MA Requirements

Admission
An applicant for admission as a regular degree student must:

Application deadline for foreign students is March 1 for the following Fall semester. Students desiring admission beginning with other terms will be considered but may be referred to the Economics Institute, 1030 13th Street, Boulder, CO 80302.

Degree Requirements
There are three options open to students for fulfilling the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in economics.

Plan I - Thesis: This option requires a minimum of 24 hours of graduate course work plus a Master's thesis (which entails registering for an additional 4 Master's thesis semester hours) plus passage of a comprehensive final examination over all work presented for the degree.

Plan II - Non-Thesis: This option requires a minimum of 30 hours of graduate course work plus passage of a comprehensive final examination over all course work presented for the degree.

Plan III: This option, open only to students enrolled in the PhD program in economics, requires a minimum of 30 hours of graduate course work in the PhD program plus passage of all PhD preliminary examinations, which shall count as the Master's comprehensive examination.

Sequence of Study - Required and Elective Courses
The sequence of study for these degree options, including required and elective courses, is outlined below:

The exact timing of course work is subject to the specific requirements of individual students. For instance, in some cases all requirements for the degree might be fulfilled in three semesters. Up to nine hours of transfer credit, including courses taken at the Economics Institute, can be substituted for required or elective courses with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies. When transfer credit is allowed for a required course, the Director of Graduate Studies may require the student to pass the final examinations of required courses she or he omits because of transfer credit.

Before attempting course work at the 8000 level, students in Plan I or Plan II must meet specific pre-requisites. Consult the University of Colorado Catalog for the exact prerequisites in each field.

For Plan III (MA degree for students in the PhD program)

Comprehensive Final Examination
All students must pass a comprehensive final examination before earning the Master of Arts degree. Consult the Graduate School section of the University of Colorado Catalog for details.

A student opting for Plan I will take an oral examination covering his or her master's thesis and course work. The examining committee shall consist of three members including, if possible, the student's thesis advisor(s) and the student's instructor in 6209. This examination will take place following the completion of student's thesis work.

A student opting for Plan II will take a written comprehensive examination put together and graded by a committee normally consisting of faculty members who taught elective courses taken by the student. This examination will follow the completion of the Fall or Spring term in which the student completes his or her course work.

For a student earning the Master of Arts degree by following Plan III, the comprehensive examination will consist of passing all of the preliminary examinations required by the rules of the PhD program.

The Director of Graduate Studies will have final say on the composition of all of these comprehensive final examination committees. The evaluation of the final exam committee will be final. If a student fails an initial comprehensive examination, he or she may attempt a second examination by the same examining committee (if at all possible) after a period of time of at least three months.

Satisfactory Progress Toward a Degree
In order to attain satisfactory progress toward the MA degree, students in Plan I or Plan II must complete all courses in the core with a grade of B- or better by the end of their second Fall semester. Furthermore, a final comprehensive examination must ordinarily be passed within three years of entering the program (the maximum time allowed by the Graduate School is four years). Failure to make satisfactory progress is grounds for suspension from the graduate program.

Students in Plan III must satisfy the requirements listed for satisfactory progress in the PhD rules.

Other Requirements
Other requirements for the MA degree relating, for example, to transfer of credits, residence, time limitations, thesis, and admission to candidacy, are stated in the University of Colorado Catalog.