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Competition drives Hirschey, both on and off the field

by Caitlin Carmody

Competition seems to be a theme for Nick Hirschey, though his competitors are an unconventional combination: football players and complex math problems.

Hirschey has been interested in financial markets and economics since third grade. "The idea of making money by not [having to do] anything in the stock market seemed neat [at the time]," he said. He stayed interested, and is a Math and Economics double major.

He also started on the offensive line as a tackle on the Grinnell football team. Unlike Economics, an interest in football didn't start until his junior year of high school, when he realized that "[he] couldn't throw 80 miles per hour and was too short to play basketball."

Hirschey says that he had already decided to go to college and thought it might be fun to play football while he was there. "I came to Grinnell in part to play football," he said. "Also, Professor Montgomery in the Economics department called me, which was really nice of him. [That] was also a big reason for my coming here."

He said at times it was difficult to juggle being a double major and being on an athletic team, but not impossible. "At Grinnell, [football] is not really going to prevent you from doing well," he said. "It would have made it a little bit easier [if I hadn't played], but the reality is I probably would have just wasted that time."

Hirschey said that when he's wearing his glasses "that it's the joke among my friends that that's the subtle math dork part of me."

But the next few years for Hirschey will involve a lot of math and economics and very little, if any, football. He will attend the doctoral program in Finance at the University of Texas-Austin, where he will be the youngest person in the program, and hopes to have his Ph.D. in four years.

"The thing that I like about economics is that it gives a framework for how people make decisions," he said. "I like analyzing things, and the thing about math is I really like giving order to disordered systems and breaking down really complex problems into the fundamental or basic components."

Hirschey said that the decision to stay in academia and not enter the private sector was a difficult one.

"I decided that I really wanted to think instead of do things ... I really like solving problems, so I really am a huge dork," he said. "I'm less interested in dealing with people than ideas [and] I'd rather be doing research than going to a meeting."

So instead of sitting in meetings and managing people's money, Hirschey will become a professor. And as for football, Hirschey says he is done for now."I'm definitely very glad I did it and I have had a lot of fun and [have] lots of good memories," he said. "But I'm ready to move on. I'm ready to be a normal person."

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