Additional information on courses required for MA admission

We receive transcripts from all over the world, with a wide range of course names and numbers. It is not the course name and number that are of central importance, but rather the subject, the material covered, and the level of study (i.e., introductory, usually taken in year 1 or 2; intermediate, usually taken in year 2 or 3; or advanced, customarily taken in year 3 or 4).

Mathematics Courses

Mathematics departments in most universities around the world offer similar full-year introductory courses in calculus. This level is the minimum required. However, more preparation in mathematics courses is highly desirable.

Econometrics or Statistics Courses

Courses vary markedly across universities and even within a university. As a minimum, applicants are required to have in-depth preparation at the intermediate level in the following topics:

• Sample Statistics
• Probability Theory
• Discrete and Continuous Random Variables, including the concepts of Expected Value, Variance and the Covariance and Correlation between two random variables
• The Law of Large Numbers, The Central Limit Theory and Sampling Distributions
• Hypothesis Testing
• Linear and Multiple Regression.

It is not possible to cover all these topics in-depth in less than a full-year-equivalent course.

Microeconomics and Macroeconomics Courses

Most universities offer a variety of levels of courses in economic theory. Introductory-level courses customarily consist of one semester of microeconomics and one semester of macroeconomics. These introductory-level courses are a prerequisite to higher-level courses.

In addition to completing introductory-level microeconomics and macroeconomics, applicants to our MA programs must complete at least a one-semester higher-level course at the intermediate level in both microeconomics and macroeconomics to meet the minimum admission requirements.

Course names and numbers for higher-level courses vary greatly from university to university. For example, one university might offer successive one-semester courses titled "Intermediate Micro I" and "Intermediate Micro II", while another university might label these courses "Intermediate Micro" and "Advanced Micro", respectively.