The Bush School of Government & Public Service and the Department of Economics offer a 5-year (3+2) degree program that allows economics majors to enter the Bush School at the start of their senior year (typically year four) at Texas A&M University. This enables students to receive both their economics undergraduate degree (BS/BA) and a Master of Public Service and Administration (MPSA) graduate degree, with a track emphasis in public policy analysis (PPA), at the end of five years.
Description | Core Required | MPSA Required | Apply | Curriculum | Advising
Description
To be considered for the 5-year degree program, economics students must have a minimum 3.25 GPA and have completed 102 of the 120 hours of course work required to receive a bachelor’s degree. These courses must include all of the specific prerequisites for either a BS/BA in economics as well as the courses required by the College of Liberal Arts and by Texas A&M University for an undergraduate degree.
Economics Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Arts, Catalog 137
Texas A&M Core = 60 hours
- ENGL 104 (3 hrs)
- Speech & Writing (3 hrs)
- ENGL Literature (6 hrs)
- US HIST (6 hrs)
- POLS 206 and POLS 207 (6 hrs)
- Social Sciences (6 hrs)
- Creative Arts (3 hrs)
- Language, Philosophy, & Culture (3 hrs)
- Creative Arts/Lang, Phil, & Culture (3 hrs)
- Life and Physical Science (9 hrs)
- MATH 140 or 152 (3 hrs)
- MATH 142 or 151 (3 hrs)
- ECMT 461 (3 hrs)
- ACCT 209 (3 hrs)
- International & Cultural Diversity (6 hrs) – may be used to satisfy any other requirement
Major Area = 33 hours
- ECON 202, 203, 323, 410 (12 hrs)
- ECON Electives (12)*
- *9 hours can double count from Bush School courses
BS Requirements = 27 hours
- ACCT 210 (3 hrs)
- ECMT 463 (3 hrs)
- General Electives (21 hrs)*
- Core Foreign Language – 2 years of same language in high school or 2-semester sequence
BA Requirements = 27 hours
- Modern Language 100 & 200 courses (14 hrs)
- General Electives (13 hrs)*
Bush School’s MPSA First Year = 18 of 24 hours can double count for ECON undergrad credit
- Major Area/ECON Electives = 9 hours can count
- BUSH 631 (3 hrs)
- BUSH 635 (for ECMT 463 or ECON elective) (3 hrs)
- PSAA 621 or ECON 607 (3 hrs)
- General Electives = 9 hours can count
- PSAA 601, 611, & 622 (9 hrs)
- Any approved PSAA course (3-6 hrs)
MPSA Degree Requirements
Admitted students will be enrolled in Bush School graduate courses with an undergraduate classification (U4) during their fourth year and will be reclassified as degree-seeking master’s students (G7) upon completing 120 credit hours. This will normally occur at the start of the fall semester of year five.
Five-year students will be required to complete the same 2-year, 48-hour curriculum as regularly admitted MPSA students. The curriculum combines eight common core courses, two track core courses, two track electives, and four approved electives. Students choose the Public Policy Analysis (PPA) track and are encouraged to create their own area of interest or to select from one of our elective concentrations (see https://bush.tamu.edu for options). A noncredit-bearing professional internship is also completed in the summer between the first and second years for those without substantive professional experience. A capstone project for a “real world” client in year two caps the experience.
Administration/Application
Economics majors who have at least a 3.25 GPA and who will have taken all of their prerequisite courses and otherwise completed 102 hours by the fall of their fourth year (meaning you have the summer before entry to complete any required hours) will be eligible to apply for the 5-year program in their junior year. Admission criteria for the 5-year program will be the same as for other students. Applicants will submit the same support materials, with the exception of an internal 3+2 application found on the Bush School website; this is in place of the UniCAS application and portal, so no app fee is charged. Detailed app instructions are online under Admissions.
Students who choose not to finish the MPSA degree after being admitted to the 5-year degree program may exit the program at any time. Completed MPSA courses will be applied to their bachelor’s degree in economics, as appropriate. Failure to complete the MPSA program will in no way impede their ability to attain a bachelor’s degree in economics when the requirements for that degree are completed.
Those who pursue the 5-year program will receive both Texas A&M degrees upon completion of the entire program, earning their BA/BS in Economics and their Master of Public Service and Administration at the end of their second year in the Bush School. Although they earn both degrees, students will only participate in their MPSA graduation ceremony.
Curriculum
Fourth Year
Fall
- PSAA 601: Foundations of Public Service **
- PSAA 621: Economic Analysis* or ECON 607: Microeconomic Theory*
- BUSH 631: Quantitative Methods I *
- PSAA 643: Foundations of the Nonprofit Sector
Spring
- PSAA 611: Public Policy Formation **
- BUSH 635: Quantitative Methods II, Policy Analysis*/+
- PSAA 622: Public Finance + (PPA required)
- One approved PSAA elective **
Summer
- Professional internship
Fifth Year
Fall
- PSAA 675: Capstone Seminar I
- PSAA 615: Policy Analysis (PPA required)
- One approved elective **
- One approved elective
Spring
- PSAA 676: Capstone Seminar II
- Three approved electives
* double counted as ECON major/elective
** double counted as general electives
+ double counted as ECMT 463 or ECON elective
As indicated above, students will double count courses taken in the Bush School as credit towards their MPSA degree and as substitutes for some of the economics major and general electives required for the bachelor’s degree.
Advising
Advising for the 5-year program is a coordinated effort by both the Department of Economics and the Bush School. Economics departmental advising will help ensure that interested students have satisfied the prerequisite course requirements for the bachelor’s degree by the start of their senior year.
Advisors are found in Rm. 3035; MWF by appt. (M-F, 1-4 PM), scheduled https://swan.tamu.edu/ECON, or walk-ins (M-F, 9-11:30 AM).
Economics advisors:
Vince Hernandez, Emily Baumann, Rochelle Read, or Michael Werner
You may also contact the Bush School for admissions information and curriculum advising.
Kathryn or Ashlee, Admissions, bushschooladmissions@tamu.edu, 862-3476 for overview
Kimberly Reeves, PSAA asst., reevesk@tamu.edu, 862-8821 for degree-level follow-up
