What should I major in?

[BilboSwaggins]

Hey guys,

 

I got 166 verbal (96th percentile) and 161 quantitative (80th) on the GRE.  I have undergrad degrees in history and economics and a master's in education.  I taught history for awhile but quit because teaching high school sucks.  So I went back to school and got the bachelor's in economics.  I applied for a few Ph.D. programs in economics but was rejected except for ones that didn't offer funding, and I couldn't go to those because I don't come from money.  My GPA is only slightly above 3.0 because I was very lazy when I was younger - I did really well with the economics degree.

 

My plan this year is to get some research experience, and to bring up my quantitative score on the GRE.  Then maybe take another crack at economics programs.  My question is, based on my qualifications, are there any other disciplines I should be looking into?  Maybe something tangentially related?  I'm sick of waiting tables and I want to be a doctor in something.  Anything really.  With an undergrad in econ I'm probably capable of law school, but I'd have to take the LSAT and also pay for law school, both of which are major deterrents.

[ExponentialDecay]

3 hours ago, BilboSwaggins said:

 I'm sick of waiting tables and I want to be a doctor in something.  Anything really. 

Do you think that being a doctor in something is going to make waiting tables more enjoyable?

[Cheshire_Cat]

You can't just decide you want to get your doctorate in anything just because it sounds cool to have one.  You need to have passion for whatever you are doing, not just doing it because it gets you out of waiting tables.  A ED pointed out, you can wait tables just as easily with a doctorate degree.  You need to build marketable skills.  School is only one way of doing that, and if you don't do school right, you won't build them there.

That being said, you should check out some business programs.  Finance, risk management, and accounting all rely heavily on Economics for their theory.

[Neist]

1 hour ago, Cheshire_Cat said:

You can't just decide you want to get your doctorate in anything just because it sounds cool to have one.  You need to have passion for whatever you are doing, not just doing it because it gets you out of waiting tables.  A ED pointed out, you can wait tables just as easily with a doctorate degree.  You need to build marketable skills.  School is only one way of doing that, and if you don't do school right, you won't build them there.

That being said, you should check out some business programs.  Finance, risk management, and accounting all rely heavily on Economics for their theory.

 

I agree, and I'd add further than don't get a doctorate unless it's both financially feasible, beneficial (or necessary) to your career path, and possible (some job markets are really rough). If you want to pursue certain paths, the doctorate will be necessary, but it might not be.

For example, I'd love to pursue a doctorate after my MA's, but the PhD humanities job market isn't super great right now, and it'd require taking on additional debt. Finding a job that only requires an MLIS is significantly easier than finding a job that requires a history PhD.

Things to think about.

 

[spectastic]

if you're unhappy with where you are now, dig deep and visualize where you want to be. what are your strengths, interests. why are you on this earth? I'm pretty sure you weren't put on this earth so that people can call you Dr. in something. So you'll have to do a little better than that and start learning more about what really drives you.

[BilboSwaggins]

So if you can score in the 96th percentile on the verbal section and not be qualified for anything, what is the point of that section of the GRE?

[Robbentheking]

7 hours ago, BilboSwaggins said:

So if you can score in the 96th percentile on the verbal section and not be qualified for anything, what is the point of that section of the GRE?

I assume you mean in academia, because outside of it, for no job I know of is the description 'knows a lot of words and can get the main points of a short text in limited time'. Obviously im oversimplifying the verbal section, but you get the point.

The GRE in and of itself isn't supposed to qualify you for anything. It's just another portion of the grad school evaluation process designed see how you do under time pressure. As I'm sure you know, you would get into no respectable PhD programs irrespective of field with 170 on both sections, a 2.0 GPA and a total inabilty to express your research interests. And I agree with the other posters, the way you phrased your desire to get the title of doctor seems to go against the spirit of the whole process.

That being said, I feel your pain. I am also someone who has found it hard to find that one thing I really like and commit myself to. It makes it very hard to develop a career/set of skills.

[ExponentialDecay]

9 hours ago, BilboSwaggins said:

So if you can score in the 96th percentile on the verbal section and not be qualified for anything, what is the point of that section of the GRE?

HAHAHAHA oh this  is a funny troll

[BilboSwaggins]

Sorry for the 'trolling' perception and thanks for all the responses.  It's just sad to think that I'm stuck in a lifetime of wage labor because I didn't major in English.  Ha ha.  I'll keep pursuing what I'm passionate about, but if I continue to suck at it I'll just have to invent a widget or something.

[juilletmercredi]

Sorry for the 'trolling' perception and thanks for all the responses.  It's just sad to think that I'm stuck in a lifetime of wage labor because I didn't major in English.  Ha ha.  I'll keep pursuing what I'm passionate about, but if I continue to suck at it I'll just have to invent a widget or something.

I'm not sure where you are getting this perception from, though. First of all, your 96th percentile GRE score isn't keeping you out of anything. That's an excellent GRE score. Second, though, why do you think your choices are PhD in something or low-wage labor? A PhD is not a guaranteed out from low-wage labor, and there are tons of people without PhDs who work in skilled, higher-wage positions. (I'm assuming that you mean low-wage labor here and not just simple wage labor, as everyone must work to live - even PhDs.)

I agree with the earlier advice that you need to figure out what you want to do first, and work from there to figure out what (if any) additional education you need.

 

[Cheshire_Cat]

For the record, my younger brother got a marketing degree, but then taught himself to code and is now making like 80k a year doing that.  No Ph.D, or even masters required.  Just developing a skill on his off hours which proved very fruitful.