The VSE’s Honours program provides intensive, small group instruction for academically outstanding students who commit to a more in-depth and extensive study of Economics.
Honours graduates have found success after graduation in pre-doc research assistant positions and top graduate programs worldwide, at places like the London School of Economics, the University of Cambridge, and Harvard Law School. In recent years, students have also been admitted to top PhD programs at MIT, Princeton, and Stanford.
Honours Program at a Glance
- Dedicated Honours intermediate theory courses taught by research faculty
- Honours applied economics seminar taught by the Honours Faculty Advisor (Econ 495)
- Students can be part of a cohort that take the same classes together
- A year-long independent thesis project under the direction of a personal faculty research advisor
Program Requirements
The following is a list of the Economic course requirements to obtain a BA with a Honours in Economics:
- Principles of Economics (101 and 102 or equivalent) – 6 credits
- Econ 200-level or 300-level courses – 6 credits
- Honours Intermediate Microeconomic Analysis (304) – 3 credits
- Honours Intermediate Macroeconomic Analysis (305) – 3 credits
- Intermediate Microeconomics II (306) – 3 credits (with at least a 68% average)
- Intermediate Macroeconomics II (307) – 3 credits (with at least a 68% average)
- Empirical Economics: Introduction (325) – 3 credits
- Empirical Economics: Methods (326) – 3 credits
- Honours Seminar (495) – 3 credits
- Honours Paper (499) – 6 credits
- Additional Economics courses (300/400-level) – 9 credits
- Additional Economics courses (400-level) – 12 credits
- Total Econ 300-level and 400-level credits required – 48
- Total Econ credits required – 60
- A cumulative average of at least 78% in ECON courses numbered 300 and above
- No more than two ECON courses (6 credits) at the ECON 300/400 with a grade below 68%
Application Information & Admission Prerequisites
- Admission to the Honours Program is by application online only.
- Application into the fourth year of the program is not recommended.
- Applications must be accompanied by official transcripts from all other post-secondary institutions attended. Students should make every effort to have their applications submitted to the Vancouver School of Economics by May 5.
Students entering their third year with a minimum of 54 credits and a minimum GPA of 75% are welcome to apply:
- 6 credits of Principles of Economics (equivalent to UBC Econ 101 and 102)
- 6 credits of University-level Calculus (equivalent to UBC Math 104 and 105)
- 3 credits that satisfy the Writing component of the Faculty of Arts Writing and Research Requirement (ASTU 150, WRDS 150, CAP, Arts One, English 100 or an approved substitute)
- 3 credits of introductory econometrics (ECON 325 or an approved substitute)
- 3 credits of 2nd or 3rd year level courses in Economics (courses in this category are not acceptable unless they require Principles of Economics as a prerequisite)
Courses required under the above cannot be taken on a Credit/D/Fail basis.
Note: Students that took courses Credit/D/Fail in 2019T2 are eligible to apply for the honours program but may receive offers of admissions that are conditional on maintaining a minimum GPA in the core 3rd year economics courses (i.e. Econ 304/305/325/326). Similar requirements may apply to all students admitted on a provisional basis.
Selection for admission is based solely on the student’s academic record. We admit the applicants with the strongest transcripts until the available positions are filled. Due to the small number of students involved, we do not release any information about the GPAs of admitted students.
NOTE: Students who wish to be considered for the Honours program should enrol in ECON 304 and ECON 305 rather than ECON 301 and ECON 302.
Course Planning
Poster Session
Each year, Honours students present their capstone research projects to faculty, staff, alumni, and fellow students. Each project makes use of the empirical, data science and analytical tools our students have developed over their studies.