Is a Master's in Quantitative Economics on Your Radar? UCSC Wants to Hear From You

Written By Doug & Claude

UC Santa Cruz's Economics Department is exploring whether its one-year MS in Quantitative Economics & Finance could serve working professionals in Santa Cruz County, and it's asking our community to weigh in.

Santa Cruz has no shortage of smart, data-literate people. The question UC Santa Cruz is asking is whether some of them want a graduate degree that sharpens those skills without leaving the county.

Jessie Li, Associate Professor of Economics and Program Director for UCSC's MS in Quantitative Economics and Finance (MS QEF), is reaching out to local professionals to find out. "I am hoping to connect with professionals in Santa Cruz County to better understand whether working professionals might be interested in our MS program," she writes.

A program with deep roots

The MS QEF isn't new. It began as a two-year program in the early 1980s, became a one-year M.S. in Applied Economics and Finance in 2014, and now operates under its current name. It is STEM-designated and built around nine months of coursework, a three-week math camp beforehand, and a comprehensive capstone exam.

The goal is practical: prepare graduates for careers in business, banking, consulting, government, and nonprofits.

More stats than an MBA

Li is direct about what sets the program apart. It provides more training in statistics and econometrics than most MBA programs, and its biggest strength is fluency with econometric techniques, statistical software, and large-scale financial and microeconomic datasets.

Students work through core microeconomics, macroeconomics, and finance, then choose electives such as Data Science and Applied Microeconomics, Corporate Finance, Public Policy Analysis, Financial Institutions and Markets, and Financial Engineering. Hands-on labs run across all three quarters in Stata, R, and Python.

Faculty depth is real: 28 full-time research faculty covering applied microeconomics, behavioral economics, econometrics, finance, international finance, and macroeconomics.

Where graduates land

Alumni have gone on to Google, Apple, Amazon, Genentech, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bloomberg, Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG, Zillow, Expedia, and PG&E. Closer to home, graduates have joined Santa Cruz County Bank.

Career support is built in, with a weekly Friday seminar featuring industry speakers, an active alumni network, and UCSC Career Services workshops on resumes, interviewing, and networking.

Admissions at a glance

  • Undergraduate major GPA of at least 3.0

  • GRE not required, though it can strengthen an application

  • Merit-based aid of $1,000–$6,000 may be available

  • Teaching assistant positions available but not guaranteed

  • Deadlines to be confirmed; historically late February and mid-April

Why your input matters

UCSC wants to know if the program could work for people already in the workforce. That could include an analyst at a local bank who wants stronger modeling skills, a startup operator who wants to move from spreadsheets to real econometrics, or a nonprofit leader who wants to measure impact more rigorously. Your answers will help the department decide how to shape the program for local professionals.

A local pipeline of quantitatively trained talent strengthens every company in our ecosystem. Five minutes of your time could help build it.

Share your preferences with UCSC here →

Learn more about the program at economics.ucsc.edu/academics/graduate-program/masters.

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