Milestones and Timeline

Length of Study

Ph.D. students are permitted to register for up to six years and are expected to complete their degree requirements, including submission of their dissertation, within this timeframe. Financial aid awarded by the graduate school must be used within six years of initial registration. In rare circumstances, Ph.D. students may be approved for extended registration (see Extended Registration in the Registration Status, Leaves of Absence, Withdrawal, and Readmission section). Extension of registration does not extend financial aid awarded by the graduate school.

Tuition Requirement 

All Ph.D. candidates are charged four years (eight terms) of full tuition, or proportionately less if all degree requirements, including submission of the dissertation, are completed in fewer than four continuous years of full-time study from the date of matriculation in the Ph.D. program. 

Continuous Registration Fee

Ph.D. students who have completed the tuition requirement described above must continue to register each term through the sixth year, whether in residence, in absentia, or Dissertation Completion Status, or until they submit the dissertation, whichever occurs first. Students who have met the tuition requirement are charged a continuous registration fee (CRF) for each term in which they remain registered. Students who are granted permission to register beyond the sixth year are also charged the CRF. The graduate school will provide a fellowship to cover the cost of the CRF for Ph.D. students on seventh-year extended registration in any term in which they serve as teaching fellows in the TFP or receive an external fellowship that provides the equivalent of a stipend.

Transfer Credit/Course Waivers

The graduate school does not award transfer credit for graduate work completed before matriculation at Yale.

Non-Yale Courses A department may, with the approval of the graduate school, waive a portion of the Ph.D. course requirement (typically up to three courses) in recognition of previous non-Yale graduate-level work completed after receipt of the bachelor’s or bachelor’s-equivalent degree. Such a waiver does not affect the tuition requirement. Courses taken prior to matriculation at Yale will not appear on the student’s graduate school transcript. The Yale courses waived will be recorded in the degree audit system as waived.

Yale Courses With the approval of the department, a Ph.D. student who is currently enrolled may petition to count up to one year of relevant coursework completed in a Yale master’s or professional school program in partial fulfillment of the Ph.D. course requirement. Students previously enrolled for nondegree study may petition to waive up to four courses (see Nondegree Study in the Programs of Study section). Petitions must be received by the designated associate dean in the graduate school before the end of the student’s first year of study in the Ph.D. program. The dean may reduce the four-year tuition requirement by either one or two terms, based on the number of courses accepted. The courses accepted will be listed on the student’s degree audit.

Waived courses are not counted in determining a student’s eligibility for either terminal or en route M.A. or M.S. degrees.

Language Requirement

Language requirements are set by individual departments and programs and are explained in the individual department listings. All departmental requirements are subject to initial approval by the Executive Committee of the Graduate School and are monitored by the Degree Committee. A department cannot make exceptions to its own requirements without authorization by the Degree Committee.

Graduate students taking undergraduate language courses are graded according to the Yale College grading scale. Where applicable, language courses may count toward graduate degree requirements in some programs (see program descriptions). Undergraduate language courses do not count toward the Honors requirement.

The required level of proficiency in languages, and the method for demonstrating it, are determined by the individual departments. Students are urged to be prepared to meet language requirements at the beginning of their first year of study.

Course, HP-Average, and Honors Requirements

Course Requirement The course requirements for the Ph.D. degree are set individually by each department or program. Each course offered in the graduate school counts for a single credit or, in rare cases, one-half credit or two credits. Only courses offered by the graduate school, officially numbered on the graduate level (i.e., 5000 or higher), and receiving a qualitative grade of Honors, High Pass, or Pass, can fulfill requirements for the Ph.D. degree, with the exception of certain undergraduate language courses or where specified in advance by the department or program (see Course Enrollment and Course Grades). 

Honors Requirement Although departments may set more stringent requirements, to meet the minimum graduate school grade quality requirement for the Ph.D., students must achieve the grade of Honors in at least two one-credit graduate courses taken in the graduate school by the end of the fourth term of enrollment. These courses must be taken during academic year and must be related to the student’s graduate degree.

HP-Average Requirement Ph.D. students must achieve a High Pass (HP) average in degree-relevant coursework. In order to maintain the minimum average of HP, each full credit of Pass on the student’s transcript must be balanced by one full credit of Honors. Each full credit of Fail must be balanced by two full credits of Honors. If a student retakes a course in which they have received a failing grade, only the newer grade will be considered in calculating this average. The initial grade of Fail, however, will remain on the student’s transcript. A grade awarded at the conclusion of a full-year course in which no grade is awarded at the end of the first term would be counted twice in calculating this average. Courses taken after conferral of the M.Phil. (if applicable) or admission to candidacy are not included in the calculation of the HP average requirement.

