International Graduate Studies Preparation Program (IGSPP)
Track to a Ph.D. in Economics
The Department of Economics at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) announces the Graduate Certificate Program in Economics. The program is designed for international students seeking to improve their credentials for admission into a US economics Ph.D. program. Under the certificate program, a student enrolls in the first-year Ph.D. courses in economics offered by the department, earning letter grades in the courses under the same standards as the regular students. A certificate will be awarded upon completion of these courses, and the certificate will constitute evidence of proficiency in graduate-level economics that can be used in subsequent applications to US Ph.D. programs (including UCI’s own program). In addition, students can request letters of recommendation from their UCI instructors, to be used in applying to Ph.D. programs, as well as obtaining guidance on application strategies from these instructors and other UCI faculty.
Certificate students will concurrently enroll in the department’s Microeconomics, Macro- economics, and Econometrics Ph.D. sequences during the Fall, Winter and Spring quarters, thus taking three courses per quarter. In addition, during the month prior to the Fall quarter, students will enroll in the department’s Math/Statistics “camp,” an intensive month-long review of mathematics, probability, and statistics, which is designed to ensure command of the quantitative tools needed during the first-year courses. The camp begins in the late August.
Applicants to the certificate program will be screened by the Department’s regular admissions committee to ensure selection of a group of students with the potential for success in US economics Ph.D. programs. Students should note that participation in the certificate program need not guarantee admission to UCI’s economics Ph.D. program, should a student choose to apply to it.
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