The Board of Regents of the University of Maryland System voted on April 19th to approve a proposal to convert our master's program into a STEM-designated Master of Science program.  The proposal has also been approved by the Maryland Higher Education Commission.  Students in the Fall 2019 cohorts in both of the program’s locations (College Park and Washington, DC) will be able to enroll in the new STEM-designated M.S. version of the program.

One practical implication of the STEM designation is that international graduates of the M.S. program will be eligible for a 2-year extension to the standard 1-year Optional Practical Training in the U.S. after graduation. “We have hired students from the University of Maryland’s Applied Economics master’s program since its inception. The STEM designation gives Optimal and other potential employers a viable opportunity to hire highly qualified international graduates with scarce  skill sets.”  -- Mark Turner, CEO of Optimal Solutions Group.

"The program’s curriculum has always emphasized the quantitative econometric approach that’s now officially recognized by the STEM designation.”  -- John Shea, Associate Chair and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Economics.

The program’s curriculum will continue to evolve in this direction, with new courses in development, including a course on economic applications of Python and R programming.