A student who has not met the HP-average and Honors requirements at the end of the second year of study will not be permitted to continue in the program. Additionally, students who fail to maintain an HP average in any term of enrollment may be placed on academic probation. A student who is not in good academic standing with regard to coursework or research, as defined by the minimum standards established by the graduate school and the expectations outlined by the student’s department or program, may be dismissed from the graduate school. Such dismissal will be recorded on the student’s transcript. (See Academic Standing, Probation, and Dismissal)

Qualifying Examination

Each Ph.D. student must pass a general examination, separate from course examinations, in a major subject and in such subordinate subjects as may be required by the department or program. Such examinations are described in the individual program listings. Students must assemble a qualifying examination committee in consultation with their program. Students unable to pass a qualifying exam that satisfies the academic requirements of their program will normally be withdrawn from the graduate school at the end of year three, except where noted in individual program descriptions. Students should consult with their director of graduate studies for further information about this requirement.

Dissertation Committee Constitution Requirement

As a condition for registering in the fourth year of study, Ph.D. students must have a dissertation committee, including an adviser who is a member of the graduate school faculty. At least two members of the committee must be members of the graduate school faculty, and all members must be approved by the director of graduate studies. Individual departments may have additional requirements for the committee constitution. Students admitted to combined degree programs should consult with both directors of graduate studies regarding the constitution of a committee satisfying to both programs. Students without an approved committee will be withdrawn from their program.

Prospectus

The dissertation topic, in the form of a prospectus, must be approved by the department or program. Certification of this approval, together with a copy of the prospectus, must be filed with the university registrar. By the time a prospectus is submitted, the program must approve a member of the graduate faculty to serve as the primary adviser for the dissertation. Students who plan to submit the dissertation before the end of the fourth year of study should be sure to reserve time to satisfy this requirement. Submission of an approved prospectus is a requirement for admission to candidacy (see below).

The prospectus should be viewed as a preliminary statement of what the student proposes to do in the dissertation and not as an unalterable commitment. However, substantive deviation from the dissertation project outlined in a prospectus (as determined by the director of graduate studies and designated associate dean) will require that the student draft a new prospectus to be approved by the dissertation committee at least six months prior to the submission of the dissertation.

In consultation with their faculty advisers and directors of graduate studies, students should give serious thought to the scale of proposed dissertation topics. There should be a reasonable expectation that the project can be completed during the stipulated duration of the degree program.

The appropriate form and typical content of a prospectus inevitably vary from field to field. In most cases, however, a prospectus should contain the following information:

1. The name of the dissertation adviser.
2. A statement of the topic of the dissertation and an explanation of its importance to the field. What in general might one expect to learn from the dissertation that is not now known, understood, or appreciated?
3. A concise review of scholarly contributions on the topic to date, specifically: how will the proposed dissertation differ from or expand upon previous work? A basic bibliography should normally be appended to the prospectus.
4. A statement of where most of the work will be carried out—for example, in a library or archive, in the laboratory of a particular faculty member, or as part of a program of fieldwork at specific sites in the United States or abroad.
5. If the subject matter permits, a tentative proposal for the internal organization of the dissertation—for example, major sections, subsections, sequence of chapters.
6. A provisional timetable for completion of the dissertation.

Dissertations are normally submitted in English. If there is a compelling academic reason to submit all or a portion of the dissertation in a language other than English, students must petition to do so at the time of the submission of their prospectus. The petition should be submitted in the form of a letter explaining the academic reasons for using another language in the composition of the dissertation and will be evaluated by the director of graduate studies and the designated associate dean. Petitions for writing and submitting a dissertation in a language other than English will not be accepted after students have advanced to candidacy.

Admission to Candidacy

Admission to candidacy indicates that the department and the graduate school consider the student prepared to do original and independent research. Students will be admitted to candidacy when they have completed all predissertation requirements, including the dissertation prospectus and excluding any required teaching. Training in teaching can occur both before and after a student is admitted to candidacy. Admission to candidacy will normally take place by the end of the third year of study. Any programmatic variations from this pattern that have been approved by the Executive Committee of the Graduate School are described in the individual program listings in this bulletin. Under no circumstances will a student be permitted to continue registration if they have not been admitted to candidacy prior to the beginning of the fifth year of the program. 

