Admission | Department of Economics

Graduate Admission Information

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All application materials are available online from the Graduate School.

MA & PhD Program Requirements

To apply for the Economics PhD Program, the following items are required. All application materials are available online from the Graduate School.

Complete an online application and pay the application fee of U.S. $100.
Submit a Statement of Purpose/Personal Statement.
Submit three (3) letters of recommendation from instructors or academic advisors.
Provide copies of transcripts* from previously attended colleges.
Provide test scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
For international students, please submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the IELTS. However, if you have a degree (high school diploma, bachelor's, master's, or PhD) from an institution where English was the primary language of instruction, or if you have worked as a Teaching Assistant at an English-speaking institution, this requirement may be waived.

*Transcripts are required from all university-level institutions attended.

Deadline

Applications are accepted only for starting of the Fall semester.

Program	Domestic Priority Deadline	International Deadline	Final Domestic Deadline
Economics MA	2026-03-15	2026-03-15	2026-05-01
Economics PhD	2025-12-15*	2026-01-15	2026-01-15

*If applying for the Graduate Council Fellowship or Turner Fellowship

Have Questions?

For More Information

Frequently Asked Questions:

Yes, if you have questions or issues with application process, please contact the Graduate Program Coordinator, Tim Chin. Please note that during admission season, e-mail is preferred.

Phone: 631-632-7537
E-mail: graduate_economics@stonybrook.edu
Yes. You may submit an unofficial copy of your transcripts when applying. If offered admission, one official hard copy or one official electronic transcript for each institution will need to be submitted. Electronic transcripts are preferred. They can be sent directly from your previous institution(s) to gradadmissions@stonybrook.edu. If electronic transcripts are not available, hard copy transcripts should be mail to:
Stony Brook University
The Graduate School
2401 (Old) Computer Science Building
Stony Brook, NY 11794-4433
As indicated above, for admission to graduate school, the University requires all international applicant's to submit their TOEFL or the IELTS scores. You will need recent scores in these tests, otherwise your application will not be considered. However, if you have a degree (high school diploma, bachelor's, master's, or PhD) from an institution where English was the primary language of instruction, or if you have worked as a Teaching Assistant at an English-speaking institution, this requirement may be waived.

Prospective applicants should be aware that a good spoken and written knowledge of English is essential for productive interaction with other students and faculty. Command of English is important not only to the student's own learning experience, but also to eligibility for teaching assistantships and other forms of financial aid. We strongly emphasize that financial aid will be denied to those students who are unable to communicate properly in English.
Complete application files, containing all of the items listed above, are considered by the Economics Department Admissions Committee. This committee gives particular emphasis to the applicant's undergraduate training in economics and allied quantitative disciplines, such as mathematics, statistics, engineering, and the physical sciences. The Committee looks favorably on training in multivariate calculus (at least 1 year of differential and integral calculus is required by the Department), linear algebra, real analysis and topology, introductory statistics and probability. The applicant's GRE and TOEFL scores are carefully reviewed. (Note that the applicant need not take the GRE Advanced Test in Economics. The Economics Advanced Test is not a requirement for admission.) The committee also takes Masters-level training in economics into account for admission to the PhD program. Informative letters of recommendation make a difference, where by "informative" we mean letters that provide evidence of the intellectual strength of the applicant and motivation for graduate study.

Decisions about admission are normally made by March 15, for applications received by the designated deadline.
Qualified applicants may be offered two general types of financial support:
- - Assistantships, which can be for either teaching, administrative or research purposes, and which are available only to full time students;
  - Full or partial tuition scholarships.
These forms of financial support are offered on the basis of academic merit, and may be limited by the available funds and state budgetary approval. Assistantships require the student to devote 15 hours of service per week.

The Economics Department's practice has been to renew financial support for all supported students who are making satisfactory progress during their first five years of study. Support might be extended beyond the fifth year depending on individual circumstances. The criteria that define "satisfactory progress" are strict. Decisions on continued financial support are made on the basis of overall evaluations conducted twice a year by the full Economics Department faculty. For students at the coursework stage, all letter-graded coursework is expected to be graded B or better, with a significant number of B+'s and A-'s or A's. For students at the thesis stage, there must be evidence of progress in a timely fashion toward a high-quality dissertation, as evaluated by the student's thesis committee.
Yes, The PhD and MA programs both have STEM designation, which permits F-1 visa students to remain in the United States for up to 36 months to work in their field of study. For more information, please visit the Department of Homeland Security webpage linked here.

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