What department are you a graduate student in? 

I am currently a graduate student in the Master in Applied Economics program. 

Why did you decide to go to graduate school? 

I decided to enter the graduate program for the value. I graduated when COVID was still at its height and I was curious about what programs FSU offered. I found the Masters in Applied Economics program that was only a 1 year program. I was an Econ major in undergraduate, so it seemed like a no brainer to me. Only a small investment to permanently increase my future earning potentials and learn some hard-skills for the job market was well worth it.

Did your interests change throughout your program?

I would say that my interest did change during the program. When I first entered the program I thought I might want to get into Labor consulting. However, after about 3 weeks in the program, our Director sent out an email about an internship opportunity at a firm called Integrated Musculoskeletal Care that analyzes health insurance claim data. My family has worked in the medical field for many generations and I have always held an interest in health care. I found the work to be extremely interesting and could see myself working in that field in the future.

What do you want to do with your advanced degree?

I would like to work in Health Care consulting space as I believe it is one of the most important factors to our economy right now. Roughly 20% of the United States GDP is spent on healthcare, this number needs to shrink. I would like to help in that mission by utilizing data and analytics to reduce firms health care expenditures so that patients and insurance companies can save money.