A student who has not been admitted to candidacy at the expected time will not be permitted to register for the following term and will normally be withdrawn from their program. At the time of advancement to candidacy, eligible students who have not petitioned for or received en route degrees (M.A., M.S., or M.Phil.) for which they may be eligible will automatically be considered for such degrees. If a student advances to candidacy after the deadline to submit a petition for a degree in that term, the student will be considered for a degree in the following term. Students in combined Ph.D. programs must satisfy the candidacy requirements for both programs before they can be admitted to candidacy.

Training in Teaching

The Teaching Fellow Program (TFP) is the principal framework at Yale in which graduate students learn to become effective teachers. Learning to teach and to evaluate student work is fundamental to the education of graduate students. Teaching is required in many departments and is an expectation for all Ph.D. students. Students should consult the individual program listings in this bulletin to confirm whether their department has an academic teaching requirement. Teaching performed outside of a Yale Teaching Fellow appointment, including at other institutions, in Yale Summer Session, etc., will not satisfy any academic teaching requirement stipulated by the program and is subject to the limitation on part-time employment (see Part-time Employment under Other Means of Financing Graduate Education). In order to satisfy a program’s academic teaching requirement, teaching assignments must be approved by the director of graduate studies.

Graduate students teaching for the first time at Yale are required to attend a Teaching at Yale Day (T@YD) orientation. 

The TFP provides opportunities for graduate students, under faculty guidance, to develop teaching skills through active participation in the teaching of Yale undergraduates. Teaching fellows who encounter problems or difficulties related to their teaching appointments are encouraged to meet with the appropriate dean. Only students registered in residence may serve as a teaching fellow (TF) or as a part-time acting instructor (PTAI) in the TFP, and teaching must take place in person. For a more detailed description of these types of appointments, see Teaching Fellow Levels in the Financial Aid section under Financing Graduate School. Students must complete the entire term (or other relevant period) of teaching in order to receive academic credit for teaching and for a teaching appointment in the TFP to appear on the transcript. 

Faculty should clearly communicate to students and teaching fellows their expectations about the evaluation of work, feedback to students, and grading policies. Faculty are expected to prepare course syllabi, assignments, and examinations. Instructors should not ask teaching fellows to give lectures when they are unable to attend class, although they are encouraged to offer occasional opportunities for student lectures when they can attend and advise. Teaching fellows may assist with administrative activities such as reserving and printing course materials, obtaining audiovisual equipment, maintaining course websites, and performing other tasks that support instruction in their assigned course.

To avoid conflicts of interest, teaching fellows should not normally be assigned to evaluate the work of graduate student peers. However, in courses requiring extensive quantitative work, teaching fellows may score quantitative homework and exams submitted by graduate students using nondiscretionary scoring keys approved by the faculty instructor. In these instances, the faculty member should review the teaching fellow’s scoring and must assign the final grade. In courses that are cross-listed with both graduate and undergraduate numbers, the same guidelines hold for the grading of assignments. All other grading of graduate students should be done by the faculty member.

The graduate school requires that all students who teach be in good academic standing. In addition, they must be fluent in English. Graduate students whose native language is not English are required to meet the oral English proficiency standard before they may begin teaching. This includes teaching in language courses. The standard may be met by (1) passing the Center for Language Study oral exam, (2) passing the speaking section of the iBT TOEFL, (3) passing the speaking portion of the IELTS exam, or (4) having received an undergraduate baccalaureate degree or its equivalent from an institution where the principal language of instruction is English and the student was in residence for at least three years. Students who have received a degree from an English-speaking institution, but who have also submitted a test score that is below the necessary standard, will be considered not to have met the oral English proficiency standard and will be required to pass a Center for Language Study oral exam. In some instances, the academic dean or director of graduate studies may require that students with an undergraduate degree from English-speaking institutions also pass an oral English exam to satisfy the language requirement. Ph.D. students who have not met the oral English proficiency standard must enroll in at least one course offered by the Center for Language Study’s English Language Program each term until the proficiency requirement is met.

