Program Requirements

Course requirements

Undergraduate required courses (30 or 31 credit hours):

• ECON 2012 - Principles of Microeconomics  
• ECON 2022 - Principles of Macroeconomics  
• ECON 4071 - Intermediate Microeconomic Theory  
• ECON 4081 - Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory  
• ECON 4811 - Introduction to Econometrics  
   
• MATH 1401 - Calculus I  
• MATH 2411 - Calculus II  
• MATH 2421 - Calculus III  
• MATH 3382 - Statistical Theory  (3 hours) or ECON 3811 - Statistics with Computer Applications  (4 hours)

Undergraduate electives (9 credit hours):

Three undergraduate economics courses and at least 2 of them must be at 4000-level

Graduate courses (18 credit hours):

• ECON 5073 - Microeconomic Theory  (3 credits)
• ECON 5083 - Macroeconomic Theory  (3 credits)
• ECON 5813 - Econometrics I  (3 credits)
• ECON 5823 - Econometrics II  (3 credits)
• ECON 6053 /6054 - Seminar In Applied Economics ¹ (3 credits)
• ECON 6073 - Research Seminar  (3 credits)

¹The “Seminar in Applied Economics” (ECON 6053, 6054) are 8-week 1.5 credit modules. After completing 3 credit hours of ECON 6053/6054 as part of the economics core, additional ECON 6053/6054 courses may be counted as electives

Graduate electives (9 credit hours):

Any course numbered 5000 or higher with an ECON prefix.

Total economics/mathematics credit hours = 66 or 67

Total credit hours for the combined degrees = 135

Note: the mathematics courses that students take also fulfill some of CU Denver (up to 8 hours) and CLAS (up to 4 hours) graduation requirements.

Dual credits

Students need to take only three electives at the undergraduate level; the three electives taken at the graduate level are double counted in fulfilling both BA and MA graduation requirements. ECON 5803 (Graduate Mathematical Economics) is waived or can be counted as one graduate-level elective. The total dual credits are 12 hours.

Additional graduation requirements

All other grade and GPA requirements towards the BA and MA degrees (e.g., a C- or better is needed in each undergraduate-level required course and a B- or better is needed in each graduate-level required course). Students are expected to meet all course prerequisites. Students will earn the BA degree in their fourth year upon completing all the requirements for the BA degree. Students are expected to be admitted to the Graduate School in their final two semesters prior to earning the MA degree.

Admission requirements

1. Meet all general admission requirements of the Graduate School
2. Be a current CU Denver Economics major with a GPA of 3.5 or better
3. The following courses must have been completed at CU Denver with a grade of B+ or better: MATH 2411, MATH 2421, ECON 4071, and ECON 4811
4. Students should apply in the semester when requirement 3 is satisfied (typically in the end of the fall semester of their junior year - as in the sample curriculum below)
5. Students who do not meet requirements 2 and 3 may apply, but must submit GRE scores and two letters of recommendation; otherwise both are waived
6. To apply, students should submit a regular application to the MA ECON program here: https://application.admissions.ucdenver.edu/apply/. Students who meet the admission requirements are not required to pay the application fee, submit GRE scores, letters of recommendation, or a personal statement. Students must contact the graduate advisor after their application is submitted to have this material waived (brian.duncan@ucdenver.edu)