Managing future income risk has been a part of my preparation for my future since high school. During high school, I took as many Advanced Placement courses so I can have more flexibility when I came to college. To be exact, I took seven Advanced Placement courses which gave me roughly 30 hours of college credit. Furthermore, I received a 35 on the English part of the ACT exam, which also got me credit for the introductory writing course here at the University of Illinois. When applying to schools, I wanted to go to a school which provided the greatest return on investment and at the same time a top nationally ranked university. There is data that is provided on the internet and in books regarding those two categories of the best ROI and best engineering school, and I went on to apply to the University of Illinois, University of Wisconsin, University of Texas, University of Michigan, and Georgia Tech. I was accepted to all of these schools, but chose to go to the University of Illinois because it is the cheapest out of the schools which fell into the two categories that I mentioned.
Once I arrived here, I chose my engineering major as electrical because it would provide me with the best chance to get a job and the greatest income in the short run. However, as time went on, I realized that I need to enjoy my coursework and the career that lies ahead of me. So I went to the college of business to switch my major to finance, but they said it was too late to switch my major, so I chose economics as my major with minors in mathematics and statistics. The reason I chose economics is because the potential salary is highly competitive in relation to other majors on campus; furthermore, I am interested in economics and applying it into the world of finance after graduating. Clearly I chose economics because it will lessen the risk of future income.
I will continue my education after I complete my economics degree by starting on my Master's in Statistics next semester. Since I want to start working immediately after I graduate, I will finish my M.S. Statistics part time online. This will further help lower the future income risk that every individual endures. Another continuing education route that I have been analyzing is the Certified Financial Analyst, otherwise known as the CFA. I would want to complete the CFA later on in my career when I work as a portfolio manager. Typically, a portfolio manager needs experience in the financial industry, so I will be patient in beginning my studies for this certification.
Aside from my education, I have put my economics and quantitative background to work during the past two summers. I interned with my father's company as a data analyst. I used a lot of statistics, particularly creating regression models based on consumer data. I enjoyed working there and it made me realize that I will want to use number everyday throughout my career. Last summer, I interned with Northwestern Mutual because I wanted to understand finances more. I also enjoyed this internship, and they both help me lower my future income risk because having internships help obtain an entry level job. Finally, my grandmother gave my sister and I an inheritance. My sister used some of it for her year long internship program in Boston and just obtained a full-time job but hasn't started working yet. She paid for the internship program and housing at Beth Israel Medical Hospital which is associated with Harvard Medical School, which tells me that her future income risk has been lowered because she can write that she is associated with Harvard. I have put my inheritance towards middle term and long term investments, like mutual funds, stocks, bonds, my children's education, life insurance, and a retirement fund. It is always good to start early!
If you have substantial financial assets at the time you graduate, you have a leg up on many of your peers, who will be carrying quit a bit of debt when they receive their degrees and potentially will be burdened from time to time in the life choices they make by a need to pay off that debt. You have more flexibility and that is good fortune for you.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you might respond to the following question. Had you known you would transfer out of Engineering, would you still have applied to those schools that you did apply to or possibly consider others, perhaps some private universities. When I was an associate dean in the college of business I became aware that Notre Dame and Northwestern were a couple of the big competitors for recruiting students. Northwestern is also reasonably good for Engineering though it is not as highly rated as the U of I. But it is considered better for Economics.
The type of response I'm asking about, keeping in line with the risk management question, is whether it makes sense for students to consider the broader rating of the schools rather than the ratings of particular colleges, in your case that was Engineering, precisely because it is hard to tell about the goodness of fit ahead of time and transferring colleges might be a reasonable thing to factor into the decision.
Note that when I was a student I did transfer universities, from MIT to Cornell. The issue wasn't switching majors. I was a math major at both places. It was about wanting to get away from a geek culture. I also wonder if that mattered for you in switching into economics.
I also want to comment about working at your father's company post graduation. You didn't mention that and maybe it isn't what you want to do. But if it is a possibility, it certainly sets a floor for you job-wise that allows you to be much choosier about the job you do end up with.