Dissertation

The dissertation should demonstrate the student’s mastery of relevant resources and methods and should make an original contribution to knowledge in the field. Normally, it is expected that a dissertation will have a single topic, however broadly defined, and that all parts of the dissertation will be interrelated but can constitute essentially discrete units. Beyond this principle, the faculty will apply the prevailing intellectual standards and scholarly practices within their fields in advising students with regard to the suitable scope, length, and structure of the dissertation, including what constitutes an original contribution to that field.

In accord with the traditional scholarly ideal that the candidate for a doctorate must contribute to the advancement of knowledge in their field, all dissertations that have been accepted by the graduate school are published electronically both through ProQuest and through EliScholar, Yale University Library’s online platform for scholarly publishing (https://elischolar.library.yale.edu). As such, classified or restricted research is not acceptable as part of the dissertation. Exceptions must be approved in advance by the Degree Committee.

Dissertations must be written and submitted in English except in some disciplines in which there are strong academic reasons for the submission of a dissertation in a language other than English (see Prospectus, above, for the necessary approval process to submit a dissertation written in a language other than English). A dissertation may not be translated into English by someone other than the student.

If the student has received the required approvals to submit the dissertation in a language other than English, they must submit the title page and abstract in English, but they may also submit a second title page and a second abstract page in the other language. The copyright page must be in English. Dissertations must be submitted to the graduate school by the respective deadlines in the academic calendar to be considered for September, December, or May degrees. No exceptions are made to these deadlines, which have been established to allow sufficient time for departments to receive evaluations from readers and recommend students to the Degree Committee. Once the adviser and committee have approved a dissertation for submission and the director of graduate studies has been notified, the student submits the dissertation along with the degree petition and other forms based on the requirements set forth on the Dissertation Progress Reporting and Submission (DPRS) site (https://dissertation.yale.edu/dprs). The director of graduate studies must approve a complete list of dissertation readers for each dissertation on the Notification of Readers (NOR) link on the DPRS site.

Once submitted in the DPRS system, the dissertation is considered final, with the possible exception of minor revisions only (see below). Dissertations may be withdrawn from submission in DPRS only on the grounds of a substantive academic issue or concern related to the content of the dissertation. 

The graduate school requires that each dissertation be read by at least three people but not more than five, at least two of whom hold faculty appointments in the graduate school. All readers must hold the Ph.D. degree as well as a faculty position or be considered otherwise qualified to evaluate the dissertation. The process for assigning readers is determined by the department, which is responsible for confirming the qualifications, contact information, and availability of all readers before notifying the graduate school of these appointments. All appointments of readers are subject to review by the designated associate dean. The department is responsible for reassigning readers as necessary. This process will not extend the deadline for readers’ reports to be returned to the graduate school. Once all readers’ reports have been submitted, students may view them in the DPRS system. Readers’ reports become part of the student’s permanent academic record.

Award of the Ph.D. will be considered by the Degree Committee only if all readers’ evaluations have been received by the graduate school and are positive, all other degree requirements have been met, and the department has recommended the awarding of the degree. Should a reader indicate that a dissertation contains significant errors in typing, grammar, spelling, reference citations, or other textual matters, the student will be required to revise the dissertation by a date provided by the registrar. A new PDF of the dissertation must then be uploaded to the DPRS system. The graduate school must receive approval from the director of graduate studies indicating that the student has addressed the readers’ concerns before the dissertation can be recommended for a degree. In the event that a dissertation is evaluated by any reader as “Not Acceptable,” the dissertation will be administratively withdrawn from submission. Departmental practice determines whether reevaluation is normally permitted. If reevaluation is permitted, the student must resubmit the dissertation in a subsequent degree cycle and any changes to the readers are subject to the approval of the director of graduate studies and the designated associate dean.

The graduate school does not require departments to evaluate the dissertations of degree candidates who are no longer registered. The decision to review such dissertations rests entirely with the respective department or program.

Fields include microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, labor, public finance, industrial organization, international trade and finance, financial economics, environmental economics, economic development, economic history, political economy and behavioral economics. 

Exceptions to the requirements described below may be obtained only by vote of the Economics faculty and will be granted only in recognition of extenuating circumstances. 

