The Accelerated Master's Degree program is a program that allows students to complete a BS and a MA in economics in five years. The program allows students to apply 12 of the MA credit hours towards the BS, reducing the overall required hours for the two degrees from the standard 150 (120 for the BS plus 30 for the MA) to 138 hours.
The MA in Economics requires 30 credit hours; at least 21 hours must be completed in residence. The following 3 courses (9 credit hours) are required:
In addition, 21 credit hours of electives must be completed. At most, six of these credit hours may be economics courses at the 4000 level (excluding Economics 4100, Economics 4105 and Economics 4150 which cannot be utilized as part of the MA degree); all other electives must be at the 5000 level or higher.
Of the 30 hours taken in the MA program, 12 of these hours (per the approval of the Graduate Director) will also count toward the undergraduate BS requirements. All other requirements for the BS degree remain in effect.
Admission Requirements
Applicants must have completed between 60 and 108 credit hours. Applicants must have a minimum G.P.A. of 3.0 (both overall and in economics courses), must have economics as (one of) their declared major(s), and must be nominated by a full-time regular economics faculty member. Applicants must have completed all of the general education requirements as well as college algebra (or a higher level mathematics course), introductory microeconomics and introductory macroeconomics. Those accepted with fewer than 90 semester credit hours are accepted only on a provisional basis. Once the student has completed 90 semester hours of coursework (typically including Econ 3001, 3002, 3100, 3200, Math 1800, and preferably Econ 4100) with a satisfactory G.P.A. (minimum GPA of 3.0 overall and in economics courses) the provisional status is dropped.
It is recommended that applicants apply when they have completed 90 credit hours; further, it is recommended that applicants should complete intermediate microeconomics (Economics 3001) and/or introductory econometrics (Economics 4100) before applying.
Awarding of Degrees
Both degrees (the BS and MA) will be awarded when all requirements for the entire program have been completed. In other words, the BS and MA degrees will be simultaneously awarded at the completion of study.
Students who officially withdraw from the Accelerated Master's Degree Program in Economics and who have successfully completed all of the requirements for the BS degree will be awarded the BS degree.
