How do you know if a PhD is the right thing for you ...

[tennisboy85]

if you have no research experience or teaching experience? I am talking about people like Israelecon. Are you only doing it to get the prestige of a top PhD program and higher salaries? Or do you just want to leave your country? I feel like here in the US nobody would try to get into any PhDs without having any research experience, its mainly people from abroad who do it.

[beagle07]

Perhaps they are legitimately interested in the field. It is difficult for one to participate in serious economic discourse without a degree in economics. For most people, becoming an economist is not just about building a career; it is also about immersing oneself in a fascinating field. You don't need a TA job or RA experience to learn about and love economics. Perhaps people such as Israelecon find the field intellectually stimulating!

[pevdoki1]

My main motivation is to avoid getting a real job!!

[486hunter]

If you would not be happy doing anything else other than research, a Ph.D. is for you! If you would be happy doing other things, I would recommend some serious soul searching prior to applying/enrolling.

[mogelsworth]

I'm with pevdoki1.

After working in the "real world" for 3 years (for a consulting firm mainly in litigation support), I'm certain I'd like to work at a university teaching and conducting my own research, which requires a phd. I think this is the most effective way for me to make a difference in the world, and I think it's the best use of my time. I find consulting for litigation purposes to be a waste of my time and education, regardless of the high pay. Also, I truly love economics and my undergrad courses were relatively superficial, I'd like to thoroughly know the subject.

[tennisboy85]

Of course I can understand you guys, but I am talking about people who have no significant work experience and just decided to get straight out of college a PhD, without even writing a thesis or anything. I am thinking about doing a PhD later on, however, right now I decided to give it a try "in the real world." I pretty realized that the only reason I wanted to get a PhD is because of the prestige that comes with it.

[mogelsworth]

What do you want to do with your phd? I worry that if the only reason you enter a phd program is to show off or impress people, you may not be willing to stick it out during the first year. I would hate for anyone to ruin their chances of doing something they really love (a field other than economics), because they dropped out of econ grad the first year.

By about my junior year as an undergrad I realized I wanted to get a phd, but I decided to enter the "real world" for a few years because I'd been in school since I was 5 and thought it may build some character to try something else, especially since I knew I'd be back in school at some point.

[Golden Rule]

Originally Posted by mogelsworth

I worry that if the only reason you enter a phd program is to show off or impress people, you may not be willing to stick it out during the first year.

Finding success in later years is what's harder for the kind of person you describe. First year offers plenty of opportunities to "show off or impress people" with the constant barrage of problem sets and exams. It would suit someone who treats it like a competition just fine.

But after second year and to some extent after first year, you don't get the instant gratification from having done well on a problem set or exam. You need to have much longer term goals. You need to toil a lot in ways that no one is going to give you immediate credit for -- this toil is expected of you. Without a sincere passion for economic research, it's much harder to be successful in this phase of grad school than the first year.

[mogelsworth]

That's a good point. I was thinking more along the line that if you don't have a very strong reason for being in the program, struggling through the first year may not be worth it. If there's not a light at the end of the tunnel...

[Golden Rule]

Originally Posted by tennisboy85

if you have no research experience or teaching experience? I am talking about people like Israelecon. Are you only doing it to get the prestige of a top PhD program and higher salaries? Or do you just want to leave your country? I feel like here in the US nobody would try to get into any PhDs without having any research experience, its mainly people from abroad who do it.

"People like israelecon" have a much better idea of research is about than you give credit for. I don't feel someone who has spent a lot of time in high-level math and econ as an undergrad is necessarily more ignorant about research/teaching than someone who's RAd and written a bunch of stata code for some prof, or even someone who's done a thesis. I was an undergrad TA, and I don't think it gives me a whole lot better idea of what it's like to be a professor.

All of the above activities are valuable to some degree in preparation for grad school and beyond -- none of them are exactly like what it feels like to be a prof -- even doing a senior thesis the quality and excitement is likely not going to match what you can do by year 2 or 3 of grad school. There's no one right way to prepare for grad school, and you can't do absolutely everything.