Preparing for Life After Graduation

This page has three parts:  what you can do while a student to better prepare yourself for work or graduate school;  useful information and advice for students planning to go straight to the job market;  and appropriate information and advice for students planning to apply to graduate or professional school.  See too the time table for students planning to enter the job market and the timetable for applying to graduate or professional school.

While A Student

Like economists, most potential employers and graduate programs believe that actions speak louder than words. Plan your courses, extra-curricular activities and employment in a way that showcases your abilities and interests.

Demonstrate your intelligence and willingness to work by doing well in challenging courses. A student with a B average and A's in Econometrics and the Senior Research Seminar will almost always be hired or admitted before a student who claims to be intelligent and a hard worker but has a C average and has never earned an A in his or her major.

Intelligence and willingness to work are important, but certainly not the only attributes of interest to employers and graduate schools. Establish your ability to plan and to follow through your choice of classes and senior research project. Demonstrate your leadership skills by getting involved in campus and community life in a substantive way. You can get started by joining the Economics Club or writing an occasional story for the Blue Banner. To really impress potential employers, however, plan on becoming an effective and enthusiastic officer of a student organization (club, fraternity, sorority, etc.) or an editor or regular columnist for the school paper. Consider participating in the Student Government Association, playing in the Pep Band (or the Jazz Band, or the Orchestra . . ., or joining a community service group (the Key Center at 116D Rhoades Hall can help set you up).  Your enthusiastic and substantive participation in these activities will demonstrate your ability to use your time well and help you polish your communication and social skills.  Of course you will also make many great friends and have a life outside school, which are important things too!

Another way to distinguish yourself is to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by internships. Internships offer invaluable real-world experience and provide an interesting alternative to textbooks and lectures.  Two examples are:

• North Carolina Institute of Government Summer Internship. Interns live and work full-time in the Raleigh area for the State of North Carolina or a local government. The twenty interns live together in a college dorm and plan and attend seminars and field trips.  In exchange they receive 3 hours of course credit transferable to UNCA and approximately $270 a week for the 10 weeks of this program.  The application deadline is the first week of February.
• North Carolina General Assembly Internship. Interns work 30 hours per week in Raleigh as legislative assistants and take two political science courses at NC State. In exchange they receive 12 hours of course credit transferable to UNCA and $250 per week for approximately 24 weeks the General Assembly is in session. Some planning is required since interns are off campus Spring semester of either their Junior or Senior year. The application deadline is the third week of October.

Finally, it is wise to aggressively pursue scholarships and other honorary opportunities. Most graduating seniors have limited work histories and are competing against dozens of other applicants. The fact that you have received a scholarship or a place in a special program tells prospective employers that others have evaluated your qualifications and found them impressive. This can make the difference between landing a great job and finding one that is merely satisfactory. The Financial Aid Office has a brochure describing a number of scholarships available to UNCA students. Competitions for others may be announced in class or on the announcements and/or classifieds page of the Blue Banner.  Several UNCA Economics students have participated in the Political Economy Research Center's summer seminar and the Ludwig von Mises Institute's Mises University.  Both are week-long (almost) all expenses paid summer programs with strong free-market orientations.  Every UNCA student who has participated in these programs has reported that they found the experience extremely worthwhile despite the fact that they weren't quite as enthusiastic about the ability of free markets to cure all ills as the professors leading them were.  Many UNCA Economics graduates have used their senior research project to participate in UNCA's Undergraduate Research Program, including in several cases Graduation with Distinction as University Research Scholars. 

Keep your eyes and ears open, and don't let those opportunities that come your way pass you by! And make sure that you are in a position to take your best shot at those opportunities that do come your way by keeping your grades up and participating in campus activities in a substantive way.

Entering the Job Market

It is never too early to begin planning for your career. Your first stop should be the Career Center.  They will help you assess your skills and interests and suggest careers that will make the most of your unique talents. In addition, they can provide you with job listings and help with resume writing. Their Career Library is extensive and useful. One point to keep in mind: a B.A. in economics does not prepare you for a career as an economist! Instead, it provides a well-rounded educational foundation that can be used as a starting point for an infinite variety of careers. The Career Center is a good place to begin exploring your options. You will find them in the lower level of the Weizenblatt Health Center.  

The Career Center has begun offering an extremely useful service to job hunters: a job interview workshop followed by mock interviews with faculty members posing as potential employers. These mock interviews are video-taped, allowing you to see yourself in action and take steps to make the best impression possible in your real interviews.

From your video-taped interviews you will learn that an honest interest in the position available and the ability to communicate clearly are extremely important in making that all-important first impression. Your appearance should be neat and attentive. Your resume should also be neat, and it should convey a track record of enthusiasm, achievement and the ability to work with others. Finally, it pays to be candid and honest -- remember: you are interviewing your potential employer as much as they are interviewing you!

Another excellent start to your career search is a visit to the Princeton Review Career Planning Page. This extremely useful page covers such topics as internships, negotiating skills, resumes and public speaking.  It includes a searchable directory of career descriptions.  Here's what The Princeton Review has to say about economists.

