If someone was looking to work for OPP would an honours* or masters program be more beneficial than an undergraduate degree?
Are there particular questions or areas that could be worked on for a research project in honours/masters that are particularly helpful directly or develop the right kinds of skills for OPP? (especially in economics, philosophy or cognitive science)
(“Honours” in Australia is a 1 year research/coursework program)
Completion of an honours or masters program provides us with a bit more evidence about an applicant’s capabilities than an undergraduate degree does, but both are less informative to us than the applicant’s performance on the various work samples that are part of our application process.
Because our roles are so “generalist,” there are few domains that are especially relevant, though microeconomics and statistics are two unusually broadly relevant fields. In general, we find that those with a STEM background do especially well at the kind of work we do, but a STEM background is not required. A couple other things that are likely helpful for getting and excelling in an Open Phil research analyst role are calibration training and practice making Fermi estimates.
If someone was looking to work for OPP would an honours* or masters program be more beneficial than an undergraduate degree?
Are there particular questions or areas that could be worked on for a research project in honours/masters that are particularly helpful directly or develop the right kinds of skills for OPP? (especially in economics, philosophy or cognitive science)
(“Honours” in Australia is a 1 year research/coursework program)
Completion of an honours or masters program provides us with a bit more evidence about an applicant’s capabilities than an undergraduate degree does, but both are less informative to us than the applicant’s performance on the various work samples that are part of our application process.
Because our roles are so “generalist,” there are few domains that are especially relevant, though microeconomics and statistics are two unusually broadly relevant fields. In general, we find that those with a STEM background do especially well at the kind of work we do, but a STEM background is not required. A couple other things that are likely helpful for getting and excelling in an Open Phil research analyst role are calibration training and practice making Fermi estimates.