Graduate Admission
- Requirements
- Deadline
- Applying
- English Proficiency
- Evaluation of Applications
- Expenses
- Financial Support
Requirements
To complete an application to the Economics graduate program, the following are required (note that the requirements for the PhD program and MA program are the same):
- File a complete, official graduate application form with the application fee of U.S. $60.
- Provide proof a of 3 undergraduate grade point average overall (on a scale in which A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F (failure) =0) and a B average (that is, at least 3.0) in the undergraduate major. This requirement is waived for foreign students.
- Submit 3 letters of recommendation from instructors or academic advisors.
- Provide 1 official copy of transcripts from previously attended colleges.
- Provide test scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
- For foreign students, provide scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
Deadline
Applications are accepted only for starting at the Fall semester and would be considered at any time. In order to be considered for financial support applications must be received by January 15.
Applying
All application materials are available online at http://www.grad.sunysb.edu/prospective/applying/.
Applications are only accepted on line. Please send supplementary material to:
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The Graduate Program |
English Proficiency
As indicated above, for admission to graduate school the University requires the applicant's scores on the TOEFL and Test of Spoken English. The University requirement for admission is a score of 550 or better on the TOEFL.
Prospective applicants should be aware that a good spoken and written knowledge of English is essential for productive interaction with other students and faculty. Command of English is important not only to the student's own learning experience, but also to eligibility for teaching assistantships and other forms of financial aid. We strongly emphasize that financial aid will be denied to those students who are unable to communicate properly in English.
Evaluation of Applications
Complete application files, containing all of the items listed above, are considered by an Economics Department Admissions Committee. This committee gives particular emphasis to the applicant's undergraduate training in economics and allied quantitative disciplines, such as mathematics, statistics, engineering, and the physical sciences. The Committee looks favorably on training in multivariate calculus (at least 1 year of differential and integral calculus is required by the Department), linear algebra, real analysis and topology, introductory statistics and probability. The applicant's GRE and TOEFL scores are carefully reviewed. (Note that the applicant need not take the GRE Advanced Test in Economics. The Economics Advanced Test is not a requirement for admission.) The committee also takes Masters-level training in economics into account. Informative letters of recommendation make a difference, where by "informative" we mean letters that provide evidence of the intellectual strength of the applicant.
Decisions about admission are normally made by March 15th.
Expenses
Please refer to the Graduate School's bursar WebPage for more information.
Financial Support
Qualified applicants can be offered two general types of financial support:
- Assistantships, which can be for either teaching, administrative or research purposes, and which are available only to full time students;
- Full or partial tuition scholarships.
These forms of financial support are offered on the basis of academic merit, and may be limited by the available funds and state budgetary approval. Assistantships require the student to devote a minimum of 15 hours of service per week; the maximum is limited to 20 hours per week. In 2006-07, a full time assistantship provides $12,276 per year.
The Economics Department's practice has been to renew financial support for all supported students who are making satisfactory progress for four years of study. It is not possible, in general, to receive support for more than four years. The criteria that define "satisfactory progress" are strict. Decisions on continued financial support are made on the basis of overall evaluations conducted twice a year by the full Economics Department faculty. For students at the course work stage, all letter-graded course work is expected to be graded B or better, with a significant number of B+'s and A-'s or A's. For students at the thesis stage, there must be evidence of progress in a timely fashion toward a high-quality dissertation, as evaluated by the student's thesis committee.