College Choices
As a member of Phi-Tetta-Kappa, with good math grades, able to speak 3 languages, being a minority, I think I have great chances of going to good colleges. So here are the following:
Harvard University Extension School
Harvard University Extension School is not Harvard College. You don’t go full-time, you don’t live on campus, the tuition is cheaper, does not have the prestige and the academic requirements are lower. But being part of the Phi Tetta Kappa gives me some access to scholarships, and the teacher staffs are very good and come from good backgrounds. It is an affordable and provides the same education quality as Harvard College. It possesses 20 liberal arts degree, among them economics. So this is going to be my first try.
Columbia School of General Studies
The same from Harvard University Extension School applies here. But it is located in New York City. Also, a lot of meeting between the World Bank and the IMF happens to be in Columbia. When I went to Columbia, it was interesting that they let students go to others classes; you can just jump in and learn, and have access to the staff. Columbia does not offer scholarships, yet the name and the location may enable me to have a part-time job to cover it. It offers more subjects than simple economics, it seems to be its niche.
Baruch College
The best CUNY in New York. Baruch asks for high mathematical comprehension, which I have. My grades are good for them. It hosts a graduate degree program there too. Yet I will try my chances to other schools that I am inclined the most. One thing to point out is that the New York Federal Reserve and the SEC hires here. So it may be a pro for Baruch.
A career in Finance
A career in Finance is the one I am looking the most. Is probably the career I am looking the most. Besides the sales agent, asset manager or risk analyst, there has been a flourish demand on Quants. Quants are professionals that use highly-mathematical models to do trading. They are very common on the bank industry since many trading are now made by computers instead of being made by humans. The career usually requires a mathematical background, econometric tools, and high knowledge of software since you have to transform the mathematical analysis into algorithm that can be processed by the computers. It would mean to me to learn a lot more of mathematics, and use it to analyze reality, to measure it, and to be able to hold the most sophisticated knowledge in the most quantity. For me, knowledge is important, but also is the ability to make money and this career goes hand in hand with it.
A career in Economic Research
What is knowledge for knowledge? When an idea (a marketing product) does not generate money, it’s because is not valuable for the market. And being paid $182k as a senior economist at the IMF definitely shows how valuable you are for the world! Economic Research at the IMF focuses more than in economic comprehension. It may cover inequality in the world, woman and society, hunger, luck in career success, environmental externalities, global warming policies, and so on. However, the common denominator is big use of statistics data, mathematical models, lot of empiric reading, and doing advices. The IMF recruits people that have at least an M.B.A., but also have designed some programs for student who have just graduated, and looks for majors in economics, statistics, mathematics, finances or computer science. In short, a good career for someone who wants to save the world, mathematical models, developing its knowledge and who is very opinionated.
A career in Organization Development
I like to coach, to teach and to read. While coaching and reading drive me towards a manager position, or teaching and reading towards a teaching position, I think the qualities are better used as an organization development consultant.
“The change process supports improvement of the organization or group as a whole. The client and consultant work together to gather data, define issues and determine a suitable course of action. The organization is assessed to create an understanding of the current situation and to identify opportunities for change that will meet business objectives.”
Looking for change, seeing an organization in all points of view, meeting objectives, taking action. Doesn’t that sound so interesting? And also the education requirements. An Organization Development consultant comes from backgrounds like organization development, organization behavior, psychology, education, management and/or human resources.
A career as a Political Advisor
Is there something that is even more fascinating, that is Political Advisor. As one, you are 100% dedicated to the public. You are paid to do good, to change the world, to make rules that affects everybody, that affects a country. The power to change the country, what a dangerous weapon. Yet the title is not president but advisors. Political advisors generally advise to high political positions in diverse areas. Their background varies, but as Yehezkel Dror they must be people with a large framework selection, historical analysis, mathematical simulation, human behavior and organizational knowledge. But the difference with other is that public service is more rigid. Law usually shapes decision-making at times constraining it; media –which is intended to dumb people because smart people read magazines, journals and newspaper- usually boycotts because they don’t have enough knowledge to understand the whole decision and it is complemented by bad communication on behalf of the authorities. Also, you usually have different sublevels of power, and planning requires to be implemented and be done by others that may boycott or not know what to do, so you are not as powerful as you think. But is rewarding as you know that you are planning long-term, making policies (the most powerful way to use knowledge), influence people, and be admired but many people as having gone so far.
You majored in What? By Katharine Brooks is one of the books that try to help lost and low-confident students in their search for a career plan and career realization. Its major difference between others may be that it focuses on chaos! As contradictory this may sound, it is actually about a chaos in a sense that you don’t have every detail planned but is more about keeping opportunities open. The book provides some good examples and activities in order to find out what are your strength and passions. A good book if you don’t know what introspection and Google is for.
The first chapter was explaining how majors and careers are no linear anymore. And therefore we can rely on chaos theory to rescue us. Chaos theory – which should be better called Chaos-approach to Personal Development- focuses on the ability of knowing our self to try to control part of our future. The future is impossible to predict, as a single event may change it. However, we can influence it to some degree. To do so we have to know where we don’t want to go, and try to be flexible to all other desired outcomes. At the same time, it tries to tell us that as chaotic events may seem, there are actually some sort of pattern on it. Finally it talks about attractors –that seems to be a bend of motivation, conflict and misbehaviors – but it really don’t explore more throughout the book.
Following chapters prepare oneself to introspection, by helping students try to focus on what they like, what skills they have, what experience they have gone through. Chapter number 3 provides some interesting mindset for student to identify themselves to it, yet literature that supports it has proved inexistent through Google. These chapters however, prepare very well the student to be more confident of the way to see their personality and how they interact with their behaviors. Besides, it gives a more light on how different “mindsets” may interact in a company. Because of the importance of this chapter, it should have highlighted more the Myers-Briggs test and should have stressed the importance of seeking feedback with a career advisor. One point in favor is that we are seeing companies trying to bring new perspective (looking for creativity for productivity improvement, marketing mix or management operations) by looking for a more diverse workforce. This chapter should have been explored with more details, in order to give students more possibilities how they can perform in an ever-changed job market. If the mindset has been used, it should have focus on frameworks and how they can make money. If instead the title approach was used, a list of skills will be useful.
Probably the most useful activities have been again the one for the mindset. It helped me to know which mindset I posses, on what degree I posses it and therefore what to work on, and what mindset I am weak on and need to focus on it as a priority. For example, a creative mindset is crucial for providing innovation and coming up with new solutions. It is useful on management, marketing, economics topics and so on. There are many incentives as well as rewards for a creative person. Despite of the big demand, yet I haven’t explored or train myself. I think I posses some creativity, by for example, analyzing a problem on not-traditional variables that may give more insightful answers. Yet, problem-solving should now be my priority when I begin to approach creativity.
The book is a soft book because it targets students in college. What is disappointing though is that it is intended to be used at the end of one career. This should not have been the case. An early identification of one “mindset” can better help on looking and developing skills for a career. It can give focus on what classes to take and what experience to look for. Instead, the student reaches the end of college and realizes he or she does not like his or her major at all, or a lack of certain skills may not make her have a comparative advantage.
