The Economics Department offers a Plan II (Capstone) Contiguous Bachelor’s/Master’s pathway in Quantitative Economics and Finance. The contiguous bachelor’s/master’s pathway provides highly motivated undergraduate majors the opportunity to earn separate bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five years. Students apply to be accepted into the contiguous bachelor’s/master’s pathway in consultation with their faculty undergraduate advisor, no later than the end of spring quarter of the junior year.
To be accepted to the path, students will need to prepare an application and plan for their pathway, providing evidence of solid academic performance in general and in their undergraduate major. The application should be submitted no later than June 1 of the junior year, and should include:
- A one-page personal statement describing a) the student’s motivation and academic preparation for entering the pathway, b) the student’s goals for the pathway, and c) future professional goals.
- A copy of unofficial transcripts. Applicants should possess an overall GPA of 3.0 or above.
- A course planner which lists when the student plans to complete the core Economics courses ECON 1, ECON 2, and ECON 100A.
- A letter of recommendation from any UC Santa Cruz faculty member attesting to the student’s promise for a M.S. degree.
Students accepted to the contiguous bachelor's/master's pathway will, in their senior year, be able to apply to the Quantitative Economics and Finance M.S. through a streamlined process in the Graduate Division's admissions portal. They will be required to submit:
- A copy of unofficial transcripts. Applicants need an overall GPA of 3.0 or above.
- One letter of recommendation from any UC Santa Cruz faculty member attesting to the student’s promise for a M.S. degree. The letter for admission into the pathway and the letter for the M.S. application package can be from the same faculty member, but the content of the letters must be different from each other.
- An application fee of $135 which will be reimbursed if the student enrolls in the program.
Students in the bachelor’s/master’s pathway who use undergraduate elective courses to fulfill the requirements of the master’s degree must comply with campuswide policy which states that a minimum of 35 credits must be completed as a master’s student, after the student has completed the bachelor’s degree. Courses used to satisfy the requirements for the master’s degree cannot be used to satisfy the minimum upper-division credits for the bachelor’s degree.