional Research & Creative Experience (R) courses built into the curriculum, with some having options for Contemporary Issues in Science (CS) and Natural Science Inquiry (IN). This means the student will have many options of Diversity (D), Arts Inquiry or Arts Research (IA/RA), and Humanities Inquiry or Humanities Research (IH/RH) courses. For more information on the courses offered as CORE please visit MSU Core Courses.

An independent study course allows highly motivated students to develop a unique curriculum for learning about a topic that may not be discussed in courses offered in the DAEE. An undergraduate research course allows highly motivated students to develop a unique project for learning about and conducting research on an economic issue. Both courses provide opportunities for students to acquire a much more directed skill set that may be best suited for their career after graduation.

The DAEE offers two types of independent study courses (ECNS 292 and ECNS 492) and two undergraduate research courses (ECNS 290R and ECNS 490R). In each case, both the lower 200-level course and the upper 400-level course can be used toward fulfilling your degree requirements. However, because the course will be unique to each student, discussing opportunities with your academic advisor (remove link) is recommended.  

Approval to allow this type of course to satisfy DAEE major or minor requirements must have permission from the DAEE Certifying Officer. To obtain this,  first complete a “Request for Independent Study” form and attach a written proposal detailing the exact activities that will result in credits. Once completed, email this form to ageconadvising@montana.edu to be routed to the appropriate Certifying Officer.

First, to check whether a course has been approved and transferred to MSU in the past, access the MSU Transfer Equivalency Guide. If the course you wish to take at another institution exists and is directly equivalent to the MSU course of interest, no further action is required.

If the course has been evaluated as an elective (ELEC), then unless any other action is taken, it will count as an elective and not necessarily be directly substitutable for an MSU course. For example, if a microeconomics course from an international university is evaluated to transfer to MSU as ELEC 200, then the credit hours from this course will count toward your 120-credit hour requirement, but will not count toward satisfying your economics, agricultural business, or financial engineering program requirements.

If you are not certain whether an economics or agricultural business course at another institution will fulfill the requirements of the Economics or Agricultural Business program, email ageconadvising@montana.edu, with the following information: name and location of the institution, name and number of the course, and course syllabus (or at least a course description). If the course is evaluated as equivalent to a course in the Economics or Agricultural Business programs, you will receive a written course equivalency confirmation. It is always advisable to receive confirmation of course equivalency prior to taking a course at another institution.

If a student believes he or she knows the course material, then, as mandated by the Curriculum, Enrollment, and Graduation's "Advanced Standing by Challenge" policy, for any course in any department, the student may challenge the course.  To be successful, the student would have to perform satisfactorily on a comprehensive challenge exam that tests the student’s detailed knowledge of all the material in the challenged course. The challenge exam is composed by the DAEE resident instruction committee (RIC) by compiling questions from past comprehensive final exams. The completed challenge exams are then graded by members of the RIC and a course exemption is recommended for students who are able to demonstrate knowledge of course materials at least at the C level.  For more information go to Prior Learning Assessment Registrar.

The only DAEE course that does not require a math pre-requisite is ECNS 101IS. All other courses require that students are either co-registered or have completed at least M 121Q (College Algebra), and many upper-division courses in the majors offered by the DAEE require students to complete at least one calculus course (M 161Q or M 171Q). 

The MSU Math Placement Flowchart will give you an idea of which MSU mathematics or statistics course you can enroll in based on your current ACT or SAT Math scores. If you would like to enroll in a higher-level math course than your score allows, you can attempt a higher placement by taking the Math Placement Level Exam (MPLEX) during your Orientation session or by scheduling an appointment with Testing Services.

For more information about math placement, please visit the Admissions Placement Testing Page.

In DegreeWorks, you can view your academic advisor's information, notes from advising meetings, unofficial transcript, current GPA, academic plans, what-if scenarios, and your progress toward your degrees. For in-depth descriptions of these and other features, visit www.montana.edu/degreeworks/faq. 

In the Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics, we take academic advising seriously. Faculty advisors see it as their responsibility to guide you throughout your career at MSU. It is therefore important that you respect the time and commitment of your advisors. Please promptly schedule your meetings during pre-advising, email and explain your situation if you are unable to meet, and be prompt to your advising appointments.

• To find out who your advisor is, you can log on to MyInfo, click on the “Student Services” tab, and then click on “Show Advisor”. Another option is to go to DegreeWorks (remove link) and look at “Advisor” under “Student View”.
• To contact your advisor, visit our faculty and staff directory. Email is the best form of communication for DAEE faculty and staff.

