Transfer Excellence in Economics (EXEC) is a program designed to assist both first-gen Yardi Scholars and first-year transfer students pursuing a degree in Economics, Business Economics, or Mathematics/Economics make a successful transition to UCLA.

OVERVIEW

The UCLA Department of Economics is committed to ensuring the success of all our students and recognize the difficulties transfer students may face in being new on campus. We therefore created the EXEC program to help equip first-year transfer students with the skills and resources necessary to launch a successful academic career at UCLA and a professional life beyond. Students in the program will participate as a group in a pair of required courses and in evening career planning sessions. Through these components, they will receive additional academic support, learn study skills, build community with other transfer students, and expand their professional networks with faculty, staff and alumni.

PROGRAM FORMAT AND REQUIREMENTS

Academic Preparation: EXEC students will take two of their fall quarter courses together: Econ 105 (Introduction to Mathematical Economics) and Econ 11 (Microeconomic Theory). Econ 105 provides a review and more in-depth study of many of the core mathematical tools essential for advanced economics. While Econ 11 is our core intermediate microeconomics course and provides the foundation for many of our later courses. Both courses must be taken for a letter grade.

Note that the EXEC program is not open to students who will have completed Econ 11 and / or Econ 105 prior to fall quarter. TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR EXEC: STUDENTS MUST TAKE ECON 11 DURING FALL QUARTER 2026.  

Academic Component: Upon admission to the EXEC program, participants will be automatically enrolled in Economics 11 (Microeconomic Theory), Lecture 1, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 - 10:45 a.m., taught by Professor Maurizio Mazzocco, a past winner of the Scoville Award for Teaching Excellence.

There will be two discussion sections devoted exclusively to transfer students, Mondays, 2 - 2:50 p.m. OR Tuesdays, 4 - 4:50 p.m. and one discussion section devoted exclusively to Yardi Scholars, Wedesdays, 1:00 - 1:50 p.m.

Students admitted will also be automatically enrolled in special lecture sections of Econ 105. Transfer students will be meeting Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:30 - 4:45 p.m. and Yardi Scholars will be meeting Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

We will assist you if you need to alter your course schedule to take these courses.

Eligibility

Currently, EXEC is only open to new transfer students admitted to UCLA and first-gen Yardi Scholars in the following majors:

• Pre-Economics
• Pre-Business Economics
• Pre-Math/Econ

EXEC Career Content

To be determined.

Application Deadline

Friday, September 4, 2026 at Noon.

For additional information about the program, please visit our website. For any questions, please contact us at ace@support.ucla.edu. To view a list of FAQ about the program, click here.