[cwal37]

Thanks a bunch!

I actually have a friend in Cornell's PhD economics program right now, and he's warned me about math (and he majored in math) and that Real Analysis in particular is crucial. That's what most concerns me, as I've leaned on my physics-PhD significant other in the past for some math-related help.

That's a really good point about field-specific economics programs, I hadn't really considered that, but it makes a lot of sense given my interests and current abilities. It seemed to me that energy was weirdly neglected when looking through programs (even though it has so many neat peculiarities and inefficiencies), so it's good to know I'm not the only person who has noticed that.

Thankfully, I'm not looking at it for the immediate future as my current position will last a few years (we have boatloads of funding and bipartisan support), and I'm at possibly the easiest national lab to get a staff position and advance without a PhD (Oak Ridge). Down the line though, I know I love academia and teaching, so I'll probably go back, and your advice is super helpful to think about in the interim, thanks again!

[bachmeier]

Best of luck whatever you end up doing.