<p>If it wasn’t AP Econ in high school, it’s likely that the course bears little resemblance to lower-level Econ courses (but it won’t hurt you either) in college. The courses required for IR - Political Economy are quite theoretical and rely heavily on calculus (oh joy!), while upper-level classes that assume you know the theoretical groundwork are actually very similar to high school classes where you learn about the economy as a whole, from an applied perspective.</p>
<p>If you are intending on taking another IR track, your college Econ class will be ample preparation for the easy-as-pie required Econ class (which does not require Calculus but can be aided by a knowledge of Calculus). Most people go into Principles of Econ with not a whit of Economics knowledge but at least 1 college semseter (or 1 high school year) of Calculus, though it technically isn’t a prerequisite.</p>
<p>I think Econ classes outside of the requirements would often serve as interesting supplements to the IR curriculum, especially in the less-quantitative tracks.</p>