Hey everyone! It’s my first time here in two years, since before I transferred. I’m happy to say I graduated in May with my bachelor’s - cum laude, no less!
Now I’m back with a different question/issue.
In two weeks’ time, I’ll be heading back to my alma mater for a master’s in applied economics (I was an econ major as an undergrad). How can I make sure I get the most out of this experience?
I’ll be working as a research assistant with a prof who’s pretty well-known in his field. I know to network and do well in my classes. But looking ahead, I feel like I could be more organized and focused on specific objectives beyond just getting a good GPA and a few more connections. What do you all think?
What is your long-term target? PhD, second masters, or into the workforce after completing this degree? Academic career, business career, or other? If business, for-profit or non-profit/government?
The implicit message of the above questions is that the further you progress academically, the more targeted your efforts must become. It’s not just about building a network, for example, it’s about building the specific network that will get you where you intend to go.
I’d like to teach eventually, but don’t have the math skills to progress directly into a Ph.D. program - hence, significantly improving my math/econometric skills is one of my goals for the coming year. I would be satisfied teaching at a community college, which I can do with a master’s.
I’d like to try my hand at working for a government agency at least for a few years, and it would appear there are pathways programs for recent grads (even master’s grads). If I like that, I’ll make a career of it. If not, I’ll work in the private sector as a data scientist/analyst.
I had a former supervisor suggest private equity, which continues to pique my interest, but I don’t know the likelihood of getting into that without a significant finance background.
I intentionally left specifics out of my initial question, so as to try to garner big-picture advice without honing in too closely on particular paths - but rethinking that approach, I suppose both would be useful.
