Junior Year: Preparing for the Thesis
Students following the optimal sequence of courses will have completed the core courses in micro and macro theory as sophomores, opening up the entire range of economics electives for them as juniors. You are encouraged to use the junior year to explore broad topics of interest by taking two or three economics electives. The junior year is also the time to complete your methodological foundation by taking an econometrics course (if you have not done so earlier).
Junior Qualifying Examination
The junior qualifying exam is taken in the second semester of junior year, either in November (for students starting thesis in the spring semester) or April (for students starting thesis in the fall semester).
The exam has two parts. Part one is a set of three one-page thesis topic summaries. These need not be full-blown proposals, but should be specific ideas that you think might be interesting to work on for a thesis.
Completion and submission of the thesis proposals then grants students access to the second part of the qual, which is a written exam focusing on questions from micro and macro theory. Students are given a 48 hour window in which to take this three-hour exam, which allows for open notes and books. The exam will consist of 4 questions for micro and another 4 for macro; students must answer 3 of each set of 4.
A student may pass, fail or receive a conditional pass. Students failing to turn in the topic summaries on time automatically fail the qual. Students who perform satisfactorily on all parts of the qual will be advanced to senior standing. Those who show promise of eventually passing but are deficient on one or more parts of the qual are given a condition pass. Students receiving a conditional pass will be notified of the conditions that must be met before they can advance to senior standing. Students who fail the qual are eligible to take the qual the next time it is offered. Failing the qual a second time bars a student from progressing as a degree candidate in economics, but does not restrict a student from taking the qual in another department or program.