Graduate Programs: Academic Programs
M.S. Program
This page details the requirements for a Masters of Science degree in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Colorado State University for any student entering Fall, 2009 or later. In addition to these program requirements, please see the documents box for prior year requirments and additional information and planning tools.
Credit Requirements
- Total credits required are:
- Plan A – 30 credits including a thesis (maximum of 6 credits for thesis).
- Plan B – 33 credits including a technical paper (maximum of 3 credits for technical paper).
- A Minimum of:
- 24 credits must be earned at Colorado State University.
- 21 credits must be earned after admission to the Agricultural and Resource Economics Graduate Program.
- 18 Credits must be in 500-level or above courses.
- At least 12 credits must be from formal AREC or ECON courses (i.e., not independent studies or research).
- No student-option pass-fail grading is permitted in the program of study (i.e., GS Form 6).
- Students must maintain an overall GPA at 3.0 or above to remain in good academic standing.
Required Courses
- The following courses must be completed with a minimum grade of B:
- EITHER ECON 506: Microeconomic Analysis I OR BOTH AREC 505: Agricultural Production Economics AND AREC 510: Agricultural Product Marketing
- AREC 535: Applied Econometrics I
- AREC 572: Social Benefit Cost Analysis OR AREC 678: Agricultural Policy
- Students must retake any required course if they earn a B- or below.
- Students are expected to have mathematical skills equivalent to ECON 501 prior to taking ECON 506.
- ECON 504, Macroeconomics, is strongly recommended, especially for students who eventually intend to enter a Ph.D. program.
Courses Not Counted
- The following courses are considered prerequisite to the M.S. and should be completed before starting your program at CSU. These courses may not be counted as part of the student’s program of study (i.e., GS Form 6):
- AREC 335: Introduction to Econometrics
- ECON 304: Intermediate Macroeconomics
- ECON 306: Intermediate Microeconomics
- STAT 301: Introduction to Statistical Methods
- STAT 304: Multiple Regression Analysis
- All 100 and 200 level courses and all Continuing Education courses
- All background courses required by the department must be taken with traditional grading, even though they may not count towards the student’s formal program of study.
- Proposed exceptions to these policies must be submitted in writing to the Graduate Curriculum Committee for consideration, usually via the student’s academic advisor.
Field Courses and Specializations
Masters students take three required courses and a minimum of five additional courses to complete their programs. The Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State University has developed several specialization options for our students. A specialization requires two courses. You may choose one or more specializations; we encourage, but do not require you to specialize. Consider combining two specializations, such as environmental and resource economics with water or land economics, or combining production and finance with welfare and policy. Other specializations can be formed in consultation with your advisor and written permission from the graduate coordinator.
Specializations
- Environmental and Resources - AREC 540/AREC 541
- Water - AREC 540/AREC 542
- Land Use - AREC 540/AREC 547
- Agribusiness - AREC 510/AREC 624
- Marketing - AREC 510/AREC 710
- Production and Finance - AREC 505/AREC 508
- Production and Marketing - AREC 505/AREC 510
- Regional and Community Development - AREC 563/AREC 566
- Welfare and Policy - AREC 572/AREC 678
- Econometrics - AREC 535/AREC 635 or other
Supporting Specializations (Not Counted by Department)
- Quantitative Methods/Statistics - STAT 420/STAT 430
- Quantitative Methods/Optimization - Non-linear programming, multi-objective programming
- Natural Resources - GIS, Watershed Science, etc...
- Agricultural Sciences - Animal, Crop, Soil, Pest, etc...
- Business - varies by interest