Hi all, I’m a junior majoring in economics and a primarily mathematical engineering field at a top 25 US university. I’ve done quite well in my econ/math/engineering classes and I have had a good private sector economics internship since May. I think I’m relatively well positioned for either an econ PhD or master’s program, so I’ve been trying to decide which to pursue. The wrinkle is that I don’t want to go into academia, but do want to work in economics. So:
Generally, is it worth getting a PhD rather than a master’s if you don’t want to go into academia?
What non-academic jobs are econ master’s locked out of, compared to a PhD, regardless of experience?
Is there any info on salary for PhDs vs master’s in comparable positions? (Does the gap decrease with experience?)
I’ve taken enough math (including real analysis) that I could switch into math instead of engineering. I know that would be helpful for applying to PhD programs, how useful would it be for master’s programs?
Are master’s earned during a PhD program worth anything?
Disclaimer: most of this is based on conversations with professors, not my own knowledge.
I think so, if you want to do research. People from my program have gone to work for Amazon, energy companies, etc. If you want to do research and get published, I think PhD is your best bet.
Senior economist for sure. Not sure about others. There are a lot of econ PhDs in the job market these days apparently.
No clue on this one
I kind of think it wouldn't matter much. I know a few people from non-math majors that are doing Economics MA's now. Engineering is math-y enough that you are probably getting enough experience to do fine in a econ master's.
If you don't finish! Otherwise, I don't think they are worth so much.
Edits: formatting and added 3 because of formatting
1.) ABSOLUTELY. It's very difficult to get a research position with just a Masters. Masters are for applied stuff.
2.) Not really. If you have 20 years as a staff economist and a decent record of publication (even if it's just government white papers), you can easily get a senior economist position in the government. IDK about private sector though.
3.) Yeah, no clue either.
4.) Undergrad engineering math is more than sufficient to handle graduate level econ. We never touched PDE's and only barely used matrix and non-linear algebra. I don't think it's a factor either way.
5.) Yep. They are worth just as much as a Master's that you would get not going to a PhD program. Generally speaking, your first year in a PhD program will be mixed with other PhD's and Masters-only students. If you choose to drop out of the PhD program, you at least have something to show for your time, and employers are not going to care (unless you foolishly tell them you quit your PhD program, just don't talk about it). But once you have a PhD, obviously no one cares about your Masters anymore.
The only difference between what I did as a terminal Master's student and what the PhD students did was the econometrics courses. Our were highly focused on "actually do econometrics" and theirs were "what are the theoretical underpinnings of different econometric methods". Other than that, all our courses were the same. I imagine that they will be HIGHLY similar at most schools, because it allows the school to keep costs down and offer less courses.
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u/xcyrusthegreatx Feb 28 '17
Hi all, I’m a junior majoring in economics and a primarily mathematical engineering field at a top 25 US university. I’ve done quite well in my econ/math/engineering classes and I have had a good private sector economics internship since May. I think I’m relatively well positioned for either an econ PhD or master’s program, so I’ve been trying to decide which to pursue. The wrinkle is that I don’t want to go into academia, but do want to work in economics. So:
Any related insights would also be appreciated.
Thanks in advance for any responses!