Grad School Personal Narrative

            To put it succinctly, I was in a bad situation.  I began my college career in a highly regarded private institution; however, my experience met with disaster.  My suitemate was rushing a fraternity and often times woke up drunk in my bed my wife lived in another city and I endeavored to return on weekends to see her, and I was utterly alone in a major I hated.  This obviously could only be sustained for about eight months before I resigned, broken, from the university.  Two majors and a junior college later, I stand poised to graduate from the University of Texas at Dallas, potentially with Latin honors, and a member of the Tau Sigma honors society for transfer students.  I have competed against MIT and Columbia in the NYMEX commodities trading competition, representing my school well, and surpassing many of the participants from these prestigious institutions; I took seventh place of forty eight in Houston and was among the top twenty five of one hundred and twelve in New York.   However, this is not yet my true moment of triumph.

            Barring an unforeseen revelation in the final six hours of undergraduate study, I feel that I only know part of the story.  A quick glance at a graduate level course catalogue seems to confirm my suspicion; PhD students have another five courses ahead of them in macro and microeconomics.  Clearly there is quite a bit more to know even about the fundamentals of economics than mere undergraduate study can yield.  I would like to have a much more complete picture before attempting to venture forth in the professional world.  I like to frequent a few economics blogs in my leisure time; I realize most of the useful ones are written by doctors and Nobel laureates, and that these people are not likely competing for my job.  However, I would certainly like to be much closer to their level of understanding before attempting to find employment in this field.  I believe UT Dallas’s masters program in economics will give me the further knowledge I crave not only to make me a better employee, but a better person.