View of Hoover Tower from the arches of the Main Quad.

Andrew Brodhead

Capstone

Beginning with the graduating class of 2025, all Stanford Students will be required to complete a Capstone Project as part of their major. 

The Economics Capstone is made up of two requirements: 

  1. An ePortfolio completed with the student's advisor during their junior year
  2. The completion of either the ECON 101 course OR completion of the Economics Honors Thesis program during their senior year

Economics BA and BS students must complete both components. Both components are intended to provide students with the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they have gained in their course of study and to strengthen the relationships between students and mentors. 

Economics ePortfolio

Required during Junior year

The Econ ePortfolio is an online project intended to help students reflect on their experiences in the major and plan how to integrate these major experiences with future goals. Declared majors will be added to online "classrooms" with their assigned major advisor, who will review the ePortfolio for completion. 

Grading

Students will receive a Satisfactory/Incomplete grade for the completion of their ePortfolio and will be required to meet with their advisor during their junior year to review. Declared juniors will be automatically added to a ePortfolio Canvas course and can find full instructions in the assignments section. 

Deadlines for AY24-25

Juniors in AY24-25 must complete the ePortfolio by the end of Winter quarter and meet with their advisor NO LATER than the end of week 5 of Spring Quarter. Students WILL NOT be eligible to receive their ECON 101 section assignment or apply for the honors program until this project is complete. 

A completed ePortfolio will include:

A cohesive and engaging cover letter

The cover letter will describe the student’s identity, demonstrate their learning, and provide a framework for viewing the ePortfolio.

Carefully curated examples of work, or artifacts, that provide evidence for learning.

Artifacts should represent a variety of genres and modes, and they can be drawn from any curricular or co-curricular work done while at Stanford. 

Additional reflections

Additional reflections that contextualize artifacts and expand on the overall message about learning presented in the cover letter. Reflections should accompany all individual artifacts, and some students choose to include additional reflections on artifact groupings or regarding their future goals.

Purposeful design

Purposeful design with a clear site architecture and thoughtful visual rhetoric that supports the student’s overall message about their identity and learning. Students may use any digital platform they wish (Google Doc, personal website, etc).

Economics Capstone Course or Honors Thesis

Required during Senior year
Students must complete option A or option B

Option A: ECON 101: Economic Policy Seminar

Econ 101 is the Economics Capstone course and fulfills both the WIM and Capstone requirements for the Econ BA. Economic policy analysis, writing, and oral presentations are a large component of this course, with topics varying by instructor. Students may also complete group projects that include empirical economic analysis focused on a specific topic. The goal of this course is to enable students to utilize the skills they have acquired throughout their time in the major, and enrollment is limited by application before the start of the school year. 

Students expecting to graduate in the upcoming school year (rising seniors) will be asked to submit their section preferences before the start of the year in which they intend to graduate. The Undergraduate SSO will then alert students of which section they have been sorted into and provide them with permission numbers to enroll. 

Students who complete an Econ Honors Thesis for the Econ BAH will NOT be required to enroll in ECON 101, but will still be required to submit the preference form. 

Preference form for AY 24-25 ECON 101 sections is due August 3rd

Option B: Senior Honors Thesis

High-achieving students may choose to research and write an honors thesis under the guidance of a faculty advisor.

Students wishing to apply for the Economics Honors Thesis program must meet the following requirements by the fall quarter of their senior year:

  • Achieve a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.5 for the units required for the Economics major. 
    • Units of ECON 199D or ECON139D do not count in the computation of the GPA requirement for honors. 
    • The GPA will be calculated at two points: (1) when the student applies to the honors program, and (2) at the end of the quarter in which the student graduates. If the GPA is below 3.5 at the end of the quarter in which the student graduates, the student will have to drop honors in order to graduate.
  • Complete ECON 102B (a core program requirement) and at least two Econ upper division courses relevant to the proposed topic of the honors thesis by the end of junior year.

More information about the Honors Program

NOTE: Successful completion of the Honors Thesis AND at least 5 units of 199D are required to meet the Writing in the Major (WIM) Requirement. 

Questions?

Please contact the Undergraduate Student Services Officer at econ-undergrad [at] stanford.edu (econ-undergrad[at]stanford[dot]edu).