Prior to Registration for the Second Year

(1.1) Students must have taken for credit and passed at least six economics graduate courses. With the permission of the director of graduate studies (DGS), courses in related fields can be used to fulfill this requirement. (Courses in the International and Development Economics master’s program do not satisfy this requirement.) (1.2) Students who earn a grade of HP- or better in each of the four first-year courses in microeconomics and macroeconomics may proceed directly to the second year. In June and August of each year, the department will give waiver exams in micro and macro, written and graded to the extent possible by a committee of faculty who have taught the first-year courses in the previous year. First-year students who do not earn a grade of HP- or better in each of the first-year micro or macro courses must either take and pass the corresponding exam in June or take the exam in June and then (in the event of failure) take and pass the exam in August in order to continue in the program. A student who obtains an HP- or better in one term of a sequence, but not the other, must take (and retake, if necessary) only the waiver exam corresponding to the term in which they failed to obtain an HP- or better. Students who have not passed all the required examinations prior to the second year of study may register as master’s candidates for the following fall term for the purpose of completing enough courses to be eligible for the Master of Arts degree.

Exceptionally well prepared incoming students may petition the DGS and the faculty in the field to take the waiver exam before their first year, with an eye toward placing out of either one or both terms of either of the first-year micro or macro courses. Incoming students taking the waiver exam will be exempt from the corresponding course only if their performance is an exemplary (rather than marginal) pass.

Prior to Registration for the Third Year

(2.1) Students must have met the graduate school’s requirement of Honors in two courses. (2.2) Students must have taken at least fourteen term courses in economics and have received a grade of at least a P- in each of them. With the permission of the DGS, courses in related fields and independent reading courses can be used to fulfill this requirement. Workshops may not be used to satisfy it. (2.3) Students must have received an average of at least HP in the courses they have taken. The admissibility of courses for this requirement is the same as for the fourteen-course requirement, (2.2). Grades within the Economics department include pluses and minuses. The grade average is computed as follows. A failure counts as a zero, a P- as a 1, a P as a 2, a P+ as a 3, an HP- as a 4, and so on up to a 9 for an H+. The arithmetic average of these numbers must be at least 4.5. (2.4) All students must have submitted a draft of their empirical paper, discussed in (3.3) below. (2.5) All students must make their first attempt at each of two qualifying examinations by June 30 of their second year in the program. The examinations test a student’s general analytic ability in economics and knowledge of two fields chosen by the student. Fields are typically drawn from microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, labor, public finance, industrial organization, international trade and finance, financial economics, environmental economics, economic development, economic history, political economy, and behavioral economics. Students may request examination in a special field designed in consultation with Economics department faculty. The choice of fields must be approved by the DGS. Students may list two preferred examiners in each field. The DGS’s office strives to satisfy these preferences subject to faculty availability and the number of students making similar requests. The nature and content of the field qualifying exams will be determined by the faculty in the field (i.e. these exams might require written work, depending on the field).  If a student fails a field qualifying exam in the spring of the second year, the student must either retake the exam in that field or may take an exam in a different field. In either case, the student must pass this second attempt, whether in the same field or not, in the fall of the third year to remain in the program.

Admission to Candidacy

The Economics department adheres strictly to the graduate school requirement that students be admitted to candidacy prior to registration for the fourth year of study. Students are recommended to the graduate school for admission to candidacy by vote of the Department of Economics faculty after having completed requirements (2.1), (2.2), and (2.3) above, the graduate school’s prospectus requirement, and the following additional requirements. (3.1) Students must have completed two one-term prospectus workshops, one in each term of the third year. If students can find no prospectus workshop corresponding to their interests, they may substitute other workshops to meet this requirement. In order for two workshops to count toward the prospectus requirement, students must make a presentation in each workshop and present original work in one of them. This stipulation applies even if a workshop is not labeled as a prospectus workshop. If students can find no workshop whatsoever in their area of interest, they may substitute an independent study course guided by a faculty member, provided the independent study leads to a dissertation prospectus that is accepted. (3.2) Students must receive a grade of HP- or better in ECON 5551 (Econometrics II) or ECON 5552 (Econometrics III). More advanced courses may be substituted for these with permission of the DGS. Students who receive a grade below HP- in either course must retake it the following year and earn HP- or better. (3.3) Students must receive a grade of Satisfactory on an empirical paper, which is evaluated by a faculty adviser or an instructor of ECON 5556. In the paper, the student should (a) specify an economic model useful for the investigation of an interesting economic problem, (b) select data and econometric methods appropriate to the question, (c) conduct proper statistical analysis, and (d) interpret the results in an intelligent way. The paper may be written in the course ECON 5556 or independently with the help of a faculty adviser, the standards for a satisfactory paper being the same in both cases. The paper is not expected to be of publishable or nearly publishable quality but should demonstrate facility in the application of econometric methods to an economic question. Note: Jointly authored papers will be considered for the empirical paper requirement subject to approval by the DGS. Students interested in this option should consult with the DGS, regardless of whether they plan to write the paper in ECON 5556 or independently with an adviser. (3.4) Students must complete with a grade of at least HP- a term of economic history, drawn from a list of courses approved by the DGS and the economic history instructors. (3.5) Students must pass two field qualifying examinations given by committees of faculty members. These exams are discussed in (2.5) above.

