Hi! Today’s post will be a bit different.

The semester is (finally) over.

Not going to lie, I’m glad it’s over. This semester is definitely the hardest one so far academically and mentally. A LOT has happened since August, so I thought I’d give a recap/reflection of the highs and lows.

Highlights:

Emerging Markets- Emerging Markets changed my academic life. It showed me the beauty in modeling, and more importantly, gave me confidence that this is something I could do. Professor Ales is by far the best educator I’ve ever met. He teaches with such enthusiasm that I felt more energized AFTER class than before.

Getting accepted into PRIMO- PRIMO is a very selective summer research programme. I’ll be working directly under a professor at HBS on a project studying hospital managerial practises. It’s quite different from my primary research focus, but intellectual diversity is what I’m all about!

Being Secretary of Econ Research Club- ERC has been a staple of my time at CMU. This year, I had the privilege of serving as the secretary. As secretary, I invited two professors, put together the voting forms, sent out weekly emails and found the best econ memes. Last week was elections and I’m happy to say that I scored another term!

(finally) Learning R- R is the bread and butter of data analysis in the social sciences. I first encountered it freshman year taking 88300. I did not learn R. In fact, the idea of not being able to access the TA synchronously is the primary reason I chose not to go back to China when I had a chance in 2020. In the following semesters, I gradually learned, but still relied heavily on friends/TAs. Guess what, I FINALLY got it this semester. I made the outputs above ALL by myself, in addition to cleaning some very complicated data. My code is still horrendous, but it gets the job done.

Fun with Friends- That’s right, I actually have a semblance of a social life now. Huge shoutout to my (extended) team. With them, I’ve reached my goal of going off campus for fun at least three times a semester in 2 weeks. My productivity might have taken quite a hit, but it’ a tradeoff I’m willing to take

Challenges:

Getting my first Bs- Last semester, I ended up with a B in game theory. I’m sad to say that Econometrics this semester didn’t go well either…. Luckily, my advisors said it’s not a big deal.

Fail(ing) Project- I’ve been working on a project studying impressions of competence. Unfortunately, as the case with a lot of research, it isn’t going anywhere near as planned… I’ve already had to start over once and might have to start over again. With that said, this has been a very valuable experience. I learned what I DON’T want to do in grad school. Also, as difficult as it was to work with my advisor, he is an amazing person who has been more patient with me than I could ever have hoped for

Losing Motivation- This has been the first semester where I’ve just wanted to do nothing, not even research.

What’s Ahead

Senior year! I honestly can’t believe I’m only two semesters away from graduating.

With that said, they will be the toughest semesters yet by far. In prep for grad school, I’m going to be taking phd classes, more research and LOTS more maths…

I hope everyone enjoyed this (admittedly long) post. Regular programming will resume soon!

Until next time, Bye!

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