Graduate school admissions and preparation

Graduate School

I see a master's degree in economics helping me in a couple of key ways. The first is that I feel it will be an important component of my career development, and the second is that I am fascinated by the field. I currently work as an accounting assistant at a CPA tax office, so I already have some exposure to the field and wish to extend my knowledge considerably.

A master's degree in economics will significantly enhance my career. In accounting, my options are fairly limited if only because the accounting field is based on micro-level application of laws and principles. I prefer to work with larger concepts and see my future career being more along the lines of economic analysis as a result. If I put my current work experience together with an economics degree, I envision myself being able to help companies and individuals prepare their finances for shifts in the economic environment. This could be in investment advice or it could be in tax advice or in the finance department at a large corporation. The doors are much more open when an economics background is combined with an accounting background, and my contribution to my future employers will be much greater with this enhanced tool set. When I make a greater contribution, this will naturally not only benefit me financially but it will also give me greater job satisfaction and bring me closer to my ultimate goals in life.

Economics in particular has emerged as a fascinating field for me. In our tax office, we see customers every day who have fallen victim to economic circumstances and an attempt to understand what is happening led me to begin to explore economics in greater detail. The field has captured my imagination because it seeks to describe the world in which we live. Economics is one of the basic means of explaining human behavior and the interactions that drive the world.

In the center of Edinburgh, there is a statue of Adam Smith. That tells me that when we as economists do an exceptionally good job at explaining our world, we are making a profound contribution. The better we understand our world, the better we can run our world, both on an individual level and on a macro level. I really feel that building a greater understanding of economics will not only help my career but it will also help me to understand my role in the world better -- and allow me to take a bigger stake in the world.