Advice for an undergraduate considering a career as an economist
According to Mankiw, student must consider following if he/she want to be good economist.
1. Take as many math and statistics courses as you can stomach
2. Choose your economics courses from professors who are passionate about the field and care about teaching. Ignore the particular topics covered when choosing courses. All parts of economics can be made interesting, or deadly dull, depending on the instructor.
3. Use your summers to experience economics from different perspectives. Spend one working as a research assistant for a professor, one working in a policy job in government, and one working in the private sector.
4. Read economics for fun in your spare time.
5. Follow economics news. The best weekly is The Economist. The best daily is the Wall Street Journal.
6. If you are at a research university, attend the economic research seminars at your school about once a week. You may not understand the discussions at first, because they may seem too technical, but you will pick up more than you know, and eventually you’ll be giving the seminar yourself.
I want to add some points
1. Avoid tututions (if possible) because it will kill your creative capacities.
2. Work hard for excellence not for competition
3. Never relies on luck. Luck will work only if you are hardworker
4. Read one economic magazine and one business newspaper and discuss current topic with your teacher
5. Identify your stronghold and weakness, and then work on them.
*** Here is some advice from Susan Athey about applying to grad school in economics
1. Take as many math and statistics courses as you can stomach
2. Choose your economics courses from professors who are passionate about the field and care about teaching. Ignore the particular topics covered when choosing courses. All parts of economics can be made interesting, or deadly dull, depending on the instructor.
3. Use your summers to experience economics from different perspectives. Spend one working as a research assistant for a professor, one working in a policy job in government, and one working in the private sector.
4. Read economics for fun in your spare time.
5. Follow economics news. The best weekly is The Economist. The best daily is the Wall Street Journal.
6. If you are at a research university, attend the economic research seminars at your school about once a week. You may not understand the discussions at first, because they may seem too technical, but you will pick up more than you know, and eventually you’ll be giving the seminar yourself.
I want to add some points
1. Avoid tututions (if possible) because it will kill your creative capacities.
2. Work hard for excellence not for competition
3. Never relies on luck. Luck will work only if you are hardworker
4. Read one economic magazine and one business newspaper and discuss current topic with your teacher
5. Identify your stronghold and weakness, and then work on them.
*** Here is some advice from Susan Athey about applying to grad school in economics