Philosophy with a side of Economics
My most recent post for this publication was about the books I read in the first quarter of 2021.
So… we should probably catch up.
The Value of Reading
Most of my existing writing here at The Aspiring Academic talks about the value of reading.
When I started this publication in May 2020, I didn’t know what I didn’t know… I just knew I should start reading. I was reading to learn, to ensure that I wasn’t missing something, to determine whether or not I wanted to go to graduate school, and to decide what I wanted to study in graduate school. I found books on a variety of syllabi, then I read other books which were referenced in those books, then I read other books by the same authors. I was reading so widely in the year 2021 that I couldn’t figure out how to put together a coherent reading list to share here.
As organized as I wanted to be about my general plan to narrow my academic interests through reading, I wasn’t organized about it in practice. I was simply devouring books. I read 73 books in 2021. This was short of my goal to read 100 books, but I had to reprioritize in the third and fourth quarters of the year… because my reading plan worked as intended.
Through reading, I confirmed that I wanted to go to graduate school, and I decided what I wanted to study.
Unsurprisingly, I didn’t settle on one topic, but on the intersection of two: philosophy and economics. Although solidifying this academic interest was progress in the right direction, I knew that finding a specific master’s program tailored to this interdisciplinary interest was going to be a challenge. The first viable option I found was a master’s program in economics and philosophy, but it had more of a focus on economics. Therefore, it had the same prerequisite requirements as a standard master’s program in economics.
In short: it required a lot of math.
The Value of Time
In the fall of 2021, I enrolled in two math classes online: Linear Algebra and Calculus 3. I was still working full-time in finance, so I unfortunately had to slow down a bit on reading. I also had to start studying for the GRE, which was the worst of the quantitative prerequisites for me by far.
In the midst of all these quantitative prerequisites, I had a bit of a quantitative identity crisis. It went something like:
Why am I memorizing the volume formula for a cylinder? I do not intend to ever use this again in my life, but if I need to, I will look it up online. Is this really a good use of my time?
As most of the writing in this publication attests, I’m willing to invest a lot of time, money, and energy to pivot toward a career with greater positive impact on the world. Despite my belief that there should be a more efficient way to signal competence than the ever-expanding list of hoops we require aspiring economists to jump through, I believe I could have jumped through all the hoops if I truly wanted a graduate degree in economics. To be clear: this does not mean that I would have been accepted in any economics graduate programs, and I’m not saying that the process would have been easy or quick, but I could have eventually completed all those prerequisites.
The problem is that I was looking to get out of the business of idealized economic models, and into the business of ethical economic policy in the real world. All my research, reading, and math courses implied that a graduate degree in economics may not be the best fit for this goal. Ideally, I could focus on both philosophy and economics at the graduate level… but if I was going to have to focus on one subject more than the other, philosophy was the subject I knew less about at the time.
Bonus: philosophy schools don’t care if you can’t remember the volume formula for a cylinder.
Sign me up.
The Value of Philosophy
In the spring of 2022, I applied for a graduate diploma program in philosophy at one of the top schools in the UK. This conversion program allows students from non-philosophy backgrounds to study philosophy for one year to prepare for a master’s and/or a PhD in philosophy. It was the perfect fit for me and my future goals, so naturally, I spiraled into an existential crisis as soon as I was accepted.
As I’ve written here in the past, I earned the first bachelor’s degree in my family, and I earned that bachelor’s degree for the only reason people earn bachelor’s degrees where I’m from: to get a good job. While I went to college alongside some friends who studied what they wanted to study regardless of job prospects, learning for the sake of learning was always difficult for me to justify. I’m as intellectually curious as the next person, but my background also gave me an intensely practical viewpoint that has been difficult to shake.
Put simply, where I’m from, people don’t study philosophy.
Because…
What kind of job do you get with a degree in philosophy?
When I got the offer to move to the UK to study philosophy, it felt like a significantly bigger risk than moving to the UK to study economics. Despite the fact that I’ve always been interested in economics, pursuing a graduate degree in economics also felt more practically justifiable to me than philosophy because of the solid job prospects after graduation. So I spent longer than I should have trying to memorize volume formulas before admitting that I’d like to do something other than math for awhile.
I’m studying philosophy because I want to do some good with the remainder of my career.
Earlier this week, I was sitting in the library muddling through a philosophy paper, wondering whether a second coffee would help me figure out the jargon (always a toss up), when I was suddenly hit with a realization: this is the worst part of my daily life now, and I don’t mind this. I’ve been doing math for years to pay the bills, because I can do math, and it does pay the bills, but…
I actually like doing philosophy.
I’m still not sure that’s enough of a reason to study it, but it certainly helps.
The Value of Signaling
Signaling aptitude for a graduate program should mean indicating that you can be successful in that graduate program. Unfortunately, spots at competitive graduate programs are so limited that getting in typically requires much more than good grades in undergrad. And since I earned my degree nine years ago, my undergraduate grades are even less relevant than they otherwise would be.
After all, why would an admissions committee accept a student with good grades from nine years ago when they can take their pick from more than enough excellent students that graduated last year?
I knew that I would need to find some other way to signal aptitude for graduate study before I would have any chance at getting into a master’s or PhD program (in economics or in philosophy.) Some options to signal aptitude are more direct than others… and since direct means efficient, I tend to be a fan of the direct approach. For example, I think that doing economic research in a pre-doc role is a more direct way to show aptitude for economic research than doing abstract math.
To signal aptitude for philosophy, the most direct approach I could think of was to spend this year studying philosophy at the best school I could get into. After all:
The best way to learn anything is to do that exact thing, and the best way to signal aptitude for anything is to do that exact thing successfully.
Currently, I’m waiting on next year’s application decisions while finishing the final semester of my graduate diploma program. Although I’ve earned good grades, I’m still an older applicant from a non-traditional academic background… and my best efforts to signal aptitude for further graduate study may not be sufficient. I don’t mean for this to sound pessimistic, just realistic: there’s an element of luck involved in academic applications, and it makes outcomes difficult to predict.
For that reason, you should always apply.
The Value of Applying
I think the current methods used to signal aptitude in academia are a problem for many reasons, and one of those reasons is that students from less privileged backgrounds may not be able to afford to meet the ever-increasing requirements. One of the things I’ve been thinking about since starting this publication is how aspiring academics from diverse, non-traditional backgrounds can signal aptitude more affordably and more efficiently. I’ll continue to share ideas here, and I hope you will also share your ideas. But in the meantime…
There is still value in applying.
Despite our best efforts to create outstanding applications, there’s only one foolproof way to find out if you can get in: try to get in. If your current credentials are not strong enough, applying is the best way to find out. Let them reject you, then ask them for feedback on your application, before you spend money obtaining additional credentials or experience to signal aptitude. I’m fully aware that graduate school applications are expensive, but they are generally less expensive than paying tuition for additional education that you may not need.
Ultimately, you never know until you try.
(So let’s keep trying.)
