Programs

Curriculum informed by industry needs

The MS in Quantitative Economics curriculum places special emphasis on providing students with a comprehensive analytical toolkit rooted in economic theory, which puts emphasis on: (1) the identification of cause-and-effect relations in real-world data, (2) a careful evaluation of the economic impact of the decisions that organizations make, and (3) the risk-adjusted optimality of the decision that is ultimately made.

We developed and refined our curriculum in consultation with leading Economists, Consultants and Data Scientists from Amazon, Google, OnPoint Analytics, Spotify, DevTech, Streamlit and Zillow.

Students work closely with faculty from the start

Students have the opportunity to work with professors on empirical research projects very early on in the program. This is a unique experience that allows students to immediately see the practical power of of the training they are receiving.

Furthermore, thanks to a unique collaboration we have established with Cal Poly Digital Transformation Hub, powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), students can work with public sector and international organizations such as The World Bank on some of their more pressing challenges. For example, students have the opportunity to work with proprietary datasets and build their skills, while providing something of value to the international development community as they work on projects of critical importance to the fulfillment of their mission.

Outstanding job placements

Read more about our outstanding job placement record.

PayScale analyzed 134,309 salary profiles for employees holding master’s degrees collected between August 2015 and August 2017 from 1,691 different specialties and concluded that a graduate degree in economics is among the top five best-paying graduate degrees you can earn.

All this means outstanding job placement for our MS Economic students in the market for quantitatively oriented professionals in both the private and the public sectors – from Booz Allen Hamilton, J.P. Morgan, Hulu, Oracle, Uber and Visa to the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, the California Air Resources Board, to top Ph.D. programs offered by Universities such as the University of Minnesota, UC Santa Barbara and Arizona State University.