<p>I'm an undergraduate student majoring in economics right now, but I'm beginning to think about graduate school and beyond. I'm more interested in the qualitative aspects of economics than the quantitative, but I haven't really been able to find any programs in economics that do not require extensive background in mathematics(which I do not and will not have at the undergraduate level with the exeception of Calc 1, Stat 1, and econometrics.) My interests also extend to public policy/political science, but I don't want to limit my career options solely to the government or non-profits. An MBA sounds like it might be interesting, but I would rather go straight into grad school after graduating from undergrad, which, as I have read is not likely or practical when pursuing an MBA. Can anyone suggest any programs or possible options based on my interests?</p>
<p>Sounds like you want a political science grad program that focuses on political economy - but I could be wrong. Can you say a little more about the 'qualitative aspects' of economics that you find interesting?</p>
<p>Economics grad programs are all quantitative these days. Even poli sci is going more that direction, but a pp or ps degree sounds more like what you want.</p>
<p>The topics in econ that I'm more interested in are the general theory courses, like political economy, as you mentioned, as well as development, comparative economic analysis, international trade & monetary analysis, population, labor econ, etc. I guess in some ways its not so much that I'm against the quantitative aspects of econ, but more that I see it as an indication that any job I get is going to be constructing models or crunching numbers. Also, the research aspect of grad school is not really a priority for me. I figure I'm going to grad school to get a specialization in something because I want to understand it better. I'd much rather become well versed in an area during grad school, and save the research for post graduation in the working world. </p>
<p>I feel like a graduate degree in public policy or political science would be academically in my interests, but not very useful outside of academia and the public sector. While I do want to work for the government early on, I don't want to limit myself just to that career field. </p>
<p>I'm considering law school as well, but my interest in that tends to increase or decrease based on what I read about practicing lawyers on boards like these...namely that they are burnt out, do not enjoy the law, and would not have gone to law school if they had known what they now know. I guess going to law school and using it more as a public policy or political science-type education would be possible, but not very practical.</p>
<p>Talk to your professors. An MBA and Law school are very very different from a Ph.D. program. Any Economics doctorate program in the U.S. (and for much of the world) will require you to take a significant amount of math. If you do not like the idea of crunching numbers, then do not go to Econ graduate school (which is more similar to a Math Ph.D. program than a Political Science program). If research is not a priority for you then a Ph.D. program may not be what you're looking for. Talk to your professors a bit, and give yourself more time to figure out what you want.</p>
<p>If the research is not a priority, I would strongly suggest that you not explore a PhD in either ecnomics or political science. Instead, a public policy degree (or some of the MA programs in development) might be more up your alley.</p>
<p>If you're interested in continuing your education in economics, Florida State has a MS in Economics program that only takes 12 months to complete and does not have the heavy math requirements that most econ graduate programs do.</p>