Culminating Experience
By default, everyone is in the Capstone Experience subtrack, which entails completion of an instructor-supervised applied group project in ECO 795. The course is offered once a year spanning Summer Term I and II, and typically can be completed remotely.
Choosing one of the other two options—Professional Paper or Internship—requires the Graduate Coordinator's (pre)approval:
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The professional paper capstone (ECO 794) is reserved for exceptional students who wish and have demonstrated the ability to do independent academic research of high quality, potentially seeking to pursue a doctoral degree afterward. This option requires a faculty member willing to supervise the student.
To request (pre)approval of a professional paper as your culminating experience in place of the default ECO 795, contact the Graduate Coordinator.
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To have a professional internship approved as a qualifying culminating experience, a student must provide a detailed description of the internship position (including concrete duties and deliverables) explaining how it relates to the program learning objectives and the student’s professional goals as well as outlining specific learning goals of the proposed internship, based upon which a grade in ECO 784 will be given. This option requires the submission of midproject and final project reports. Determining if a proposed internship qualifies as a 3-credit graduate level culminating experience is the Graduate Coordinator’s prerogative using equitable criteria common to all students in this experience.
To request (pre)approval of a professional internship as your culminating experience in place of the default ECO 795, complete and submit the Proposal for ECO 784 Internship form.
Proposal for ECO 784 Internship (PDF)
The culminating experience need not be completed in your final semester.