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Master of ArtS Program


Ma BROCHURE in ENGLISHArabic, Chinese, Korean, SPANISH

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Since its launching in the Fall of 2010, our master program has attracted outstanding domestic and international students, and we hope to continue this trend as we provide a wider variety of tracks for students. The unique feature of our master program is that we offer master students access to the same resources as Ph.D. students. Master students take Ph.D. level courses with our Ph.D. students, and have access to the same faculty advising as Ph.D. students.

This research-oriented program prepares students for careers in academia, research institutions, government, international institutions, and the private sector. Graduates from this program will be well prepared to continue their studies in top Ph.D. programs in Economics and Finance, as well as the best MBA programs in the world. Students who successfully complete the program will be considered for continuation into our Ph.D. program without taking additional courses and be considered for funding for the following years in the program. In the past, all students who have passed the requirements and applied to our Ph.D. program have been accepted to the program. After rigorous training in the master program, many of our students were accepted to other prestigious Ph.D. programs including Boston University, Ohio State University, University of Wisconsin Madison, University of Maryland, University of California, Riverside, among others.

The MA program has STEM designation, which permits F-1 visa students to remain in the United States for up to 36 months to work in their field of study. For more information, please visit the Department of Homeland Security webpage linked here

APPLICATION

Our master students have a diverse background. An undergraduate major in Economics is not required (although you should be prepared to work hard to catch up quickly if you have not taken any or little economics at the undergrad level). Applicants must have earned a bachelor’s degree with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale), must have taken the Graduate Record Examination or equivalent, and must submit three letters of recommendation from instructors, academic advisors or employers.  A strong mathematical background is required. Applicants should have taken multivariate calculus, linear algebra, and probability. More advanced mathematics courses are highly valued.

APPLY ONLINE:

https://grad.stonybrook.edu/admissions/index.php

CONTACT INFORMATION

MA Program Director: Hugo Benitez-Silva
Graduate Coordinator: Victoria Judd
Email:graduate_economics@stonybrook.edu
Phone: (631) 632-7540

ABOUT THE CURRICULUM

Our program offers students two different tracks:

1. Basic Track in Economics requires students to complete 11 courses in 3 semesters. 

2. Advanced Track in Economics requires students to complete 14 courses in 4 semesters.

Students can choose courses in a variety of fields, such as industrial organization, game theory, labor economics, demography, health economics, dynamic macroeconomics, public policy and computational methods. All students are required to write a paper — the MA project — usually in their last semester of study. 

The Basic Track in Economics suits students who want to receive the MA degree fast with a basic training in Economics. The advanced track is attractive to students who want to continue their studies for a Ph.D. (here or elsewhere) and to those seeking employment which values the additional training. In particular, for students who choose the advanced track in economics, the additional semester offers them the opportunity to specialize in a field and to work with well-known experts in those fields. These added features make the degree more marketable and worth the extra cost, and attractive to students seeking the job market after the completion of their MA.

Another advantage of the advanced program is that students can graduate with both the MA in Economics and a certificate in either, Data and Computational Science or in Finance by taking additional two courses. More information about these certificates can be found below.

Eligibility: Students who are interested in obtaining the advanced certificate must enroll to the Advanced Track in Economics (4 semesters) and maintain a GPA above 3.0.

Advanced MA in Economics with the Advanced Certificate in Data and Computational Science (16 courses in 4 semesters): awarded by the Institute of Advanced Computational Science (IACS) at Stony Brook University, in cooperation with the Department of Applied Math and Statistics (AMS) and the Department of Computer Science (CS).  More information about the IACS can be found at https://www.iacs.stonybrook.edu/.
More information about the certificate in Data and Computational Science can be found here: https://iacs.stonybrook.edu/opportunities/certificates/cdcs.

Advanced MA in Economics with the Advance Certificate in Finance (16 courses in 4 semesters): awarded by the College of Business (COB) at Stony Brook University. More information about the COB can be found here: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/business/.

