Lives in: Washington, D.C.

Majors: Economics, chemistry

Why economics? “I decided on these two majors primarily because they are both fascinating to me. Also, I thought these two seemingly disparate fields would provide me with the breadth of knowledge and flexibility of skills to find a career that I could use to positively impact society.”

Current position: Associate Analyst at Econ One Research, an economic consulting firm

What work looks like: “I work in the Hal Singer practice group of Econ One Research, which specializes in antitrust and consumer protection. If you have ever opened a news article that says something along the lines of "jury awards $100 million for xyz" or "lawsuit settled for $50 million in antitrust case," the people who identified and justified those valuations could very well be my practice group. I assist with a lot of the foundational work that allows this kind of economic analysis to happen smoothly: using coding software to clean, process, and summarize large databases; reviewing documents and literature and identifying what is and is not relevant for our purposes; dotting the "i"s and crossing the "t"s in the report to make sure it looks authoritative in the eyes of the judge. Ultimately, I do anything to help get the reports across the finish line.”

What he loves about it: “I think my job is wicked interesting. I love the variety of the work: One week I'll be working on code and processing data for a case in the pharmaceutical sector, and the following week, I'll be reading documents and literature on anticompetitive conduct in the tech sector. I also love that the work is impactful: Our analysis leads to real payments being made to people harmed by illegal firm conduct.”

What he gained from a liberal arts education: “You will certainly sharpen your critical thinking skills with a liberal arts education! I also think I got a lot better as a communicator thanks to the skills I picked up at UVM. Having a better grasp of quantitative and logical reasoning makes you better able to explain concepts and articulate points of view. 

“I think, too, that a well-rounded education helps you make connections between subjects and topics that you otherwise might not be aware of. In my work, I often receive a mess of data and documents from the defense with no clear understanding of what is contained within all the material. Ultimately, it is up to me to weave the threads of information into something coherent, and I would not get far without being able to make those relevant connections and articulate why those connections matter. And on a personal level, my education has allowed me to become more confident and self-assured in my everyday life in a way that I otherwise would not have been.”

Lives in: Rutland, VT

Major/minors: Economics major, statistics and math minors

Why economics? “I am fascinated by the network of interactions involved in the modern global economy and love working with lots of data, so it just seemed like a match."

Current position: Pursuing an M.S. in economics from Tufts University

What study looks like: “I am a Research Fellow with the University of Naples Federico II, a Housing Fellow at the Vermont Housing Finance Agency, and a Research Intern at EconoFact.”

What he loves about it: “All my work largely comes down to working with data and drawing conclusions, and that is what I love.”

What he gained from a liberal arts education: “The environment at UVM gave me a space to speak with people (peers and professors) who were just as interested in various bits of history and life as myself. Also, my education there most definitely improved my writing and communication skills. I wrote some of the longest things I’ve written (so far at least) while at UVM—among them my honors thesis—and I received constructive criticism and encouragement from professors to work on sore spots. That experience allowed me to become better at communicating my own thoughts, which is a skill that should not be underestimated.”

Lives in: New York, NY

Major: Economics

Why economics? “Both my parents did their degrees in economics, and I was always fascinated by economic questions, specifically inequality and housing affordability. My original plan was simply to start with economics and take some other classes when I got to UVM, but I enjoyed my first class with Professor Law so much that I kept going in the program.”

Current position: Pursuing an M.A. in statistics from Columbia University

What study looks like: “My current course of study is heavily focused on risk and the financial sector. The main areas are mathematical finance, probability, and regression techniques.” 

What he plans to do with his degree: “After I finish my M.A., I hope to continue with the housing advocacy I did as an undergraduate at UVM. Hopefully I can use my education to push for changes to increase housing affordability and reduce homelessness both in the United States and abroad.”

What he gained from a liberal arts education: “Most problems we encounter in our lives, both at a personal and societal scale, have more deeply rooted causes than we can see at the surface. My liberal arts education shifted how I approach those problems, as I have learned that solving the underlying problem is a better long-term solution than covering up the issue.

“Another primary skill I gained was improving my relationship and conversation skills. Liberal arts courses are, by their very nature, both collaborative and creative. That collaborative approach extends to one specific skill that a lot of people struggle with: knowing when to ask other people for help. Nobody has infinite bandwidth and one thing a liberal art education teaches you is how to know when to take a secondary role if you are overstretched.

Finally, the ability to go out and search for information on any topic, along with having the ability to read and understand topics from various fields, establishes a very strong baseline for competence in any environment. Some people might know more than me in a specific field, but my education gave me the tools to go find the knowledge to still be able to engage with them positively.”