Standard Master of Science in Quantitative
Economics (MSQE)

For Current and Pre-Professionals

About the Program

Drive your career with a Master of Science in Quantitative Economics from UConn, now offered in-person at both our Storrs and Stamford campuses. This three-semester, 30-credit, STEM-designated program is designed for those with an undergraduate degree from around the globe who seek to master the intersect between economic theory and computational science.

Whether you choose the research-intensive environment of Storrs or the proximity to major financial and tech hubs in Stamford, you will gain hands-on expertise in machine learning, Python, R, and advanced econometrics. Our career-driven curriculum is built for impact, offering optional summer internships and the unique opportunity to earn your Certified Business Economist® (CBE) professional certification simultaneously.

Join a cohort of future leaders who are preparing for roles as data scientists, financial analysts, and machine learning (ML) engineers in today’s most competitive industries.

Course Requirements

An MSQE degree requires completion of 30 credits, maintaining at least a “B” (3.0) average. Of these 30 credits, 24 must come from required MSQE core courses, and six or more are from electives approved by the student’s advisor.

We expect a full-time student to complete the program in three semesters, and the course offerings are structured to support this. In unusual circumstances, a student may decide to devote a longer time to completing the program.

To maintain full-time status during fall and spring semesters, a student must enroll in at least nine credits.

Sample Course Sequence

The following is a typical course sequence for students enrolled in the full-length MSQE program. Learn more about our courses.

Semester I (Fall)

  • ECON 5201. Microeconomics: Consumer and producer theory, economic efficiency, and welfare analysis
  • ECON 5202. Macroeconomics: Conceptual framework, and application to current macroeconomic problems
  • ECON 5301. Mathematical Economics: Matrix algebra, optimization, and comparative statics
  • ECON 5311. Applied Econometrics I: Statistical theory and linear regression

Semester II (Spring)

  • ECON 5312. Applied Econometrics II: Large sample linear regression, time series analysis, maximum likelihood, GMM, and qualitative choice models
  • ECON 5321. Programming and Computation with R: R programming for computational tasks on data analysis and visualization
  • Economics Elective (Econ 5322. Open Source Programming with Python)
  • ECON 5501. Writing Communication Economics, and Business I (optional)

Summer

Internship (optional)

Semester III (Fall)

  • ECON 5318. Panel Data Econometrics: Analysis of cross-sectional data measured over time, and its implementation in STATA
  • ECON 5317. Machine Learning for Economists: Statistical methods to analyze Big Data, such as classification, resampling, lasso, tree-based methods, deep learning
  • Economics Elective (Econ 5314. Causal Program Evaluation, Econ 5323. Convex Optimization with Python, Econ 5315. Financial Econometrics, Econ 5326. Operations Research)
  • ECON 5502. Writing Communication Economics, and Business II (optional)

Application Deadlines

Fall Semester
All Tracks, Storrs & Stamford

Preferred Admission: June 1
Deadline: July 29

Spring Semester
Accelerated 4+1 Track, Storrs & Stamford

Deadline: December 1

Applying early is strongly recommended to avoid last-minute processing delays.
The MSQE program does not offer graduate assistantships at this time.