More information about the certificate in Finance can be found here: 
https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/business/graduates/agc-finance.php


CURRICULUM FOR THE BASIC MA in ECONOMICS

 

FALL SEMESTER YEAR 1                                                      SPRING SEMESTER YEAR 1
ECO 590: Mathematical Found. of Eco (3)                  Elective in economics (3)
ECO 500: Micro economics I (3)                                         Elective in economics (3)
ECO 510: Macroeconomics I (3)                                        Elective in economics (3)
ECO 520: Probability and Math. Statistics (3)          Elective in economics (3)


FALL SEMESTER YEAR 2                                        
Elective in economics (3)                                                              
Elective in economics (3)                                          
ECO 597: MA project (3)      


CURRICULUM FOR THE ADVANCED MA in ECONOMICS

 

FALL SEMESTER YEAR 1                                                     SPRING SEMESTER YEAR 1
ECO 590: Mathematical Found. of Eco (3)                 Elective in economics (3)
ECO 500: Micro economics I (3)                                        Elective in economics (3)
ECO 510: Macroeconomics I (3)                                       Elective in economics (3)
ECO 520: Probability and Math. Statistics (3)         Elective in economics (3)

 

FALL SEMESTER YEAR 2                                                    SPRING SEMESTER YEAR 2
Elective in economics (3)                                                      Elective in Economics (3)       
Elective in economics (3)                                                      Elective in Economics (3)
Elective in Economics (3)                                                      ECO 597: MA project (3)      


CURRICULUM FOR THE ADVANCED MA in ECONOMICS WITH ADVANCED CERTIFICATE in DATA AND COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE

 

FALL SEMESTER YEAR 1                                                  SPRING SEMESTER YEAR 1
ECO 590: Mathematical Found. of Eco (3)              AMS 561: Comp. Data Sci. (3)
ECO 500: Microeconomics I (3)                                      ECO 521: Econometrics (3)
ECO 510: Macroeconomics I (3)                                    Elective in economics* (3)
ECO 520: Probability & Math. Statistics (3)            Elective in economics* (3)

FALL SEMESTER YEAR 2                                                 SPRING SEMESTER YEAR 2
ECO 522: Applied Econometrics (3)                          Approved Course in AMS or CS*** (3)
ECO 597: MA project (3)                                                    Approved Course in AMS or CS*** (3)   
ECO 531: Intro to Comp. Meth.(3)                              Elective in economics** (3)

WINTER SEMESTER YEAR 1 OR 2
COM 501: Distilling your Message (1)****
COM 503: Improvis. for Scientists (1)****

* Students are recommended to take ECO 511 Macroeconomics II and ECO501 Microeconomics II as their elective in the spring semester of the first year.
** Students are recommended to take ECO 612: Computational Economics & Dynamic Methods or ECO 613: Computational Macroeconomics as their electives in the second year’s spring semester. 
*** Students must take one course from AMS and one course from CS in the course catalog.
**** Courses only offered during Winter semesters.

»» Any changes of the courses are subject to the master program director’s approval.


TYPICAL CURRICULUM FOR THE ADVANCED MA in ECONOMICS WITH ADVANCED CERTIFICATE in FINANCE

 

FALL SEMESTER YEAR 1                                               SPRING SEMESTER YEAR 1
ECO 590: Mathematical Found. of Eco (3)           Elective in economics* (3)
ECO 500: Micro economics I (3)                                  Elective in economics* (3)
ECO 510: Macroeconomics I (3)                                 Elective in economics* (3)
ECO 520: Probability & Math. Statistics (3)        Elective in economics* (3)          

 

FALL SEMESTER YEAR 2                                             SPRING SEMESTER YEAR 2
Elective in Finance (3)                                                      ECO 597: MA project (3)
Elective in Economics                                                      Elective in Finance (3)
MBA 502: Finance (3)                                                        Elective in Finance (3)
MBA 504: Financial Accounting (3)                         Elective in Finance (3) 

In the Spring of Year 2, students have to choose 4 electives among the following:

  • FIN 525 Portfolio Management
  • FIN 536 Financial Management 
  • FIN 539 Investment Analysis
  • FIN 545 Capital Markets
  • FIN 552 Mergers and Acquisitions
  • FIN 576 Real Estate Finance

* Students are recommended to take ECO 501 Microeconomics II, ECO 511 Macroeconomics II, ECO 521: Econometrics, and ECO 531: Intro to Computational Methods in the spring semester of the first year.

»» Any changes of the courses are subject to the master program director’s approval.


FORMS AND APPLICATION INFORMATION FOR MASTERS PROGRAM

All Forms and Application information is available online at the Graduate School.