The "Education" Thread

[Matt]

Well behavioral is just a subdiscipline. In order to get to that you have to have the classical econ training first, then you can declare a specialization. I was going to do macro and labor econ.

I don't really have a backup. There are schools that offer political economics which combines poli sci obviously, and that would be cool, but the job prospects are not as good. I could also just go full retard and do poli sci or law school as I did well enough on the lsat to get into places, though I'd probably retake it to try to get funding considerations. Idk.

 

[Dak]

What about behavioral economics, or is that too much of an offshoot?

Pretty sure BE is much more closely related to psych than what Matt has been doing.

Well behavioral is just a subdiscipline. In order to get to that you have to have the classical econ training first, then you can declare a specialization. I was going to do macro and labor econ.

I don't really have a backup. There are schools that offer political economics which combines poli sci obviously, and that would be cool, but the job prospects are not as good. I could also just go full retard and do poli sci or law school as I did well enough on the lsat to get into places, though I'd probably retake it to try to get funding considerations. Idk.

Maybe the State Department might be a career path forward. You could get a masters in international relations or something. Last time I did any reading on it there is a glut of lawyers, and yeah I don't know if I met any polisci majors who weren't a little bit on the derp side.

 

[Matt]

I have thought about that before, isn't it what rms is doing? Thought I read something about it recently.

I think if I went the law school route I'd also try to do the jag program with the AF or something so I don't have to pay anything. Idk. Kinda lost at the moment.

 

[rms]

Sort of, but I failed the personality part so now i'm a loser

Free test and all that..

http://careers.state.gov/work/opportunities/how-to-apply

I tried the political path, but there is an economics one

 

[Matt]

Why did you fail that part of it?

 

[viewerfromnihil]

@rms What's the personality part? I took the FSO practice and passed without an issue (I'm entertaining the idea of pursuing an FSO career after getting a PhD).

edit: The personal narrative essay part of the application?

 

[rms]

No idea how I failed, I got my scores back and there's 4 sections on the test. General Multiple Choice / Personal / Grammar/Word Choice and an Essay.

You have to get a certain score and I passed the other two but missed on the personal part. The section is full of questions like;

"Have you ever had to be creative to fix a problem in the last 5 years? If so, how:
"Do you have any friends that don't speak english as a first language?"

So not really sure. I guess being a vet didn't help me in that regard.

The narrative is the step after you pass the entry exam thing, that would have been next. Oh well, 12 month wait here I come >_>

 

[HamburgerBoy]

That really sucks. I've never been tested for personal bullshit like that, but one time for some random undergrad class I had to write an essay about a friend from another culture, and having no friends I of course had to invent the entire thing. Next time, remember your friend Kim Nguyen and his love for kimchi and Starcraft. you'll do fine.

 

[rms]

Honestly thought the section was bullshit, like it was purposefully trying to trip me up. Easy test though.

 

[viewerfromnihil]

Honestly thought the section was bullshit, like it was purposefully trying to trip me up. Easy test though.

They just want to see if you 1) have a general knowledge of history that any diplomat should have and 2) can say one thing while meaning another--all in the promotion of strategic American interests, of course

Speaking of which, I was glad to see that there was a fair amount of history questions the practice test. How was the essay portion? Since I don't have to worry about getting into an MA program now, I will probably wait two years to take the exam--at which point I will be receiving word back from PhD programs. If I get funded somewhere decent then too, then I'll probably kick the can down the road again for a few years, regardless of whether or not I make the cut.

By the way, have you considered going to grad school first and then applying? From what I understand, most of the people that make the cut have at least an MA.

 

[rms]

I just meant the personal section, the other two made sense. I mean there's a lengthy interview process at the end so seems weird to weed people out even further. Might just be salty because I suck.

Essay was about metal detectors in high school/public schools and whether or not it was constitutional or not. I went full libertarian on that shit

I don't want to do grad school, I literally hate college. It's making me want to re-enlist again.

 

[Dak]

I wasn't a huge fan of foundations courses etc, but it should be nice being around people closer to my own age and abilities on a regular basis.

 

[viewerfromnihil]

I wasn't a huge fan of foundations courses etc, but it should be nice being around people closer to my own age and abilities on a regular basis.

This is what I'm looking forward to most about graduate school. I hate that I have to step down a level to participate in classroom dialogues. I hate it when when I'm discussing topics covered in class with classmates, only to discover they have no interest in talking about it (WHY ARE YOU MAJORING IN HISTORY, THEN?) I've tried to make up for this by helping other students with papers, but it's always so disappointing when classmates express an interest to me about having me tutor their papers and then, later, to not actually receive a draft.

Maybe you should keep the different dynamic of grad student v. undergrad student in mind when considering grad school, @rms ?

 

[rms]

One professor suggested I should go to law school, I don't really know. Going to try and find a job I enjoy once i'm done in May, if I can't, i'll be looking around. I have 2 years of my GI Bill left so $ ain't no thang just yet

 

[unknown]

Grad school was SO much better than undergrad. The quality of discussion is day-and-night better. I had to take one class in grad school that was split grad/undergrad. It was me and two other grad students...the rest were undergrads, and it was just painful.

 

[Dak]

I hate that I have to step down a level to participate in classroom dialogues. I hate it when when I'm discussing topics covered in class with classmates, only to discover they have no interest in talking about it (WHY ARE YOU MAJORING IN HISTORY, THEN?)

Yeah, I never even bothered trying to discuss current classwork topics with fellow undergrads except in upper level philosophy classes. Fortunately, for the most part anyway, people don't take 3-4000 level philosophy classes unless they are interested in it. OTOH, most of my classmates weren't really the talkative type. The psych undergraduate scene is swamped with girls who just want something easy to get through, so I don't think I ever talked psych with undergrads (probably the opposite sex dynamic in history?). Massive difference between graduate level and undergraduate level in the psych field.

Tutoring doesn't help either, because you are generally going to be dealing with people who don't like the material and aren't good at it, whichever way causation goes on that.

 

[rms]

Grad school was SO much better than undergrad. The quality of discussion is day-and-night better. I had to take one class in grad school that was split grad/undergrad. It was me and two other grad students...the rest were undergrads, and it was just painful.

I feel like most of my life people have tried to sell the 'grass is greener on this side' and it's almost never true

 

[Dak]

I feel like most of my life people have tried to sell the 'grass is greener on this side' and it's almost never true

I have bad news for you about jobs then

 

[unknown]

I feel like most of my life people have tried to sell the 'grass is greener on this side' and it's almost never true

I'm sure it also has a lot to do with who is in the program with you. Our classes were pretty small (fewer than 10 students), and you tend to see the same people in different classes. It could be really fun or miserable if you don't like any of them

 

[Dak]

Yeah my cohort will be 6 strong afaik.