Sadly, It Appears I May Be Right
Alternatively titled: Investors are a Superstitious, Cowardly Lot. Skittishness over Spain and Italy, coupled with the U.S. downgrade to AA+ Friday afternoon hit the markets today, leaving the Dow down 5.5% and threatening to make the Eurozone a house of cards.
Waiting Game
The month has been a quiet one. I did a bit of research and found out not to expect a decision about American University and the School of International Service until mid-November. Which means that now that we’re getting to mid-November I’m nervously watching my email and physical mail for word of whether I get to begin graduate study in January. I did decide that American was the only program I would pursue for Spring 2010. I’m building a list of top programs for Fall 2011 as well.
Two schools in particular stand out to me. The University of Denver and Tufts University have both reached out to me through the GRE Search Service. I had looked into Tufts before, but not U. Denver. I’ve given a second look to Tufts, and decided to pursue both it and U. Denver, which has a program that lines up very well with my career goal of working as an economic analyst for the U.S. or an IGO such as the UN or WTO. Thanks to the competitiveness of graduate admissions in a tough economy, I’ll be applying to several other schools in addition to these two if I don’t get into American.
In the next week I hope to have a short 10-page version of a subject I would like to study in depth in graduate school: how to best integrate developing economies into the world economy in a way that promotes growth and has positive benefits for them and their trade partners. I’m doing a short 10-page paper exploring the ideas of Joseph Stiglitz of the WTO and Ha-Joon Chang, who challenge the notion that neo-liberal strategies are the best way to promote growth. I’m doing this through a case study of South Korea on one hand and Mexico & Chile on the other hand. South Korea carefully sequenced its entry into the international economy, while Chile and, Mexico (especially after the adoption of NAFTA) embraced neo-liberal policies. It will just be a rough exploration, but one I would like to develop as I continue my studies.
And that’s about all there is to report. I’ll check back in when I have news of whether January finds me in Washington or taking a few more courses at RVCC up here in NJ.
The few weeks have been quiet ones, with little of consequence to report. I’ve started putting my teaching certification back to use as an SAT tutor, which provides a bit of income for the months ahead. My second go at the GRE exam didn’t raise my math score by as much as I wanted. Part of that was forgetting that I had no access to a calculator and struggling to gain my stride after that. I’m progressing with the scores I have for my Spring applications, but plan to retake once more for Fall applications should Spring not work out.
My application for American is in the hands of its amazing faculty, and I hope for a decision by the end of October. I’m currently working on my application for Rutgers, with City College of NY and NYU’s applications to follow. It will be a busy month.
On the class front, things are proceeding, although I have had to change my plans slightly. Rather than start my microeconomics class at MCC this past Wednesday, I will now take a more condensed class starting on the 22nd following some prolonged car trouble. (Apparently finding instrument panels for 1995 Fords isn’t the easiest thing to do.) The car comes home today, so that will solve the personal mobility problem.
Hopefully by the end of October or first week of November I have decisions from most schools (Rutgers, CCNY, and NYU all use rolling admissions; AU does not) and can decide where I would like to be in January. I’ll keep you all updated as there is more news to report. For now I have some Foreign Affairs articles to summarize and some notes on Inflation and the Phillips curve to take.
Decisions
Well, I’ve thought things over and have decided to go after Spring 2011 admission at a few more schools. I can apply to a total of 4 more schools in the Spring semester in addition to American University – NYU, Rutgers U., Seton Hall, and City College of NY. The rest of them will remain on my Fall 2011 target list.
Why I Stay Ahead of My Classes
The semester has started off well. My statistics class is active every day, but I can stay a bit ahead of the game by doing reading and taking notes ahead of when they are assigned. And our online discussion area let’s us save our posts as drafts, so I’ve been able to start writing them in advance as well. Macro. was a shortened class yesterday due to the professor being absent. And yes, the homework I did isn’t due until next week, so I’m ahead of the game there as well. International Relations doesn’t meet until next Monday due to the holiday, but I have the books (although no syllabus yet), which has allowed me to start reading and taking notes well in advance of the class. It’s a habit of mine that I’m making no attempt to get rid of.
