How to Apply to the PhD Program

Basic Requirements for Admission

Our PhD program basic standards and requirements for admission are:

• A grade-point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale or an academic rank in the top 5% of your class.
• A score in the 80th percentile or higher on the quantitative portion of the GRE general exam. This requirement applies to both the old and new versions of the exam.
• For students who are not native speakers of English, a minimum score of 100 on the TOEFL iBT, or 7.0 on the IELTS. a minimum score of 100 on the TOEFL iBT, or 7.0 on the IELTS. Students who have at least four years of funding from a third party may be admitted with a TOEFL score of 79 on the ibT or an IELTS score of 6.5. Test scores are valid within 2 years of program start (September); so a TOEFL or IELTS exam date earlier than September 2023 will have to be retaken for a Fall 2025 admission.
• Coursework in multivariate calculus and linear algebra.
• For the full list of application requirements, please review the Application Checklist page.

Every year we receive far more applications from students who meet these standards than we can admit, so we use additional criteria to evaluate the applications. These criteria include courses taken and texts studied, letters of recommendation, research papers and other professional activities, and academic honors. The admissions committee will also look for evidence that the applicant has been exposed to economic theory beyond the intermediate undergraduate level. This introduction may come through a course called advanced economic theory, mathematical economics, game theory, or mathematics for economists.

It is recommended that students take more than just the mathematical prerequisite classes, as more experience in analysis, differential equations, optimization, topology, probability, or measure theory will help your graduate study immensely.

TOEFL Waivers

The TOEFL may be waived for admission if the applicant has completed secondary school education or at least 16 credits of college-level work at a university/college from a country on this list within 24 months of the desired date of admission. If you are admitted and are offered a teaching assistantship, you will need to take the Spoken English Test for Teaching Assistants (SETTA).