Christina Lee

As Yalies begin to shop for classes during the add/drop period, the economics department once again tops the fall semester leaderboard of the most popular courses at Yale College, though a psychology course has also entered as a top contender.

Excluding laboratory courses, the three most popular courses are ECON 115 “Introductory Microeconomics,” ECON 159 “Game Theory” and PSYC 141 “The Criminal Mind,” with enrollments at 496, 475 and 450, respectively, according to the Course Demand Statistics site as of Aug. 29. Enrollment numbers will likely fluctuate until the end of the add/drop period.

While the News has excluded laboratory classes from course popularity rankings, some laboratory classes outnumber their co-requisite classes in enrollment. For example, 337 students are enrolled in Chemistry 134L, “General Chemistry Laboratory I.”

“I’m taking ECON 115 for a [Quantitative Reasoning credit], and also because it seems like it covers important concepts that span across all fields,” Paola Milbank ’26, a junior majoring in history and pursuing a certificate in education studies, told the News. “It just seems like something I should know about.”

Economics 115, “Introductory Microeconomics,” was also the College’s most popular course last fall, and its enrollment has grown 7 percent since then. The class can be applied to either the Quantitative Reasoning or Social Sciences requirement for the bachelor’s degree, and it is commonly listed as a prerequisite for many courses and majors such as Ethics, Politics & Economics.

Because many of Yale College’s most popular courses fulfill common distributional or major requirements, professors have implemented measures to promote student engagement and excitement.

“Many students are taking the class as a requirement,” professor Cormac O’Dea, who teaches Economics 115, wrote to the News. “To try to keep things as interactive as possible, we use polls, occasionally open up a discussion, and have some in-class games. We supplement this with optional activities outside of class time.”

While Economics 159, “Game Theory,” drastically increased in popularity from 260 students in fall 2022 to 410 students in fall 2023, enrollment in the course is slightly down by about 5 percent this fall. 

The next most popular courses are ECON 121, “Intermediate Microeconomics,” with 304 students, Chemistry 161, “General Chemistry I,” with 301 students and Earth & Planetary Sciences 100, “Natural Disasters,” with 259 students.

Earth & Planetary Sciences 100 has drastically increased its number of students in recent years. The course had grown nearly four times in enrollment since it was last offered in the fall of 2022 when 70 students took it.

“Students are often seeking out Natural Disasters as a way of fulfilling a distributional requirement — it’s definitely true that I see a lot of students who are looking for that science credit,” professor Maureen Long, who teaches EPS 100, wrote to the News. “I love working with that group of students and look at it as a terrific opportunity to get non-science majors deeply engaged and interested in their science coursework.”

Despite the large class sizes, both students and professors remain optimistic that the courses will run smoothly and that students will receive enough academic support.

Long explained that although “course logistics are always a bit more complicated with bigger classes,” teaching assistants make the problem more manageable. O’Dea, who teaches Economics 115, wrote to the News that he similarly employs a team of 20 graduate teaching fellows, undergraduate learning assistants and peer tutors to handle course logistics.

The size of these courses and their lecture formats means that it is difficult for students and professors to get to know each other individually. Thus, course instructors are planning different ways to meet with their students and form relationships through their classes.

“One new thing I’m trying this year is making a point of going to lunch right after class at one of the residential colleges and inviting students to join me — I’m hoping that that will give me a chance to get to know many of my students,” Long wrote.

Both O’Dea and Professor Benjamin Polak, who teaches Economics 159, wrote to the News that teaching fellows and assistants also help facilitate course experience by getting to know students individually and providing one-on-one support.

Ellie Jiang ’27, a prospective economics and mathematics major taking Economics 159, says the course’s large size can benefit her academic experience.

“I’m not too concerned [about the class size], as there are a lot of TAs and outside resources I can consult,” Jiang said. “Having a large class size also gives me the flexibility to ask for help among my peers.”

The fall 2024 add/drop period will end on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 5:00 p.m.

Correction 8/30: PSYC 141, “The Criminal Mind,” is the third most popular course in Yale College this semester, not ECON 121, “Intermediate Microeconomics,” as the original article mistakenly stated.