Studying

I am really excited about starting my MA, which is in International Political Economy. Until people ask me what it's about, when I get confused and realise I'm not entirely sure. "Economics, but with the political elements, and international", which is just rearranging the words in the title and interspersing them with some joining words. Not entirely helpful.

Occasionaly I have doubts about the whole enterprise. My first degree was politics with journalism. The title of my dissertation was "the debt crisis in Africa: a critique of neoliberalism" and criticised neoliberalism, the theory behind competetive capitalism, using structural adjustment programmes ( a neoliberal and widely-criticised response to third world debt) as an example of how and why neoliberalism is rubbish.

I really enjoyed this and after a few years working for SPEAK I decided to go back to uni and do a masters in economics. I want to change the way economics works, to find a solution that helps the poor and brings more equality, to find an alternative model to capitalism.

Unfortunately, Manchester University, which I wanted to go to, wouldn't let me do a masters in economics without an undergraduate degree in economics. So I applied for and was accepted to do a BA in economics and social studies. Which would have been really cool, but it would have taken 7 years altogether to get to being a doctor, which is my long-ish term aim.

Then one day I found the MA in International Political Economy (IPE). So I applied for that and got accepted (this was pretty stressful, trying to get references sorted and then waiting to hear...). So now I've ditched the undergrad degree. This saves me four years studying and about £3500. Not bad, eh?

However, I wonder whether I'm taking the soft option. I like the idea of doing more political stuff and I don't have to do quite so much maths which I'm not very good at any more. Over in the IPE part of social sciences they're all about challenging orthodoxy, which I'm up for. But will I be able to make as much of a difference there? Am I just choosing to be with people who think like me? Would I be better off getting a technical grounding? Am I just heading off to sit in an ivory tower and write papers which no-one will ever read and which will have negligible impact on the world?

No idea. But as I've withdrawn from my place on the undergrad degree, it's too late anyway...