Hmm... does this mean since GMU isn't a top ten school, I'm stuck as a #2? Is my memory wrong? Isn't it impossible to get above an 800 on the math GRE score?
Two core groups of people are well-suited to be economists:
1. You math GRE score is over 800, you are totally focused, you love working long hours on your own, and you have good enough letters of recommendation to get into a Top Six or perhaps Top Ten graduate school. Note that white Americans from this category have been partially preempted by competition from foreigners.
2. You could be happy as an academic without much of a research career. Working at a teaching school is a rewarding life, albeit a poor one relative to your investment in human capital.
Arnold Kling expounds further:
Sounds like the situation is getting worse...
I would say that #1 is only a necessary, not a sufficient condition, to head in the direction of becoming an academic star. I would say that #2 should come with the caveat that many of the small colleges that value teaching are in small towns, which puts limits on spousal career opportunities and may otherwise constrain your lifestyle. Also, the caliber of students at small colleges may be declining, for a variety of reasons.
...or is it? Bryan Caplan seems to disagree:
Interestingly, in his post, Tyler Cowen goes on to say (emphasis mine):
Tyler is once again handing out career advice to potential Ph.D. students in economics. I stand by my previous claim (here and here) that he makes some good points, but is far too negative.
Where does Tyler go wrong? His standard of "success" is far too high. He barely considers himself successful. But I say there's no shame in doing 10% as well as he's done. Compared to your next best option, that could easily be a very sweet life. If you want to live the life of the mind, econ's the place to do it. As I said a little while back:Overall, the econ Ph.D. is such a good deal that I would seriously advise people who want to do research in political science, psychology, or even history to just get an econ Ph.D. and become a professor of economics. Even if you have to research topics you don't care about until you get tenure (and you probably won't have to), you could easily earn tenure in econ before you would have defended your dissertation in another field.
Greg Mankiw shares his thoughts on the JD vs PhD and careers in Law and Economics.
Should you become a legal academic? You will have a greater chance to work with ideas and concepts. A greater chance to write books and also to read them. You are more likely to strut, wear three-piece suits, and speak in stentorian tones. If I were starting out today, perhaps I would take that route, although I would fail at the strut and the suits. The pay is higher and upward mobility is easier to accomplish.
Maybe I should give more thought to GMU's JD/PhD program? Would that give me the best of both worlds?
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