Additional Requirements

1. All students must give a dissertation prospectus to their advisory committee by the second Friday in May of their third year.
2. Students must provide, via email, the names of their advisory committee consisting of two members to the DGS’s office by February 1 of the third year.  The student should indicate which faculty member is the main advisor for the purpose of reviewing their annual DPR (Dissertation Progress Report).
3. In each academic year after the second, all students must regularly attend at least two workshops. At least one of them must be an “informal” prospectus workshop lunch or reading group, and at least one must be a “formal” research workshop. Each student must present at least once a year in one or other of the workshops that they regularly attend in the third and fourth years.
4. Third-year students who have not yet satisfied the empirical paper requirement must submit an empirical paper by February 1.

The Dissertation

The dissertation should make an original contribution to economics that demonstrates the student’s mastery of relevant resources and methods. Although the dissertation may cover several related topics, it should have a unifying theme. The dissertation may consist of one or more than one essay. The dissertation is guided by a committee of two advisers, at least one of whom must be a member of the Economics department. The second adviser need not be from the Economics department or even from Yale University. Second advisers from outside the Yale Economics department must be approved by the DGS. The two advisers serve as readers. After the student has completed a first draft of the dissertation, the DGS appoints a third reader. The student and the committee may recommend third readers, but the choice remains with the DGS, since the third reader serves as an independent referee.

Collaborative Work in the Dissertation

The Economics department’s objective regarding collaboration is to achieve a reasonable compromise between two goals. While the department wishes to encourage collaborative research among students and between students and faculty, a dissertation should demonstrate the student’s ability to do independent research. The dissertation committee and the DGS must approve the inclusion of collaborative work in the dissertation, and students must acknowledge and describe any collaboration in the preface to the dissertation.

Expiration of Admission to Candidacy  

Advancement to candidacy expires ten years after the date it is granted, if no dissertation has been submitted and approved in the intervening period.

Normal Sequence of Studies

What follows in the next three paragraphs are recommendations, not requirements.

During the fall term of the first year, students usually take ECON 5500 (General Economic Theory: Microeconomics), ECON 5510 (General Economic Theory: Macroeconomics), ECON 5550 (Econometrics I). In the following spring, they usually take ECON 5501 (General Economic Theory: Microeconomics), ECON 5511 (General Economic Theory: Macroeconomics), ECON 5551 (Econometrics II). Students who are well prepared in econometrics may take an advanced econometrics course instead of ECON 5500 in the fall of the first year after consulting the DGS and an appropriate econometrics faculty member.

Students typically also take a course in economic history in either the fall or spring term, that would satisfy the economic history requirement, (3.4) above, if a grade of at least HP- were obtained. Taking the history course in the spring may be more appropriate for students concerned about making the transition to graduate school in the fall.

During the second year, students normally take ECON 5556 and satisfy the empirical paper requirement. Students also take economics courses in specialized fields, such as economic theory, macroeconomics, econometrics, labor, public finance, industrial organization, international trade and finance, financial economics, environmental economics, economic development, economic history, political economy, and behavioral economics. These courses serve as preparation for the qualifying examinations and allow students to identify potential areas of study for dissertation research. As they identify an area, students should locate a faculty adviser to advise them about their studies. Students may also take courses related to economics from other departments.

The third year is normally devoted to finding a dissertation topic and to beginning research on it. In this year, students are expected to make the transition from being a taker of classes to a participant in research. Important elements in achieving this transition are thinking critically about material learned, reading widely, choosing research topics that are feasible and of interest to the student, and gaining contact with faculty. Students should expect to take the initiative in making such contact.

Combined PH.D. Degrees

A combined degree results in the award of one Ph.D. with two departments named. It is not two separate degrees, and the student is not expected to fulfill all the requirements of both departments.

