Programs by Campus
Indianapolis
Economics
School of Liberal Arts
Departmental E-mail: dmward [at] iupui [dot] edu
Departmental URL: http://liberalarts.iupui.edu/economics/
(Please note that when conferring University Graduate School degrees, minors, certificates, and sub-plans, The University Graduate School’s staff use those requirements contained only in The University Graduate School Bulletin.)
Curriculum
Degree Offered
Master of Arts, Dual Master of Arts in Economics and Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies, 5-year Joint Bachelor of Arts/Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy
Program Information
Master of Arts
The Master of Arts in economics has a twofold objective: (1) to provide students with analytical capabilities and research skills for careers in business, government, and the nonprofit sector; and (2) to prepare those who wish to pursue a Ph.D.
Special Departmental Requirements
(See also general University Graduate School requirements.)
Admission Requirements
Applicants should have completed a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. Ordinarily, applicants should have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in their undergraduate course work and in their previous economics courses. Before undertaking graduate study in economics, a student should have knowledge of intermediate-level undergraduate economic theory (E321 and E322), statistics (E270), differential and integral calculus (the IUPUI equivalent is M16500 offered by the mathematics department). Students with deficiencies in economics and/or mathematics may be admitted on a conditional basis.
The verbal, quantitative, and analytical portions of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) are required, and applicants are urged to complete the examination by December of the year before admission. Requests to substitute GMAT scores for GRE scores will be considered.
Three letters of recommendation are required. For students with English as a second language, a minimum TOEFL score of at least 550 is recommended. Successful completion of ELS 112 will be accepted in lieu of TOEFL for admission.
Course Requirements
Students must complete a minimum of 30 credit hours of graduate work. Of the 30 credit hours, 24 come from courses offered with the economics department and 6 are outside electives taken in other departments depending on the student's interest and long-term plans upon completion of the M.A.
Grades
The student must receive at least a C (2.0) in each course and must average at least a B (3.0 on a 4.0 scale) for all courses taken.
5-year Joint Bachelor of Arts/Master of Arts
Students majoring in economics and approaching their senior year may qualify for the 5-year BA/MA program. In their senior year the prospective student substitutes several graduate courses for the undergraduate courses that they would normally take as part of their undergraduate curriculum. In the fifth year, the students take many of the same courses that the traditional MA students take in their second year. Students in the dual program complete 30 hours of coursework just as we require of our traditional MA students. At the end of their senior year, they would have met the qualifications for the BA degree if they should elect to discontinue.
The requirements to enter the BA/MA program at the end of the junior year are a cumulative undergraduate GPA of at least 3.3, and a GPA in their major of at least 3.5 overall at the end of their junior year. In addition, students must complete the Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Analytical Writing portions of the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) and provide three letters of recommendation from faculty that can attest to the student's potential to successfully complete the MA portion of the program.
Students that have not attended IUPUI and have not received a baccalaureate degree in economics from another institution are also eligible to apply but they must document their completion of the course requirements listed above.
Dual Degree: Master of Arts in Economics and Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies
The dual master’s degree in economics and philanthropic studies substantially benefits students intending to pursue a career in independent research, academia, or practice. Normally, those pursuing a career in research or academia continue in a Ph.D. program in economics, finance, accounting, management, marketing, or public policy. Very few doctoral programs include substantial content on philanthropy or nonprofit organizations. As such, the M.A. in philanthropic studies provides a broad interdisciplinary background that makes the future researcher sensitive to the institutional details, values, and history of the sector, thus leading to better research. For the future nonprofit manager or leader, economics provides the principles and methodologies to make informed decisions on the appreciative level, the policy level, and the managerial level.
Admission requirements for the dual degree program are identical to those for each program separately. Separate application must be made to each of the two programs. Students are expected to take responsibility for learning about and meeting the admission requirements of each school individually, which may differ from each other in application documents required, minimal standards of criteria for admission, and deadline dates. Students must make plans early with advisors in both programs to identify (1) common courses and (2) thesis credit.
