The Economics Department offers a Bachelor’s/Master’s (AB/MA) degree for current UGA undergraduates through the Double Dawgs Program. Undergraduate students must have a 3.6 GPA to be considered. The AB/MA program is designed for students who plan to pursue a PhD program in economics, finance, public policy, or statistics or who are looking for private- or public-sector positions that require significant technical research skills.
The MA degree is not offered as a terminal or stand-alone graduate degree in economics. Only PhD students who discontinue work toward their doctorate are eligible to terminate their studies with the MA degree.
A combined bachelor’s/master’s degree calls for a carefully coordinated four-year or five-year plan of study and close cooperation among several academic advisors. This is especially true in economics where a joint degree student must take many math and statistics courses in his or her first few years at UGA. Therefore, students interested in the combined degree program should discuss the opportunity with a departmental advisor while they are first-year students, and these advisors will help each student develop a plan of study.
There are two tracks to obtaining the MA degree, a thesis track and a non-thesis track. For those students interested in attending graduate school, the thesis track is strongly recommended. The non-thesis track is more appropriate for students seeking a career in the private sector. The plan of study listed below provides details on the two-degree tracks.
Students must take or earn AP credit for at least one course in each of these 2 groups:
Students must take one of the following options:
Fall Term
Spring Term
Fall Term
Spring Term
All graduate program admissions are handled by the UGA Graduate School. Once the graduate school reviews your application, it is forwarded to the Economics Department for further review. Final decisions will be issued by letter from the UGA Graduate School.
You must submit a one-time application fee via credit card online in order to complete your application — $75 for domestic applicants, $100 for international applicants.
Our AB/MA students have had excellent placements in both graduate school and the job market.
View a complete list of placements