future education predicament

I'm not sure I should be giving you advice because I am from the UK, I study mathematics and also giving advice is usually a bad idea. However I suffered from a lot of depression at university so I have some empathy.

In general, especially considering you will already have 1 degree, it is only worth pursuing qualifications that are direct pre-requisites for a job you want.

So the task ahead of you is figuring out what you want to do, then once you know that you will be able to see clearly what you have to do to get there.

You may think "all I want is a job that pays ok", in which case there are lots of directions you could go which wouldn't require an economics degree (or even a degree at all, I hear welding is awesome and pays really good).

You may think "I want to specifically work as a finance bro" (this is where my complete lack of understanding of what you can do with an economics degree comes in :) and then you will need to go back to school to re qualify.

Do you get what I mean? Figure out where you want to go first before you start plotting the route.

How do you do that?

Tell your parents or any other older people you know and trust what sort of thing you are interested in. For example "I really want a fast moving and intellectually challenging job" and they will almost certainly know someone who works in an area like that (or know someone who knows someone).

Then go and talk to that person, just go for coffee and get them to explain what the job is like and if you like the sound of it ask how to get into it.

If you don't like the job (or they don't like you or whatever) go back to your parents / older people and ask for more contacts. You can even go to business networking events (or any place where people from your prospective job might hang out) and try to meet people there.

Remember that companies are always looking for good people. What does "good" mean? It means you do what you say you are going to do and are honest and able to talk to people. If you have that then you are made.

Make contacts. NETWORK. Get books on networking and go to events until you meet someone who will give you an internship or a job.

It works like 1,000,000x better than applying for jobs from advertisments. Why? Because once someone has spoken to you they feel they know you and then a relationship develops.

So yeah figure out what you want to do with your life.

Now if the reason you want to stay in university is because you think the world is too much and you like where you are then that is totally fine, look after yourself.

Also if you want to not get a job but you want to bum around for a bit you can always do something like TEFL and live abroad for a bit (though I'm not sure where you are with student loan debt, that may be a problem).

Oh and finally you will never be great at anything you aren't passionate about. So find what you are passionate about and try and get a job in that. And I don't mean being a fucking movie star or some pie in the sky bullshit like that I mean what do you really care about? What do you think is important in the world?

For some people that is being honest and hard working. For others it is working with their hands or working outdoors. Pick something simple you like and try and do that.

Like for me it's problem solving. That's it, simple, attainable.

Anyway I'm right on the brink of deleting this as I'm really not sure it's helpful but I'm going to post it anyway.

Good luck! I hope you do great. Pm me if you want anymore cod advice like this.

Overall be a good and reliable person and get out there and meet people and shit will happen.

/r/academiceconomics Thread