Preparation for Graduate Study in Other Fields

Students intending to pursue graduate study after completing the baccalaureate degree should consider taking one or more of the following sets of courses, depending on their intended field of graduate study.

Law

Because economics students are trained to think logically, orderly, and critically and because many legal issues and lawsuits involve questions of economics, students with coursework or degrees in economics are especially successful in law school. Many law schools regularly teach economics courses and even traditional law school courses are often taught with significant economics content and from an economics perspective. Among students from the major disciplines who apply to law schools, students earning degrees in economics score highest on the Law School Admission Test.

For students interested in law school, whether or not majoring in economics, we especially recommend the following courses:

ECP 3451Economics and the Law
ECP 4413Government Regulation of Buisness
PHI 2100 (Philosophy)Reasoning and Critical Thinking

Business

Most MBA programs only admit students who have had several years of work experience and, perhaps contrary to popular belief, an undergraduate degree in business is not a prerequisite to graduate study in business. Many MBA students, for example, have degrees in some technical field or in the humanities, and for them the MBA is essentially a substitute for an undergraduate business degree. More important than your particular undergraduate major is that you have a solid analytical background with good quantitative skills. Economics provides such a background.

In addition to at least one semester of calculus and one semester of statistics, we recommend that students intending to pursue graduate study in business include some of the following courses in their degree programs:

ECO 3104Applied Microeconomic Analysis
ECO 3223Financial Markets, the Banking System and Monetary Policy
ECO 4400Games and Decisions
ECO 3431Analysis of Economic Data
ECP 3403Business Organization and Market Structure
ECP 4413Government Regulation of Business
ACG 2021 (Accounting)Introduction to Financial Accounting
FIN 3403 (Finance)Financial Management of the Firm

Finance

Graduate study in finance requires good quantitative skills. Students interested in earning a masters degree in finance should have at least one semester of calculus and one semester of statistics. Students interested in doctoral study in finance should have single and multivariate calculus, linear algebra, and statistics.

Students interested in graduate study in finance should include the following courses in their undergraduate degree programs:

ECO 3223Financial Markets, the Banking System and
Monetary Policy
ECO 3101Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
ECO 3203Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory
ECO 4401Advanced Microeconomics
ECO 4421Introduction to Econometrics
ECO 4713International Finance
ACG 2021 (Accounting)Introduction to Financial Accounting
FIN 3403 (Finance)Financial Management of the Firm

International Affairs

Graduate study in finance requires good quantitative skills. Students interested in earning a masters degree in finance should have at least one semester of calculus and one semester of statistics. Students interested in doctoral study in finance should have single and multivariate calculus, linear algebra, and statistics.

Students interested in graduate study in finance should include the following courses in their undergraduate degree programs:

ECO 3223Financial Markets, the Banking System and
Monetary Policy
ECO 3101Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
ECO 3203Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory
ECO 4401Advanced Microeconomics
ECO 4421Introduction to Econometrics
ECO 4713International Finance
ACG 2021 (Accounting)Introduction to Financial Accounting
FIN 3403 (Finance)Financial Management of the Firm

Environmental Studies

For students interested in pursuing a graduate degree in environmental studies, the following economics courses are particularly good preparation:

ECO 3101Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
ECP 3113Economics of Population
ECP 3302Economics of Natural Resources, Energy, and
the Environment
ECP 4312Economics of Energy, Environment, and Sustainability

Other Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs

Many undergraduates are unaware of graduate degree programs in some interdisciplinary social sciences related to economics. These include public policy, public health, urban planning, and public administration. Many of these degrees can be combined with further training in economics.

All students interested in graduate study in any of the social sciences or interdisciplinary social sciences should take at least one semester of calculus and one semester of statistics. In addition, the following courses are recommended:

ECP 4613Urban Economics
ECO 3101Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
ECO 4421Introduction to Econometrics
ECO 3431Analysis of Economic Data
ECO 4504Public Sector Economics
ECO 4532Economic Analysis of Politics
ECP 4530Economies of Health
ECO 4132Economics of Compassion
ECO 4554Economics of State and Local Government
ECP 3143Afro-Americans in the American Political Economy
ECP 3617Land Use, Housing, and Government Regulation
ECP 4618Research Methods for Studying Housing, Land, and Mortgage