So I decided that I'm going to study agricultural econ today.

[politicat]

I've been thinking about getting a doctorate because I'm already too overeducated so I need to make that worse. I've got two useless sets of paper (Psych - because I won't practice in the current environment - and history - because being a professor is worse than being a shrink... or a burger flipper) so I want a third set that's actually going to be USEFUL. Ag econ is what keeps catching me and has for most of my life. One of my earliest interests was following my great-grandfather and our farm manager around the place asking questions, and the books I read for "fun" are all about econ and food and agricultural theory. (And Jane Austen, but a Lit degree would be even more useless than the two sets of paper I have. They won't even let a person drop fries with a Lit degree. That's strictly dishwasher territory, and only if the dishes are plastic.)

I don't so much want to be a farmer as figure out ways to make our agricultural system work better for the people doing the work and for us who consume ag products. Some of that includes studying incentive based farming and some is going to be developing functional markets. Since I spend a fairly scary amount of time learning agricultural policy anyway (for fun and the family farm) I might as well get credit and paper for the work I do.

I can't start in the fall - I need to gather up ye olde tuition and it's too late to apply to either CSU or UNC right now anyway - but I think it's going to be the fall of 2007. I won't have to start over entirely, but since there's so little overlap between the curriculae, I'm going to have to take all of the undergrad ag courses and get a BS in ag. (No pun intended.) So it's not going to be a matter of write a couple of papers on oil producer crop rotation and ba-da-bing! Paper!

I've got strikes against me - I'll be 31, a woman, a liberal and not planning to farm myself. It may get ugly down here.

So I guess my question is: Am I totally insane??

[NJCher]

1. This sounds fascinating

And a nice fit for your childhood predilection. Plus you could really do some good!

I've a few books to recommend to you. Although you may know about them already, I'll still come back to this thread once I've found them and post them.

Too bad about the tuition keeping you from starting right away. Hey, check now and see if there's not room for a grad assistant!?




Cher

[politicat]

2. There's the admissions problem, too.

UNC and CSU don't admit this late. So I don't mind. I need to brush up on my statistical analysis and research methods, anyway.

And you know, we're well off enough that I am never going to be a grad slave again if I can avoid it. Tuition isn't terribly high, but we have been putting our money into IRAs and long-term investments, so I don't have anything I can liquidate in less than about six months.

I'd love whatever books you can recommend!!

[troubleinwinter]

3. Sounds absolutely wonderful to me.

Many years ago, I had been riding horses regularly with friends and finally decided to keep a horse or two of my own at home. My daughter was 9 or ten, and I told her that I was going to take a course in 'Horse Husbandry' at the local J.C.

She said "NO, yer NOT." I said, "Yes, I am." She said, "NO YER NOT!" I said, "Well, I am." She said "I'M GONNA TELL DAD!!!!"

[politicat]

4. *blink* *giggle* *Giggle* ROFL!!!

So, did your husband bridle at the suggestion?

[troubleinwinter]

5. You is just *bad*.