College Advice for Undergraduate Economics Majors
Watch the video at https://youtu.be/O4yZ3_nMQ1Y
Hey, welcome back! If you're new here my name is Dr. A and I’m an associate professor of economics.I work with students to help them navigate college and to help them find careers that they love.
Economics students, and most undergraduate students, are concerned with what their next step after graduation will be. I have the opportunity to work with students and help them make that transition. I know how stressful that transition between college and the next phase in your life is. If you are nearing graduation you are probably bombarded with questions from family members and friends on what your next steps are. Or if you are starting in economics, you are wondering what can I do with this major? If this sounds right, go ahead and give this video a like and stay tuned for how to navigate these times.
I have made a previous video on why you should or shouldn't major in economics, make sure to check that out. Today, I want to talk about how to make the best out of your time as a student, and how to ease the transition between college and the next step of your life.
Make sure to like, and share this video with those that would benefit from this video. And if you haven't yet, make sure to subscribe. My new goal is to reach 2000 subscribers by Dec 31st.
Tip 1- Be Curious
This is general advice for any major, but more importantly for economics majors. Be curious. College is a great time to spend learning and allowing yourself to find the answers to questions that you have. Most students are focused on getting good grades, which I totally understand, but I encourage my students to get good grades in classes that matter to them. Building curiosity doesn’t happen overnight. It requires you to expose yourself to new ideas, listening, reading, seeing new things. That's why college is so amazing, with so many different ideas in one place. This is a great time to learn about different perspectives.
Tip 2- Everything is figureoutable
I was listening to Ali Abdaal and he mentioned Marie Forleo’s phrase “Everything is figureoutable”. I love the phrase, it is exactly what I try to teach my students. Everything can be learned, it just comes down to how much time and effort it takes. This is usually referred to as having a growth mindset, but hearing the phrase made me curious about Maria Forleo, so I searched and learned more about her and her thoughts on everything being figureoutable. I highly recommend you learn more about it. No matter how hard something is, have the confidence that you will figure it out.
Tip 3- get involved
Get involved on campus. It will allow you to learn more from others, meet others, and most importantly build relationships. A perk of college is it gives you the opportunity to connect with people and build your network. The world is about how much you know, and how many people are aware of what you know! Get connected. Your network will open up many doors and experiences for you.
Tip 4- Develop experiential learning
The most important tip of them all is to work on a real-life project. It will help you learn more about how your field of study tackles real-life problems, and what graduates of your major do for work.
This is why, Dr. Patel and I, developed The Econ Games. It is an opportunity for you to meet all 4 tips in one experience. The pandemic changed the way we taught last year and continues to affect the way students interact with their college faculty and fellow students. Many students experienced feeling behind in their studies. They worry this will affect their ability to achieve their goals post-graduation.
If you or your economics club are looking for a way to connect with an international network of economics majors, join the fall program which is a speaker series targeting economics students and helping them think about the opportunities ahead of them. The first speakers are going to be from the federal reserve bank of cleveland and will discuss how to get an RA position with the fed. I am really excited about the October speaker too. Kendall Ruber is a graduate of the economics program at University of louisville and also completed her masters in business analytics. She is a senior data analyst at Yum! Brands and is also a statistics instructor at UofL!
Our lineup for the fall is amazing and I am so excited about it. In the spring we plan on having our conference. We will have an in-person version and an online version. The goal is to help prepare students by getting them curious about economics, teaching them that everything is figureoutable, building their network by getting them involved, and helping them develop experiential learning.
Join our program at the link below. And stay up to date with our news. This year Emily Broyles senior economics major at NKU and Jeni Houser from the Ei District will be helping us build our content and resources on the website. If you want to contribute to the blog, please reach out. This is another way you can get involved! Become and Econ Games contributor!
I made a video about the reasons why you should and should not major in economics. If you haven't seen it, make sure to check it out.
Are you an economics major or econ professor? What other tips for success would you like to share? Drop them in the comments?