Welcome to the Senior Honors Program in Economics

Information about the honors program in economics

This page is designed to provide information about our senior honors program. It is most relevant for students that are considering doing an honors thesis.  If you have any questions about the program feel free to contact Professor Hughes (Honors Program Supervisor for 2003-2004) at jphughes@rci.rutgers.edu or Professor Prusa (Undergraduate Director) at prusa@econ.rutgers.edu.

Introduction to the program

Eligibility

Registration

The registration form

Class meetings (The Senior Honors Seminar)

How to get started

List of previous projects

List of research projects submitted by faculty members

Introduction to the program

Taking part in the senior honors program (or one of the college honors programs) is likely to be your most intellectually rewarding activity at   Rutgers . During the academic year, you will work closely with a faculty member on a research project of your own choice. The end product of your work will be a research paper ("thesis") that may qualify you to graduate with honors in economics. Furthermore, several prizes with stipends of varying amounts are awarded to those students doing outstanding work. More importantly, the senior honors program offers you an opportunity to master a set of research, writing, and presentation skills that simply cannot be acquired in conventional courses. These skills are highly valued by employers and graduate school admission committees. In addition, working closely with a faculty supervisor can help generate detailed and compelling letters of recommendation. On top of all this, although it involves hard work, doing research is fun.

Eligibility

To be eligible to participate in the Departments’ Senior Honors Program, you must have a 3.4 GPA in your economics (220) courses and a 3.0 GPA overall. You must also have the following prerequisites: 220:203, 204, 960:211 or 285 (or its equivalent). It is also highly desirable to complete (or take during the summer) 220:322, Econometric Methods and to register for Advanced Econometrics (220:401) in the fall 2003 term.

Registration

The senior honors program itself is a one-year course of study. Students register for Economics 220:493 in the fall semester and Economics 220:494 in the spring semester. Both are three credit courses that count towards your economics electives. (Separate arrangements are made for students who are eligible for college honors programs such as the Henry Rutgers Program at  Rutgers College .)

Before you can register for the Senior Honors Program you must submit a well-developed proposal. The proposal must be approved by a faculty member, who agrees to supervise the project, and by the Director of Undergraduate Studies.  Completed forms need to be submitted to the Undergraduate Office by the end of the second week of classes in September.  A copy of the form is available here and in the undergraduate office.  If you have any administrative questions (for example, regarding you eligibility for the program), please give Ms. Janet Goodstein a call at 932-7363, e-mail her at goodstei@economics.rutgers.edu , or stop by the undergraduate office in N.J. Hall Room 202.

Class meetings (The Senior Honors Seminar)

For the 2003-2004 academic year, Professor Joseph Hughes will direct the honors program. He will guide you through the research process.  Meeting times will be decided at the beginning of each semester. You must be able to attend the meetings to participate in the program. At the meetings each student will report on his/her progress. In the initial meetings there will be a discussion of the economic questions you are planning to address. In subsequent meetings you will discuss the results of your literature review, the outline of your project, preliminary results, and problems you have encountered along the way. At the end of the spring semester each student will present his/her final project.

How to get started

The sooner you get started thinking about a possible topic, the better. We encourage you to talk to professors about research projects. In addition, you should feel free to contact Professor Hughes about the program, possible advisors, and possible topics. You can reach Professor Hughes through e-mail at jphughes@rci.rutgers.edu .