Study for the two degrees can be combined for a total of 51 credit hours rather than the 66 credit hours that would be required if the two degrees were taken separately. Two of the required core courses for the M.A. in economics may be selected as electives to meet the Philanthropic Studies Program requirement for two applied electives. One of the required philanthropic studies courses, ECON E514 The Nonprofit Economy and Public Policy, may be taken to meet 3 of the 12 credit hours of economics electives required in the economics program. A common thesis meets the requirements of both departments.
Further information regarding regulations governing advanced degree programs may be obtained from the respective departments.
Doctor of Philosophy Degree
Program Information
The PhD program is designed to (i) advance knowledge concerning health economics and philanthropy/nonprofit economics; (ii) develop the skills essential for our graduates to conduct independent research in these two areas.
Special Departmental Requirements
(See also general University Graduate School requirements.)
Ph.D. Admission Requirements
Applicants should have completed a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. Ordinarily, applicants should have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in their undergraduate course work and in the major. Before undertaking Ph.D. graduate study in economics, a student is required to have completed coursework covering undergraduate univariate and multivariate calculus (equivalent to MATH M16500, M16600, and M26100 at IUPUI), a calculus-based statistics course or a course in Statistics and one in Econometrics (equivalent to ECON E270 and E470 at IUPUI), Intermediate Microeconomic Theory (equivalent to E321 at IUPUI) and Linear Algebra (equivalent to Math M35100 at IUPUI). The verbal, quantitative, and analytical portions of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) are required, and applicants are urged to complete the examination by December of the year before admission is desired. Requests to substitute GMAT scores for GRE scores will be considered. Three letters of recommendation are required. Students with English as a second language who have not attended school in the U.S. are required to take either the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). For IELTS, applicants must take the academic reading and writing modules. A minimum TOEFL score of at least 88 is required though successful applicants generally score at least 100. The minimum acceptable IELTS score is 6.5 though successful applicants generally score at least 7.
Fields of Study
Fields of study currently available within the department are health economics and nonprofit/philanthropic economics. Students must take one or both of these fields as well as the course sequence in econometrics.
Course Requirements
A total of 90 credit hours, including the theory sequence E520, E521, E522, E611, E621, and the econometrics-statistics sequence E571, E573, E577, E578, E670, and E673. In addition, starting in their third year, students must formally enroll in a workshop course for a minimum of four semesters. Student may cease to register for the workshop seminar after four semesters if they have either accumulated the required 90 credits or defended their PhD thesis. There is a minimum requirement of 61.5 credit hours of course work, including standard Economics courses, Economics workshop courses, and minor courses. The remaining courses will be taken as thesis credits.
Minor
In addition to the formal coursework in Economics the prospective Ph.D. candidate must complete a structured minor in a related area. For those with a primary field in health economics, the minor will usually relate to the health and life sciences disciplines. A minor obtained in areas such as behavioral health sciences, biostatistics, environmental health sciences, epidemiology, or health policy and management would be appropriate, for example. For those with a field in nonprofits/philanthropic economics, a logical minor would be found in Philanthropic Studies or in Nonprofits Management or any of the other Liberal Arts disciplines connected to the study of charitable behavior and nonprofit institutions. The minor must be approved by the student’s Advisor or the graduate director of the program. The minor must contain a minimum of three graduate level courses (9 credits) in the chosen area and it must comply with the minor requirements of the respective department/unit. Typically departments require 12 credit hours for a Ph.D. Minor. In cases where it is appropriate, an interdepartmental minor can be arranged with the consent of the DGS. When appropriate, a student may, with the consent of his/her advisor and/or the DGS, substitute a research tool skill of at least 9 credit hours for the Minor. These research tool skills credits will count toward the 90 credit requirement as long as the courses are approved for graduate credit.