Admissions Process

The Admissions Committee evaluates all materials received by the application deadline. You will be notified when your application is complete and has been forwarded to the Admissions Committee.

The Admission Committee evaluates whether the applicant's background, qualifications and professional interests sufficiently meet the requirements of the  program and are in accordance with the research focus of the CERGE-EI.

For PhD in Economics: Exceptionally strong candidates are admitted directly to the first year of the program, while less strong but still sufficiently qualified candidates are invited to the Preparatory 'semester'. Applicants are notified of the admission decision (direct admission, an invitation to the Preparatory semester, or rejection) in the first half of April.

Direct Admission

Based on an applicants' background and qualifications, direct admission (without further exams) to the CERGE-EI programs may be offered. Direct admission is typically awarded to 10-15 applicants with strong economics and/or mathematics background and motivation.

Preparatory Semester

Each year about 40 PhD applicants are invited to attend the Preparatory courses, which will run through April - June 2021. The Preparatory courses are designed to support applicants with varying levels of knowledge of modern Economics and Mathematics. They provide potential students with a knowledge base on which to build during their PhD study and allows them to gain a sense of how Economics is taught at CERGE-EI.

Performance in Macroeconomics, Microeconomics and Mathematics courses, as well as on an English academic writing exam, determines which Preparatory courses participants are admitted to the PhD Program, typically about 20 applicants each year.

Preparatory courses participants are notified of their admission to the PhD program in the first half of July.

The academic year 2021/2022 will begin in October 2021. Please see Program Details and Curriculum for more information about the programs.