The Five-Year MA Program

Advanced undergraduate students can, subject to the approval of the Economics Department Undergraduate Committee, enter our five-year MA program. In this program, a student who has taken advantage of the full menu of graduate course substitutions available could, with an additional year of study at Rice, earn an MA in economics.

To obtain the MA degree, students must satisfy all of the requirements for PhD candidacy. In particular, students must pass general examinations in microeconomic theory and in macroeconomic theory and econometrics, must pass an examination in a specialized field of study in economics, and must complete an original research project (a dissertation prospectus) that could be developed into a PhD dissertation under the supervision of a faculty member. This work could be an extension of a paper written as a senior independent research project (ECON 403/404). In some cases, at the discretion of the independent research advisor, the paper produced in ECON 403/404 may fulfill this requirement. Finally, the first-year graduate requirement to take ECON 507 Mathematical Economics would be waived with the approval of the economics department undergraduate committee.

Note that any student who subsequently decides to enter the economics PhD program at Rice would be given graduate credit for all 500-level economics courses completed while an undergraduate. The completion of the PhD dissertation typically requires at least one additional year of research (but no additional courses) beyond the MA degree.

Students who opt for the five-year MA degree program will have different backgrounds and interests on entering Rice and will choose to pursue this option at different stages in their academic careers. The following illustrates two (of many) possible paths to satisfying the MTEC major requirements, while at the same time completing all of the requirements for the MA degree over a five-year period.

Courses: Sample Path One

The student enters with AP credit for ECON 211 and MATH 101/102 and has an early interest in the five-year MA program.

Freshman Year
ECON 370, 375, 477,and MATH 211/212

Sophomore Year

ECON 501; 1 course from Applied Economics category; and MATH 355 or CAAM 310

Junior Year

ECON 502, 504, 505, 510, and 1 course from Applied Economics category

Senior Year

ECON 403/404 and ECON 508

Fifth Year

Complete all remaining graduate courses and pass all remaining examinations required to achieve PhD candidacy.

Courses: Sample Path Two

The student has no relevant AP credit and/or decides to enter the five-year MA program only near the end of the sophomore year.

Freshman Year

ECON 211 and MATH 101/102

Sophomore Year

ECON 370, 375, 477, and 1 course from applied economics category; MATH 211/212

Junior Year

ECON 501, 502, 505, 508; MATH 355

or CAAM 310

Senior Year

ECON 504, 510, 403/404, and 1 course from applied economics category

5th Year

Complete all remaining graduate courses and pass all remaining examinations required to achieve PhD candidacy.