One final bit of advice: think seriously about relocating. You will probably find a better job in a shorter length of time if you are willing to relocate. But doing so will take some planning as it requires savings to meet the costs of living away from home.  Finding a job is a lot of work -- close to a full-time job itself! 

Now is a good time to visit the time table for students planning to enter the job market.  As you will note, it's time to get started. Good Luck!

Applying to Graduate or Professional School

To apply to "graduate school" means to apply to a M.A. or Ph.D. program;  to apply to professional school means to apply to program teaching a professional trade, like law, management or medicine.

The first step in applying to graduate or professional school is totalk to a faculty member with special knowledge in the field or fields you hope to enter as early as possible in your academic career. They will help you select courses and guide you around the pitfalls of the graduate and professional school preparation and application process. Anyone in the economics department at the assistant level or higher has a Ph.D. and can give you advice on obtaining a Ph.D. in economics; Dr. Sulock is especially knowledgeable regarding M.A. programs.  Given that there are over 300 Economics Departments with PhD Programs in the U.S. and Canada, a little guidance regarding appropriate programs can be a big help.

UNCA does not have an official pre-MBA advisor. To obtain advice on obtaining an MBA, talk to your advisor and to someone who already has one. Faculty members with MBA's include the economics department's Ms. Bumgarner (ASU) and the management department's Ms. Marshall (Arkansas), Ms. Mayes (WCU), Mrs. McKenzie (WCU) and Mrs. Nelms (North Carolina). Dr. Ready is the pre-law advisor. He has a brochure that will help steer you through the course selection and law school application process. You should also talk to Dr. McClary (health and fitness). Dr. McClary has earned a JD degree and has considerable courtroom experience. If you are interested in dental or medical school, talk to the pre-medicine advisor, Mr. Bernhardt (biology). There are many additional options for graduate training. Pay a visit to the Career Center and explore them!

Before beginning the graduate or professional school application process you should give serious thought to the commitment graduate school entails. An MBA program generally requires two years, full time. An M.A. in economics also requires at least two years. To earn a law degree requires three years. Although some students complete their Ph.D.'s in as little as four years, this is unusual;  the national median is 6.4 years. Graduate courses are more demanding than undergraduate courses and the professors are less likely to spend extra time with students who find the material difficult. Earning a graduate degree can be very rewarding, both personally and financially, but it is significantly different from earning a B.A. Discuss your options with your advisor before you apply!

If you think it in your interest to make the commitment a graduate education requires, plan on applying to several programs. With the possible exception of law school, do not let geography dictate the programs you consider! The respect with which the business and (especially) academic communities hold degrees from the school you attend will make an enormous difference in your future opportunities. Shoot for the best possible schools in your interest area that you have a chance of getting into. Your advisor will be able to give you advice on selecting schools.

A number of organizations rank graduate and professional schools.  The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has created an extensive set of links to program rankings.  Click here to access them:  UIUC's program ranking links.  One of the best known of these ranking organizations is the news magazine U.S.News and World and World Report.  Click here to access them:   U.S.News rankings.  Another well-known source is the Princeton Review, a company that creates and sells products intended to help students earn higher scores on standardized tests.  Both the US News and Princeton Review pages offer lots of advice and valuable information on the application, test taking, and financial aspects of applying to and attending graduate and professional school.

To apply to graduate or professional school you will need to complete a formal application and take the appropriate entry test(s). To obtain a formal application, write or telephone the schools that interest you. Visit the folks at the Career Center to obtain these, or get them online at  Economics Departments with PhD Programs and the Princeton Review.  The Career Center is located in the lower level of the Weizenblatt Health Center.

Most graduate programs in economics require the Graduate Record Exam (GRE);  law schools require the Law School Admission Test (LSAT); management schools the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT).  Click on these links to obtain further information, test schedules and registration forms. Study materials, sample tests and even commercial courses are available to prepare you to take the GRE, LSAT and GMAT tests.  Strongly consider taking advantage of these materials -- they are worth the money.  Learn more by visiting the Career Center, the Princeton Review and the GRE, LSAT and GMAT sites.

The GMAT, LSAT and GRE General Aptitude tests test general aptitude. The MCAT is more specific. It tests your ability to recall and use the concepts to which students are exposed in pre-medical courses. You should plan to review your course work before taking it. You should also plan to have as much of your course work completed as possible before taking it.

In order to have your test scores in time to apply to graduate school, you should take the appropriate tests in October or December of your senior year. Many graduate programs in economics require that you take the GRE by October of the year preceding that in which you intend to enroll. You should begin work on your graduate admissions applications about the same time. 

Now is a good time to visit the timetable for applying to graduate or professional school.  As you will note, it's time to get started. Good Luck!

Economics Department
159 Karpen Hall CPO # 2110   One University Heights   Asheville, NC 28804
Phone: 828-251-6550   FAX: 828-251-6572

Copyright © 2001-2007 [Chris Bell (email), Economics Department, UNC Asheville].
All rights reserved.  Revised: April 03, 2007