I’m a relatively recent college graduate. I have a bachelor’s of science in math and went to a not-that-impressive state school in the US, where I got middling grades and didn’t pursue much in the way of internships, clubs, general resume building, etc.
My question is: I think that it’s morally important for me to try and do good with my career, primarily through the means of earning more money. However, I’m unsure really what I’m actually qualified for, the option space seems both really constrained in terms of “what I know people with math majors do” ie teaching and also really open. A lot of the advice for young EA’s is reasonably targeted at folks much more impressive than I am, for good reasons I think. But is there a source of advice for someone mediocre like myself?
This feels self-flagellating, and after reading your family planning vs animal welfare piece, in which you spent 26% of the word count explaining why your analysis was bad despite pretty much all of the comments being positive, and which I think was really valuable, I am a little worried you might be underselling yourself.
As Charlie’s said, it is a little tricky for an outsider to know what you’re capable of without more information. I don’t want to be unrealistic and suggest that you’ll be able to do whatever you set your mind to, but I would note that aptitude is not fixed.
If it would help to have some back and forth with someone, feel free to reach out.
Assuming you have, but still probably worth skimming the earn to give sections of 80k/probably good and looking at their job boards.
Hard to say more without knowing your interests and how “mediocre” you are. You can sign up for career coaching with 80k and/or probably good. Also, it could be useful to reach out to other ea students studying math at other universities and talk to them. can query link below by career stage.
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/people-directory?utm_source=ea_hub&utm_medium=website