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I will give a similar but different take on my experiences for those young consider pre-docs/academia. I have happily spent my career in a far-from top 30 school @montanastate. I don't have a top 5, but I work on policy-relevant questions that interest me. https://twitter.com/mikecoonomics/status/1282034498570461186
One of favorite parts of the job is talking to state and federal policymakers & practitioners regularly about #fined research! Translating yours and others' research for practical use is so fun! And my university rewards this.
I have an excellent set of colleagues who all do applied micro work. I get grants because it's an added bonus and I love partnering with foundations. It also lets me buy out of some teaching...But my teaching load is pretty standard (2-2).
I also have colleagues that value work/life balance. Personally, I usually ski about 50 days a year and mountain bike a lot in the summer. Everyone has several hobbies that they are very into, and it's not shameful.
All this to say, there are many models of econ life on #EconTwitter. Writing good papers, loving research, and getting your research out there, while still doing fun stuff outside of econ has been my goal.
One more thing to note is that I have had many undergrads in the last 5 years who applied to grad school right away. None got into the v top programs, but many got into top 20 programs. Most have done well. Others realized it wasn't for them. Pros/cons to predocs.
