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Why Tufts?
Why Tufts?
 The Value of an M.S. in Economics
Although an undergraduate degree in a liberal arts discipline
provides a foundation that can be used for almost any career path,
it generally does not provide the training that is needed to work as
a specialist in that discipline. Getting a job as a specialist in a
discipline will usually require a masters or doctorate degree in
that field. Advanced work in the discipline generally requires a
doctorate. Economics provides a good example of a field where this
is true. Undergraduate courses in economics do not introduce all of
the technical tools needed by an economist and are taught at a lower
level of rigor than graduate courses in economics. A masters or
doctorate degree is required for most jobs.
The gap between undergraduate and doctoral programs, and the need
for a graduate degree in order to get a job as an economist, creates
a dilemma for the student who is considering a career as an
economist. How does one get that first job as an economist or decide
whether they want to pursue a doctorate in economics?
One way to bridge this gap and answer these questions is to pursue a
masters degree in economics from a department that takes its masters
students seriously.
Strengths of the Tufts M.S. Program
The faculty of the Department of Economics consists of one of the
finest groups of teacher-scholars in the U.S. Each has chosen to be
at Tufts because it is a place that allows them to combine the same
concern with teaching that is evident at most small liberal arts
colleges with the concern for scholarship that is characteristic of
large research universities. Tufts provides them with the best of
both worlds.
Students share the benefits of this atmosphere: classes in the M.S.
program are small and students get to know their professors; all
members of the faculty are friendly and accessible; departmental
talks are open to graduate students; and there are opportunities to
work as teaching or research assistants, graders and/or tutors.
The focus of the M.S. Program in Economics is preparing students for
jobs as economists or for doctoral programs in economics. Since the
Department does not offer a doctorate, its graduate program is
constructed exclusively for the benefit of its M.S. students.
Financial Aid
Most departments, with both masters and doctoral programs, reserve
the bulk of their financial aid for doctoral students. This can make
their programs prohibitively expensive for the masters students. All
financial aid in the Tufts graduate program in economics goes to
M.S. students. Although tuition scholarships and teaching
assistantships are awarded competitively, many students will find
that the cost of attending Tufts' M.S. program is offset by the
several benefits of the overall education experience here.
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