Considering PhD in Econ with an unconventional background

[Wozezeka]

I earned my bachelors in animal science with a minor in education, worked as an agricultural extension agent for the Peace Corps, taught agricultural science at the high school level in the US, and am now working on my masters in Public Policy. I was originally interested in a masters in Ag Econ or straight Econ, but without a math background I figured it was a long shot. My masters program is very flexible so I am focusing on statistics and econ and I might take some multi-variate calc classes (not for credit). I really enjoy these classes and I think I could get a job using these quantitative skills, but part of me is also considering a PhD.

 

How realistic would it be for someone without an Econ BS or MA?

[econphd]

You don't need to have a BA or MA in Econ to get into PhD. 

Most people who enter Econ PhD have either maths/double major in maths and econ/econ with strong maths (real analysis,calc,linear algebra/probability and stats) or sometimes physics.

 

 

[Malthusian]

On 1/5/2016 at 1:15 AM, Wozezeka said:

I earned my bachelors in animal science with a minor in education, worked as an agricultural extension agent for the Peace Corps, taught agricultural science at the high school level in the US, and am now working on my masters in Public Policy. I was originally interested in a masters in Ag Econ or straight Econ, but without a math background I figured it was a long shot. My masters program is very flexible so I am focusing on statistics and econ and I might take some multi-variate calc classes (not for credit). I really enjoy these classes and I think I could get a job using these quantitative skills, but part of me is also considering a PhD.

 

How realistic would it be for someone without an Econ BS or MA?

Economics is a large field, with lots of different options. My recommendations would be the following:

• Read a general Economics book to get an idea of what field you want to research in and based on this, try gauging what the current state of the field is;
• Find potential supervisors who you may want to work with;
• Choose an institution that would prepare you accordingly (e.g. that may offer a 'conversion' route for non-Econ/quantitative backgrounds).

Good luck!