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Courses and Requirements

Students take courses in the first two years of their PhD for intensive methodological and conceptual training. This includes completing a program of courses relevant to their expected area of research. All students have to take core courses in Marketing. Besides this, quantitatively oriented students take courses in Economics and Statistics, and behaviorally oriented students take courses in Psychology and Organizational Behavior.

In their first summer, students have to write a comprehensive research paper on a Marketing topic of their choice under the supervision of a faculty member.

After three semesters, students take their qualifying exams. Quantitatively oriented students take qualifiers in Marketing (major area) and Economics (minor area), and behaviorally oriented students take qualifiers in Marketing (major area) and Organizational Behavior, usually with a Psychology focus (minor area).

After two years (four semesters), students are expected to change gear and focus on their research, while they can continue to take a lighter load of courses as well. At this time, many students take a wide variety of courses in different departments across campus.

Core Courses

Common (offered regularly):
  • Microeconomics I
  • Econometrics I
  • Survey of Marketing Literature
  • Advanced Data Analysis
  • Advanced Choice Models in Marketing
Quantitative (offered on a rotational basis):
  • Microeconomics II
  • Econometrics II
  • Game Theory and Applications
  • Analytical Models in Marketing
  • Structural Models in Marketing
  • Probability Models in Marketing
  • Bayesian Statistics in Marketing
  • New Product Development
Behavioral (offered on a rotational basis):
  • Behavioral Decision Theory
  • Behavioral Foundations of Marketing I and II
  • Behavioral Economics
  • Advanced Behavioral Methods
  • Group Decisions Experiments in Psychology and Economics
  • Human Judgment and Decision Making
  • Consumer Behavior
  • Organizational Behavior I and II
Suggested courses in economics, mathematics, statistics, social decision sciences and other fields:
  • Mathematics for Economists
  • Applied Bayesian Methods
  • Economics of Contracts
  • Non-parametric and Semi-parametric Econometrics
  • Seminar in Generalized Method of Moments
  • Intermediate Probability
  • Regression Analysis
  • Statistical Computing
  • Time Series Analysis I and II
  • Discrete Multivariate Analysis
  • Continuous Multivariate Analysis
  • Decision Analysis and Decision Support Systems
  • Statistical Decision Theory
  • Real Analysis
  • Machine Learning
  • Optimal Control
  • Seminars in Manufacturing Management
  • Seminars in Information Systems
  • Advanced Stochastic Analysis
  • Social Networks I and II
  • Desires and Decisions
  • Seminar in Decision Making and Negotiation
  • Group Decision Experiments in Economics and Psychology
  • Conducting Behavioral Experiments on the World Wide Web

Overall, the PhD program at Tepper enjoys an excellent reputation for providing students with rigorous training in methodological tools and problem solving concepts through courses as well as research partnerships with faculty. This is a valuable asset that remains with the students for the rest of their careers and is widely appreciated in other schools, as is clear from the success of many of our alumni in academic circles.

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