What Should I Study in Graduate School?
If you’ve read my other posts here on Medium, then you know that economics is the subject I always thought I would study at the graduate level (if I ever study at the graduate level at all).
But as much as I love economics, the fact that I even discovered it feels like dumb luck.
Luckily, I stumbled into the business school fairly early in undergrad, and one of the very first classes I took was macroeconomics.
From that point on, I was hooked. But…
What if there was some other area of study that I never encountered in the business school that I would love as much as economics?
One of the greatest things about undergraduate school (particularly if you have no idea what you are doing) is the ability to take courses in a variety of subjects. I’m thankful I had the opportunity to explore courses I knew nothing about, because without that opportunity, I would have never found economics in the first place. But what if I didn’t take a wide enough variety of classes in college?
What if I missed something?
Graduate school doesn’t give students the same opportunity for multi-disciplinary exploration, because a graduate degree is inherently specialized. If you go to a school that specializes in economics for a master’s degree or PhD in economics, you probably won’t have the ability to take a course in creative writing or literature along the way. Generally, the school won’t even offer those courses.
If you’re guessing from those examples (and my propensity to write things out in order to understand them) that my other love besides economics is English… then you are correct. But I could have yet another favorite subject that I simply haven’t discovered yet.
And that worries me.
So, short of repeating college with a different major or going to graduate school multiple times, what is the right way to solve this problem?
I’m not sure if this is the right way, but I have some ideas.
Step One: Create a short list.
Aside from economics and English, there are subjects I’d describe as adjacent to economics or English that I’ve often wondered about studying at the graduate level. These include journalism, econometrics, finance, data science, political economy, global politics, and other social sciences. There are also some subjects less adjacent to economics or English that I’m interested in learning more about (like history, art, architecture, philosophy, psychology, and physics, among other things).
At this point, I’m fully aware that this is not a short list. But I have an idea to narrow it down: reading.
Lots and lots of reading.
While doing all this reading, I might learn some things about a subject or about going to graduate school in a subject that I ultimately don’t pursue. But I don’t think knowing more than I know now about any of these subjects would be a waste of time. If I’ve learned anything at this point, it’s that seemingly unrelated fields of study are generally a lot more relevant to each other than we think. So whatever I pick up while reading across multiple disciplines, I’ll probably use it.
Step Two: Pilot the short list subjects.
After determining which subjects I might want to study at the graduate level, I will need to figure out a way to pilot them. I’m sure that this particular step will need a follow up post of its own (or several), but I think deeper reading is probably the best way to start a graduate school pilot.
Lots and lots more reading.
No matter what you want to study in graduate school, you’re going to end up reading an overwhelming number of books, articles, journal entries, blog posts, and publications about that subject. If you hate reading about it, studying it at the graduate level probably isn’t a great idea.
Let’s call this the process of elimination pilot: if you die of boredom reading about a certain subject, that probably isn’t the subject for you.
What About the Practical Considerations?
I haven’t forgotten all the other questions I have about graduate school, like whether or not learning for the sake of learning is a justifiable reason to go to graduate school or if it only makes sense to study subjects that directly result in a better job (and other little hurdles like how in the world to get into graduate school and how to pay for it). Obviously, practical considerations will be a large part of deciding whether or not to study at the graduate level and what to ultimately study. But first, I think it makes sense to narrow down what I might be interested in studying, because it is difficult to decide whether or not graduate school in general makes sense when I don’t know what type of degree I’m trying to justify.
So I guess it’s time to start reading.
A lot.
