Graduate Economics Assistantships
The Economics Department offers several graduate assistantships that provide graduate students with financial assistance and practical training during their degree work.
The EMU Graduate Assistantship Program Guidelines identifies several types of graduate assistantships. Among these are: departmental, minority, and college work-study. The Economics Department's assistantships are of the departmental type. For more information about the others, please contact the graduate school.
Because the number of graduate assistantships available is usually smaller than the number of applicants, there is a limit of three one-academic semester appointments per student.
Two sets of qualifications are required:
Graduate School Requirements
- The applicant must hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university, and have full or conditional admission to an academic department's degree program.
- The applicant must possess an undergraduate grade point average equal to the average of students admitted to the college of Arts & Sciences, or a graduate grade point average of at least 3.0.
- Students must register for a minimum of 6 credit hours for each semester in which they receive a graduate assistantship appointment. During their final semester they may carry fewer than 6 hours provided they are registered for at least one graduate level course.
Department Requirements
The student must be unconditionally admitted to the program to be eligible for graduate assistantships, which requires completion of courses in Intermediate Macroeconomics, Intermediate Microeconomics, Business Statistics/Econometrics, and Calculus I, all with minimum grades of B along with a 3.0 GPA.
- Two letters of recommendation from college or university faculty members and/or administrators who are familiar with the student and his/her academic achievements.
International Student Application
In addition to the requirements listed above, foreign students must also have satisfactory proficiency in spoken and written English with a TOEFL score of 6.5.
Procedures
- The department reviews the applications according to GPA, letters of recommendation, etc., and makes the hiring decision.
- Appointments are generally made for one year at a time.
Criteria for Hiring New Graduate Assistants (GA's):
- Academic performance as indicated by undergraduate (and if available, graduate) grade transcripts and by letters of recommendation.
- Potential as a graduate assistant as indicated by letters of recommendation.
- Previous experience as research assistant and/or familiarity with computers and software programs.
Criteria for rehiring Graduate Assistants for the Winter who had worked during the Fall:
- Academic performance as indicated by grades and class rank in graduate courses.
- Performance as a graduate assistant as indicated by reports from the faculty for whom the GA works.
The graduate program coordinator will collect the information above from the various faculty. Criteria for rehiring Graduate Assistants for the fall that were initially hired in a previous semester are the same criteria as for hiring a new graduate assistant.
For more information please contact graduate coordinator Dr. Christopher Elias.