The honours program
Application and Admission
Honours Advisors:
The Honours Program, both BA and BSc, offers top economics students a fourth-year experience that includes small classes, increased access to faculty, a stimulating intellectual environment, and the camaraderie of working with a small group of like-minded students. The BSc Honours is the ideal program if you are thinking of pursuing graduate studies in Economics and related areas.
The focal points for the program are:
BSc Honours students are required to participate in all three components. BA Honours students are strongly encouraged to take the advanced theory courses, but are not required to do so.
The Honours Seminar
The centrepiece of the program is the fourth-year Honours Seminar (ECON 499), open only to honours economics students. The seminar will be supervised by the Honours Advisors and will meet weekly throughout the year. The meetings will be devoted to a range of topics, with students asked to prepare discussions of readings and expected to contribute to a lively debate of the issues.
The seminar is intended to provide students with an introduction to conducting research in a co-operative and engaging intellectual environment. To this end, part of the seminar will be devoted to discussion of progress on the students' thesis projects, with students giving each other feedback and advice throughout the year.
Advanced Theory Courses
BSc Honours students will take Econ 400(Advanced Microeconomic Theory) and Econ 401 (Advanced Macroeconomic Theory). Although not required, BA Honours students are strongly encouraged to take these courses. The small class size in these high-level courses will provide further opportunity for the sharing of ideas. It will also offer students greater access to the faculty who teach these courses.
Research Project and Thesis
Students in the program will write a thesis on a research project chosen in consultation with the Honours supervisors. The thesis is intended to be a substantial paper that furthers understanding in the student's chosen area of inquiry. Students will be supervised by a faculty member with expertise in the area and will receive advice from the Honours supervisors and fellow students in the Honours Seminar. The thesis will be due by the end of March and students will present the final version to the Honours Seminar at that time.
Past Honours Students Thesis and Supervisors
Application and Admission
Students will be admitted to the program by a committee made up of faculty members, including the Honours Advisors. Students will be selected on the basis of their overall academic performance, their performance within the economics major, communications skills, and intellectual promise.
Interested students should submit 2 copies of both their (unofficial) transcript and 1-page essay explaining why they wish to be admitted to the program. These should be submitted to the Economics Office (BEC 360) by the last business day of March of the third year of study. Specify whether you are applying for the BA or BSc Honours Program. Announcements of the admission committee's decisions will be made by the end of April.
