my SoP
Hey guys, I posted a couple weeks back and got some great feedback, looking for some more on my re-write!
Thanks!
(Applying to MA programs in economics)
When I decided to major in economics, there was one question that I found myself asking again and again, what do I do with a degree in economics? There were, unbeknownst to me at the time, many answers to that question. Work in finance or management. Work for the government, a big corporation or a non-profit. Some decide to get MBAs and some pursue a PhD to teach. Being out of the classroom for three years has made me appreciate and miss what I loved while I was in school. Because of this, I can finally answer my question. I have decided I want to attend graduate school and pursue a career in what I found most gratifying in college - research.
Every year I return to XYZ College and talk to current economics majors about their classes, possible internships, and what they want to do after they graduate. It does not surprise me that I find myself being asked the same question countless times, what can I do with a degree in economics? After multiple economics classes, countless hours spent studying and writing papers, and spending a few years working, I can confidently tell them what I want to do with my economics degree. Looking back I realize what most interested me, and what did well. The research I did was great, but the topics were what interested me most. These include government regulation, education, and taxation, all of which contributed to my attraction to public economics.
The first semester of my second year at XYZ College I took a Principles of Macroeconomics class to fulfill a social science requirement. In that course, I saw the basic principles I learned in math being applied to solve the real-world problems of unemployment and inflation. Economics captivated me because it bridged mathematical models with these real-world problems in a way that was new and exciting to me. I recognized that I enjoyed this feeling of tangible accomplishment, and so I decided to major in economics at the end of that semester.
During my undergraduate study I chose to take econometrics. Econometrics assembled and re-organized all of my prior knowledge of economics. This class allowed me to use all the information I learned in previous classes and use them in research and creating a model. This is where I learned one of my passions - research. The task of retrieving data for a model which I had thought up and using that regression to prove something was extremely satisfying. The topic of my project instilled another passion in me - public economics. My topic of choice was high school education, or, more specifically, what affects MCAS performance levels in Massachusetts public high schools. The model I created included variables such as teacher salary, median home price, and residential tax rate. The conclusion of this project confirmed that school funding is an important factor in the MCAS performance of these schools. Schools in cities with money did a great deal better than those in cities lacking the funds for tools necessary to succeed on the MCAS such as updated books, laboratory equipment, and extra classes to help students prepare for the MCAS. This was an important discovery for me, not only because I attended a Massachusetts public high school, but because policies implemented in education should be finely thought out and studied well after its execution.
It cannot be denied that education is important, as it plays a vital role in the economy. In order for the United States to be competitive in the job market, its education must be competitive, especially since most of the jobs here are being sent to other countries. We must meet the demand for skilled workers, and the only way to do that is to educate everyone at a high level, and to start this at an early age. This should happen before high school, but to make sure students have the knowledge to get into the college which will put them in demand, we must make sure the policies placed to help educate these students are working. Studying the current policies to see what is working and what is not, and why it is not, should not only be done, but done frequently and then should be remedied when a problem is found.
My career goal is to produce rigorous models that inform policy decisions, and then see that they're carried out. I enjoy research and see that it will be a critical part of my future career. Therefore, I want to continue my education so that I will become a more competent researcher and be able to pursue my career goal.
Attending ABC University will surely help me acquire the necessary skills and tools to take my passion and turn it into a working ability. My research interests combined with the research of the faculty at Northeastern, such as Professor A’s research on the use of vouchers in education and Professors B’s interest in Public Economics and Microeconomics, I am sure to thrive and grow as an economics graduate student and then as an economist.
Thanks!
(Applying to MA programs in economics)
When I decided to major in economics, there was one question that I found myself asking again and again, what do I do with a degree in economics? There were, unbeknownst to me at the time, many answers to that question. Work in finance or management. Work for the government, a big corporation or a non-profit. Some decide to get MBAs and some pursue a PhD to teach. Being out of the classroom for three years has made me appreciate and miss what I loved while I was in school. Because of this, I can finally answer my question. I have decided I want to attend graduate school and pursue a career in what I found most gratifying in college - research.
Every year I return to XYZ College and talk to current economics majors about their classes, possible internships, and what they want to do after they graduate. It does not surprise me that I find myself being asked the same question countless times, what can I do with a degree in economics? After multiple economics classes, countless hours spent studying and writing papers, and spending a few years working, I can confidently tell them what I want to do with my economics degree. Looking back I realize what most interested me, and what did well. The research I did was great, but the topics were what interested me most. These include government regulation, education, and taxation, all of which contributed to my attraction to public economics.
The first semester of my second year at XYZ College I took a Principles of Macroeconomics class to fulfill a social science requirement. In that course, I saw the basic principles I learned in math being applied to solve the real-world problems of unemployment and inflation. Economics captivated me because it bridged mathematical models with these real-world problems in a way that was new and exciting to me. I recognized that I enjoyed this feeling of tangible accomplishment, and so I decided to major in economics at the end of that semester.
During my undergraduate study I chose to take econometrics. Econometrics assembled and re-organized all of my prior knowledge of economics. This class allowed me to use all the information I learned in previous classes and use them in research and creating a model. This is where I learned one of my passions - research. The task of retrieving data for a model which I had thought up and using that regression to prove something was extremely satisfying. The topic of my project instilled another passion in me - public economics. My topic of choice was high school education, or, more specifically, what affects MCAS performance levels in Massachusetts public high schools. The model I created included variables such as teacher salary, median home price, and residential tax rate. The conclusion of this project confirmed that school funding is an important factor in the MCAS performance of these schools. Schools in cities with money did a great deal better than those in cities lacking the funds for tools necessary to succeed on the MCAS such as updated books, laboratory equipment, and extra classes to help students prepare for the MCAS. This was an important discovery for me, not only because I attended a Massachusetts public high school, but because policies implemented in education should be finely thought out and studied well after its execution.
It cannot be denied that education is important, as it plays a vital role in the economy. In order for the United States to be competitive in the job market, its education must be competitive, especially since most of the jobs here are being sent to other countries. We must meet the demand for skilled workers, and the only way to do that is to educate everyone at a high level, and to start this at an early age. This should happen before high school, but to make sure students have the knowledge to get into the college which will put them in demand, we must make sure the policies placed to help educate these students are working. Studying the current policies to see what is working and what is not, and why it is not, should not only be done, but done frequently and then should be remedied when a problem is found.
My career goal is to produce rigorous models that inform policy decisions, and then see that they're carried out. I enjoy research and see that it will be a critical part of my future career. Therefore, I want to continue my education so that I will become a more competent researcher and be able to pursue my career goal.
Attending ABC University will surely help me acquire the necessary skills and tools to take my passion and turn it into a working ability. My research interests combined with the research of the faculty at Northeastern, such as Professor A’s research on the use of vouchers in education and Professors B’s interest in Public Economics and Microeconomics, I am sure to thrive and grow as an economics graduate student and then as an economist.