• Please note that while grades are posted throughout finals week, your final GPA is not calculated until typically the middle of the week following finals week. Academic standing is not posted until this final GPA calculation is complete. It is the student's responsibility to check your grades each term and to be informed about your academic standing (e.g. good standing, probation, suspend warning, and/or suspended).
• If you were unable to complete a course due to a medical problem or other extenuating circumstance, and you have satisfactorily completed at least three-quarters of the course requirements, you may be eligible to receive an "I" (Incomplete) grade. Discuss this with your instructor. It is your responsibility to complete all the remaining course requirements by the date agreed upon with the instructor. Incomplete grades which are not made-up may lapse to an "F" grade.
• If you think the grade you have received is incorrect, visit with your instructor to discuss it. If the instructor finds that a clerical error was made in grading your work, a grade change form can be processed. For grade appeal procedures visit  Conduct Guidelines and Grievance Procedures for Students. 

To apply for graduation, you must meet with the DAEE Student Success Coordinator for two academic semesters (typically one year) before your expected graduation date. For example, if you plan to graduate in Spring 2020, you must meet with the Student Service coordinator to fill out the necessary paperwork (Application of Baccalaureate Degree) in Spring 2019. 

Commencement information will be emailed to students' preferred email address listed in MyInfo 4-6 weeks before graduation. You may also visit MSU's Commencement Page for information regarding graduation. 

There are many reasons for holds to be placed on student accounts, the most common of which are when a student has unpaid bills to the university, such as library fines, parking tickets, and unpaid tuition or fees from past semesters. . Other common holds are for immunization records and transcripts; for more information on MSU's Immunization requirements please visit Immunizations - Student Health Partners. For more information on how to see holds on your account please visit Viewing Holds in MyInfo. 

An internship is typically an opportunity to perform field work to gain practice for a career and can be paid or unpaid. Internships are highly encouraged as they offer students hands on experience beyond what they learn through coursework. The DAEE does not currently offer credit for internships. A fellowship is a type of grant received to conduct either academic research or other professional work. Fellowships can be similar to internships in that they provide an opportunity to gain expertise in a professional field of interest, however, they are typically paid or provide some other type of monetary assistance  (e.g., for housing, travel, etc.)  Find DAEE related opportunities on our Internships & Fellowships Page. 

There are numerous opportunities for DAEE students to receive financial scholarships that can help them with their education goals. These include College, University, and private sources. For more information about these opportunities, please visit www.montana.edu/econ/scholarshipsgrants.html

The DAEE does not provide tutoring services directly. However, MSU's SmartyCats services provides a positive environment of academic support and encouragement to facilitate students in the attainment of their educational objectives. SmartyCats Tutors are current MSU students who offer course specific peer-tutoring. SmartyCats Tutors are available for $2/Hour sessions or free drop in sessions.

For more information about SmartyCats, visit www.montana.edu/aycss/success/smartycats

For all DAEE related opportunities, visit the DAEE's Employment Opportunities Page. For general work opportunities visit HireABobcat for Students & Alumni

You must speak to your instructor to make arrangements to take the exam.Please do your absolute best to inform the instructor prior to the exam about any conflicts that may prevent you from taking the exam during the normally scheduled time. 

However, if unexpected circumstances do arise that result in you missing an exam, please inform your instructor as soon as possible after the emergency. 

Montana State University is dedicated to the principles of equal educational opportunity and access for students with disabilities. Disability Services welcomes students and parents to contact them with questions about their services and the accommodations process. For more information visit The Office of Disability Services.

There are two computer lab areas in Linfield open for DAEE students: a large computer lab available for all MSU students on the 2^nd floor (LINH 232) and a smaller lab for DAEE students on the 4^th floor (LINH 409A). The computer lab on the 2^nd floor is also available for instructors; therefore, there may be times when the lab is unavailable. To check the schedule for LINH 232, please visit http://studentlabs.montana.edu/labs/linfield-hall.html.  

Yes, Linfield 409A is the Department of Agricultural Economics & Economics (DAEE) Undergraduate Research Lab. The lab is open 8 am – 5 pm on every University class day.  Linfield 409A is available only for DAEE majors and minors.  The equipment includes six computers and one large digital screen.

Linfield 404 is the DAEE Teaching Assistants’ Office and most DAEE Teaching Assistants hold their office hours in Linfield 404.  Please check your ECNS or AGBE course syllabus for specific office hours of your Teaching Assistant(s).

Students are also welcome to study quietly at the tables in the open areas of the department on the third floor of Linfield Hall.