In addition to economics and marketing courses, students aiming to develop marketing models or empirically test marketing theories take courses in econometrics and statistics. All students must take the marketing Ph.D. courses offered during their duration of study. Students take exams at the end of the first year and at the end of the third semester. During their first two years of study, students are also required to write summer papers on an original research topic that interests them. Qualifying exams in the student's core area and area of specialization are given in two stages at the end of the student's third semester of study.
Qualifying exams test the student's competence in their chosen field of study.
At the review after the third semester, the faculty evaluate performance on the first-year summer paper and performance on the two exams. A second-year summer paper concludes the requirements for year two. At this time, students begin formulating a thesis topic and preparing for a formal thesis proposal. As for the coursework of the doctoral program in marketing, students are expected to choose a sequence of courses that enables them to master the fundamental principles of economic and marketing theory and the quantitative tools required for basic and applied research. The series of core courses offered provides these fundamentals.