Does it pay (literally) to have an honours degree?

Engineering, work, or Econ Honours?

• I'm about to complete my (accelerated) Bachelor of Business majoring in Economics. The program includes direct entry to Economics Honours next year. Honours is required to work at the treasury and reserve bank of Australia - though the pay is definitly not high compared to the private sectors. But its hard to get jobs.I have only progressed to the interview level of graduate and cadetship programs int he government and then not been accepted. This is despite my stellar GPA of 7.0/7.0.Under the work now option, I could continue my search this year and hopefully work next year. Engineering - I come from a family of engineers so its in my blood and I think I'd be good at it. I've enjoyed a few units I have taken. If this were my path, I would either do 2 extra years of engineering to get a Double Degree in Business/Eng or 4 extra years to get a second degree in Eng. Though I don't think the double degree would necessarily make me competitive, I wonder if I will even be able to get a job in engineering firms? Which path is most lucrative in the long term? Thanks

• Answer:

  You might try an internship first. Internships can turn into jobs. Once you have some work experience, take a look around your industry and see where you want to end up. Take a look at how those people did it. Look at the CVs of the executives at the Au central bank. I don't know the system in Au, but at the UN, the competition to get an internship is intense. They have their pick of young, bright interns with excellent marks from brand name colleges (Yale, Oxford, Harvard, etc.). If that is the case in Au, then you will have to figure out how to compete with these sorts of people. You may want to try a 1-year MSc in England at one of the better schools. LSE has a one year post-grad diploma in economics for those without a suitable honors background in economics. If you have the money, it might make sense to finish your degree with high marks, get some work experience, apply to a British masters degree programme and then apply to work at the central bank.