To Reach a Goal

[ThePho]

I posted this in PhD Economics and I really wanted some business hopefuls ideas:

Hello TM'ers!

I wanted to provide some color to my situation an ask a simple question, if I may.

First! I have been reading many posts here and it is evident that advice that is given here is both sound and thorough. I wanted to shed light on some of my goals and aspirations to see if I could be given the best path for me.

I wanted to say that I respect research and many of you are going to be going to top schools and conducting top research which will change economics and business forever, for this I salute you.

My goal, for better or for worse, is not as noble. I am a junior and at my university the economics professors suck! There is no graduate courses and no stress on mathematics. I am at the top of my class and I consider myself to be very bright. Here is the rub, I want to be like my professors. They NEVER conduct research, one of my professors has never been published since he has worked at any university. He held an assistant position where he got his PhD and then at my school he worked up the ranks to professor. All of these business professors get paid well, drive nice cars, work 25 hours a week, and spend their summers playing golf. And that is what I want to do and I want to know where and how I can accomplish this.

Please do not flame me for my lack of motivation, I feel as if I am making an economic decision. I rather work at Random College and make a starting salary of $50,000 with future opportunity of $100,000 in 20 years and never do more than teach 3-4 classes, conduct research, doing conferences, etc.
Working 25 hours a week (for 8 months) and making $50,000 (~$63 an hour) is better than working 60 hours a week (for 10 months) and making $80,000 (~$34 an hour).

I am willing to teach any business subject but I prefer economics. So I am looking for easy Econ programs that I can coast through and live fat and happy trading stocks or playing golf on my free time.

Thanks

ThePho

My second post:

Okay...

Maybe I came off TOO lazy and off. I

am a double major (Economics and History) and a minor (Finance) and my school is a well known LAC. I maintained a 3.8 GPA.

I do not have the math preparation, like many people here I have Calculus and a econometric course, and that is it. I am more of an empirical guy, could not care less about the math. However, I believe in Economics and Finance and I want to be a great teacher and I would love to instill that into my students.

I do not want a PhD in Marketing because I do not respect that, but I really would like one in Econ or Finance, but I just do not want to do research, I rather teach more classes, any ideas? Specifically programs for me?

How quantitative is something like MIT (Economic Sociology Program) or Org Behavior, or just management. Is a DBA respected?

Lastly, if you get a PhD in something besides finance and econ, can you still teach it? (maybe a dumb question)

ThePho

[doubtful]

for what I can see and say.. the Business School are getting more and more quantitative.... you mentioned marketing.. and quantitative marketing is literally booming....

I don't know economic sociology and stuff..

[miketakena]

If you are not keen in research, chances are you might not even graduate from your PhD!! PhD is all about hardwork and research... and if you are not keen to play it out... it might be the longest and darkest days in your life...

just my 2 cents worth

[bauble]

Nothing wrong with having pragmatic goals. I think that if my research career does not pan out, working 25 hrs a week and doing whatever I want in my free time is not a bad alternative.

Since you're bright, another route for you might be to get into a lucrative financial field (IB for example), work like crazy for 5 years while living like a grad student (which you'd do anyway as an academic), continue the hard work until you can retire (might only be another 10 years or less if you're successful and live modestly, which you'd be doing anyhow as a random school prof), and then play golf all the time.

[chartreuse]

You are young and it appears that you still need to learn that things in your professors' generation is absolutely different from yours. That is, things are never easy! It appears that you just want some free to time to yourself but do like to teach. Another alternative to getting fat, teaching and playing golf most of the time is this: work for yourself trading stocks (so develop this skill). For your teaching goal, you can become an economics tutor or try to teach at the local community college. In your spare time, you can play golf. I'm sure this arrangement will make you exceedingly happy.
Best of luck!

[ThePho]

Well the one professors I was quasi-open about this with is actually 1-2 years out of U. of Connecticut. He shared my sentiment that teaching was better than researching and he rather teach a 4-4 and generate 1 article per 2-3 years .

That is similar to my goal, I want to do stuff but not teach a 2-1 or a 2-2 and pump out an article per semester.

[YoungEconomist]

Originally Posted by ThePho

Please do not flame me for my lack of motivation, I feel as if I am making an economic decision. I rather work at Random College and make a starting salary of $50,000 with future opportunity of $100,000 in 20 years and never do more than teach 3-4 classes, conduct research, doing conferences, etc.
Working 25 hours a week (for 8 months) and making $50,000 (~$63 an hour) is better than working 60 hours a week (for 10 months) and making $80,000 (~$34 an hour).

Who works for 8 months a year for only 25 hours a week? And who works 10 months a year and 60 hours a week?

If you are talking about teaching universities vs research universities, I think you may be mistaken. Maybe I am wrong, but I doubt that most people at teaching universities only work 25 hours a week. I emailed a prof once at a teaching university and he said he works about 35 - 40 hours a week. At most of those schools you have to teach 6 - 8 classes a year, which is fairly time consuming. Furthermore, even at research universities it's not like you will always work 60 hours a week. In fact, I imagine that some profs with tenure choose to work only about 30 hours a week.

With that said, if you really want a job that is not research oriented and consists of low time commitments, there are definitely jobs out there. Have you ever considered teaching at a community college? I transfered from a community college and my teacher made $70,000 a year (because he had taught there for like 25 years and was the head or chair of the social science department). The other profs there made $50,000 - $60,000. Not a bad job, no research obligations, summers off, and you only teach intro micro and macro. Another option would be to become a lecturer at a university. In order to teach at a community college you only need a masters. To be a lecturer it varies, some have masters and some have a PhD.

Are you sure that there are universities out there where teachers only work about 25 - 30 hours a week? Are you sure the profs at your school don't work harder than that? By the way, what school do you go to?