Students enrolled in combined programs normally receive a single en route degree if both programs offer the same en route degree. If only one of the programs offers an en route degree, the student will be eligible to receive it from that program. If the two programs offer different en route degrees (for example, one offers an M.A. and the other an M.S.), the student may receive only one en route degree and will choose which one in consultation with their departments and the appropriate academic dean. This policy also applies to ad hoc combined degree programs. See Degree Requirements under Policies and Regulations.

Purpose Combined degrees are intended to provide a sufficiently broad training program for a student wishing to complete an interdisciplinary dissertation.

Program Design Combined-degree programs are designed on an ad hoc basis by the student, the DGSs of the two departments, and the appropriate associate dean of the graduate school.

Timing Most combined degrees are proposed by students during the summer after the first year of study. Students are not given extra time or funding to complete combined degrees. In particular, students must advance to candidacy by the end of their third year of study.

Degree of Integration A combined program should synthesize the knowledge and methods of the two departments into a single study. Ideally the dissertation should be equally strong in both fields. For example, a dissertation with the first half focused on economics and the second half focused on political science would not be acceptable.

Administrative Requirements An ad hoc combined degree program is established in the following steps.

1. A program is initiated by writing of a pre-prospectus by the student. This document describes how and why the two fields are to be integrated.
2. The student recruits a faculty dissertation adviser from each department and obtains their approval of the pre-prospectus, perhaps modified in response to their advice.
3. The student recruits two other faculty members to serve on the dissertation committee, one from each department.
4. The student discusses the requirements for a combined degree with both departmental DGSs.
5. The student prepares a comprehensive study plan that contains a list of courses and examinations agreed on by both DGSs and approved by both departments. The goals of the course selection are to give some breadth of knowledge of both fields and prepare the student to complete the dissertation. A key to success in combined programs is not to require too many courses and to focus on preparation for dissertation research. Requirements include successful completion of ECON 5500, ECON 5501, ECON 5510, and ECON 5511 with grades of at least HP-; please see (1.2) for a complete description of the requirement. Normally the two departments administer qualifying examinations. This procedure may require the production of examinations that both departments evaluate simultaneously. The plan of study should contain the following: (a) a cover sheet for approvals by both dissertation advisers, both DGSs, and the appropriate associate dean of the graduate school, (b) an introduction where the student explains the rational for proposing the ad hoc combined degree, and (c) a term-by-term timeline listing all classes, teaching, and required examinations.
6. Both departments must accept the dissertation prospectus.
7. The plan of study is a contract, and the student must receive written permission in advance from both DGSs and the appropriate associate dean of the graduate school for any changes to the plan.
8. Once everyone agrees and the plan of study is approved, the combined program is recorded in Banner.

Funding and Teaching The department that first admitted the student is the “primary department.” The student’s funding is from the primary department, as is the teaching expectation. Ideally students should obtain teaching experience from both departments.

MASTER'S DEGREES

M.Phil. The M.Phil. degree is automatically awarded to students in the Ph.D. program upon completion of all the requirements for advancement to candidacy for a doctorate in economics except the prospectus and prospectus workshop requirements. See Degree Requirements under Policies and Regulations.

M.A. (upon withdrawal) Students who withdraw from the Ph.D. program may be eligible to receive the M.A. degree if they have met the requirements and have not already received the M.Phil. degree. For the M.A., students must successfully complete at least eight term graduate courses in the Department of Economics. At least six of these courses must be Ph.D. courses in the Department of Economics (not courses from the International and Development Economics master’s program). The average grade of all the graduate courses taken that are listed or cross-listed by the Department of Economics must be at least a High Pass. Students must complete at least two of the three first-year two-course sequences in microeconomics, macroeconomics, or econometrics. In computing the grade average, the relevant grades are those reported to the registrar and so do not include pluses or minuses. A Fail counts as a zero, a Pass counts as a 1, a High Pass counts as a 2, and an Honors counts as a 3. To say that the average grade must be High Pass means that the arithmetic average of these numbers must be at least 2. Candidates in combined programs will be awarded the M.A. only when the master’s degree requirements for both programs have been met. The M.A. in Economics is only offered in the event that an Economics Ph.D. student withdraws from the Ph.D. program. Economics does not award en route M.A. degrees to students in other programs.

The M.A. in International and Development Economics is described under International and Development Economics.