Time of Admissions to the Program
Before applying to the Graduate School, students must have completed entrance to their undergraduate major, have completed no less than 60 credits and apply in the beginning of their junior year. Students must be admitted no later than the fourth week of the 6th semester of study. Transfer students must have completed at least 15 credits at Penn State to enroll in an IUG.
Admissions Requirements
The IUG program is a highly selective program and is appropriate only for those who are prepared to undertake a highly rigorous graduate study of economics. Applicants are subject to the same standards that are required of our applicants for the M.A. program. Before applying to the Graduate School, students must have complete entrance to their undergraduate major, have completed no less than 60 credits, and be admitted no later than the end of the second week of the semester preceding the semester of expected conferral of the undergraduate degree.
To apply to the program Students must:
- be economics majors by the time they apply for the IUG program and have completed at least 60 credits toward the B.A./B.S. degree. Transfer students must have completed at least 15 credits at Penn State to enroll in an IUG.
- complete the requirements for a B.A./B.S. in economics with the following modifications: Two out of three prescribed courses for the B.A./B.S. must be taken at the honors-level. These prescribed courses, which all count toward the undergraduate degree in economics are: ECON302H, ECON304H and ECON306H. Knowledge of these courses are pre-requisites of the theoretical core of the Masters program. Regular versions of these courses are not adequate preparation for quality graduate programs in Economics. Students who have taken all the regular sections (non-honors) of these courses prior to their decision to pursue the IUG, should audit at least two of these honors versions of the courses. Exceptions may be evaluated and approved by the faculty advisor of the IUG program.
- to be on track to complete the undergraduate degree requirements within 4 years of initial matriculation.
- complete a Graduate School application for the M.A. program in Economics. This application should be completed by March 1 of the junior year of study. If accepted, applicants will begin taking the prescribed MA courses in the Fall semester of their senior year. Applicants will have to satisfy all the prerequisites that apply for admission to the M.A. program. However, the GRE requirement will be waived for IUG applicants.
- provide two letters of reference and personal statement addressing the reasons for pursuing a graduate degree in Economics.
- must prepare a plan of study identifying undergraduate credits to be applied to the M.A. degree elective requirements.
- although the program has no fixed minimum grade -point average, an applicant is generally expected to have a minimum overall GPA of 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) in undergraduate coursework and a minimum GPA of 3.5 in all coursework completed for the major.