Registration Information

Corporate finance is a required course for the financial economics major. Demand for this course regularly exceeds the supply of seats. Thus priority in registration is given first to financial economics majors. After seating the financial economics majors, the remaining seats are allocated to students from the engineering school and undergraduate majors in economics from CC, GS and BC. With the exception of graduate students from the engineering school who are approved by IEOR, no graduate students may take GU4280. Registration is also closed to students from any school other than CC, GS, BC and EN. Details about registering for this class are below.

How to Register

GU4280 is closed to registration. All interested students from CC, GS, BC and EN must register online for the wait list for this course.

In the initial round of registration, students will be admitted to the class from the wait list according to the priorities outlined below. After the initial round of registration, as students drop the course, new students will be admitted automatically from the wait list in order.

Initial Registration

• Financial Econ Majors

The first 40 seats in each section are set aside for DECLARED Financial Economics (FE) majors. If fewer than 40 FE majors are on the wait list, then the remaining seats will be available for non-FE majors on the wait list. If more than 40 FE majors are on the wait list, then only the first 40 will be admitted. The remaining FE majors will join the general population of students on the wait list and will be admitted in the order as seats become available.

• Engineering students

Ten seats in each section of GU4280 are set aside for undergraduate students in the engineering school.

• All Other CC, GS and BC Students

After the financial economics and engineering students have been admitted (maximum of 50 in total per section), then CC, GS and BC economics majors will be admitted from the wait list in order until the course reaches capacity. If any seats remain then they are allocated to the remaining students on the wait list.

• All Students from Schools other than CC, GS, BC and EN

If you are not a student in CC, GS, BC or EN, then you will not be admitted to this class.
As stated above, demand for this class is very high. Other schools at Columbia (such as the Business School, SIPA and School of Continuing Ed) teach their own Corporate Finance classes. These other schools often also have restrictions on registration, but you can check with them directly to see if they will allow you to take their class. If you are an economics minor in the engineering school, then you may NOT take one of the Corporate Finance classes offered by one of these other schools to fulfill the two electives requirement of your minor.  You still must select an elective from the list of courses in the engineering bulletin.

All Junior seminars (courses numbered 39XX) are closed to online registration. If you are interested in taking a junior seminar then you must sign up for the waitlist. Admission preference is given to students who are strong candidates for the honors seminar in economics. The prerequisites for the junior seminars are passing UN3211, UN3213 and UN3412 with grades of B+ or better (in some extenuating circumstances a grade of B is acceptable in one of these classes).

• GU4996 and GU4995 is closed to online registration.
• During the first two weeks of the semester, the department will send out on the major listserv and post on the department’s posts page (Econ Info For Students) the names of faculty members and PhD students who are looking for undergraduate research assistants. To get a research position, you will need to apply for one of these positions. If selected, you will 1) need to notify Cathy Scarillo at cs3899@columbia.edu and cc the Researcher and Prof. Susan Elmes (Director of Undergraduate Studies) at se5@columbia.edu, 2) be registered by the department for 1 or 2 credits of research.
• PLEASE NOTE: Research Credit (GU4996 and GU4995) is only available to Undergraduates (CC,GS,EN and BC)  and MAO students in the Department of Economics.
• Alternatively, you may have already agreed to work for a faculty member on his or her project. In general, students find these positions by referral of a friend or faculty member (for example, your roommate works as an RA and has referred you to a faculty member). Occasionally students also do research for professors with whom they have taken a class. If you have agreed to work with a faculty member, then you must notify Cathy Scarillo at cs3899@columbia.edu and cc the Researcher, and you will be registered by the department for 1 or 2 credits of research.
• Sending out emails to faculty that you do not know in search of a research position is an ineffective way of finding a research position. If you are looking for a research position, then you should consult the department’s Wiki page to find an open position.
• Note that while students may receive credit for this course, it may not be used as a substitute for elective or seminar requirements in the major. Also note that students may only be registered for credit on one faculty project at a time and can receive a maximum of 2 credits of research in a semester.

• Students wishing to conduct an independent study in economics must first come to an agreement with a faculty member that is interested in supervising the project.  Once the student and faculty member have come to an agreement, the student must notify the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Susan Elmes, at se5@columbia.edu.
• The department generally grants 2 credits for an independent study project that results in a 15-20 page paper. It is also expected that the student will meet with the faculty member at least once every two weeks.  In extraordinary circumstances (a substantial original research project of 40 or more pages), the department grants 3 credits.
• The final paper is due before the end of the semester (the due date will be set by the faculty member but will be no later than the final exam period). The paper cannot be handed in after the semester ends.
• As in the case of GU4996 Research Credit, Independent Study credits may not be used as a substitute for elective or seminar requirements in the major.  These credits are for general college credit only.
• Finally, if you are a student that pays tuition for individual credits then you will be required to pay for research and independent study credit.