Just wanted to highly recomend this blog for those of you who are interested in Industrial Organization and Managerial Economics. Check it out!
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
A little bit of unrelated stuff... Finals, Spring break and Admit decisions
Hi everyone, I hope you are doing great. I'm on finals now so there is a little but of crisis time again...
But hopefully all will be over by tomorrow and we will be ready for sprig break.
Many people use to travel on spring break, but if you are on a tight budget, staying at home is also a nice strategy.
As internships are about to come, I am taking advantage of the fact that I will stay in Chicago to meet with some of the employers I am more interested about. So I recommend to enjoy your experience, but also to think strategically about your short and long term professional goals!
In unrelated news, to those of you who are waiting on admit responses, I know several public policy programs have been releasing their final decisions, so keep posted and good luck with that!
PS: the picture below shows my final study crisis that its about to end in a few hours!
But hopefully all will be over by tomorrow and we will be ready for sprig break.
Many people use to travel on spring break, but if you are on a tight budget, staying at home is also a nice strategy.
As internships are about to come, I am taking advantage of the fact that I will stay in Chicago to meet with some of the employers I am more interested about. So I recommend to enjoy your experience, but also to think strategically about your short and long term professional goals!
In unrelated news, to those of you who are waiting on admit responses, I know several public policy programs have been releasing their final decisions, so keep posted and good luck with that!
PS: the picture below shows my final study crisis that its about to end in a few hours!
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Between Research and Practical Policy
In many graduate programs you get the chance to choose elective courses matching your professional and academic interests. In some of them, you have the opportunity to choose between different alternatives even when you are taking the core course.
Although this might seem trivial, it actually becomes in a ver distressing activity. This situation not only forces you to choose a professional path or specialization, but also requires you to define your academic career. In fields like Public Policy, the variety of options is huge and you can specialize in areas from Public Health to Economic Policy (and all the subareas within those ranges). Many people actually choose not to specialize and decides to go more broadly.
In my particular case, I was between choosing something more research oriented and something more practical. After taking different courses, I think I will let the PhD for the future and focus on practical policy matters. When competing with people like you, you also get to know where are your competitive advantages and what you really are passionate for.
At the end, my motive for pursuing public policy studies was to make a real contribution to practical issues that affect people in major urban concentrations. So I've decided to go for areas like Transportation and Crime Prevention in cities, from which I can learn from of the best professors in these fields.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
There is no such thing as a free lunch
Even though studying abroad is a great experience, there are things that are quite important to notice when living far from your friends, family and well known culture.
This last month I have experience the classical adaptability crisis thing. Things like finding a job, making long lasting friends and even the evaluation system can make you feel like an alien in a world that you feel is not yours.
When English is not your first language, you may not sound as intelligent or funny as you are used to in your native language. This might sound as a silly thing, but after the months passes and you realize this is your new life, you kind I get tired of it.
The same thing happened to me with with the academic system. You know you have to adapt to a system that is not yours and you really do your best. But sometimes you inevitable get frustrated because you don't score the highest grades. With the grading system, it also happens that you feel you don't have complete information and so you might fail in little things and this process might be frustrating over time.
I don't want to make a drama out of it, but I think it is worthy to know that not all the experience is pleasant. The quarter system is also exhausting. There are weeks that you literally dot move from your chair or don't even have the chance to see the sunlight because the assignments keep you so busy. And this is what you wanted right?! A demanding program from where you can get as much knowledge as you can! And they really accomplish this goal! Hahahahaha. But this doesn't mean that you don't get tired!
I am a very organized person and I was not used to study until 3am every week. I though this wont happen to me, because I am very rigorous, but let me tell you it happens!!! Hahahaha
The thing is that I just wanted to keep you posted on these things that you usually don't have the chance to know from the programs websites or FAQ. sites.
The funny thing is that this might seem to be happening for a lot of my friends here, but no one speaks about it because everyone thinks is a "cultural shock". It's more natural than we think ;)
If you are considering to study abroad, try to keep a balance between your academic and personal life! And enjoy the whole experience!!!
No wonder why the Econ Department from the University is Chicago is well known from it's lemme: "there is no such thig as a free lunch"!
See you!
This last month I have experience the classical adaptability crisis thing. Things like finding a job, making long lasting friends and even the evaluation system can make you feel like an alien in a world that you feel is not yours.
When English is not your first language, you may not sound as intelligent or funny as you are used to in your native language. This might sound as a silly thing, but after the months passes and you realize this is your new life, you kind I get tired of it.
The same thing happened to me with with the academic system. You know you have to adapt to a system that is not yours and you really do your best. But sometimes you inevitable get frustrated because you don't score the highest grades. With the grading system, it also happens that you feel you don't have complete information and so you might fail in little things and this process might be frustrating over time.
I don't want to make a drama out of it, but I think it is worthy to know that not all the experience is pleasant. The quarter system is also exhausting. There are weeks that you literally dot move from your chair or don't even have the chance to see the sunlight because the assignments keep you so busy. And this is what you wanted right?! A demanding program from where you can get as much knowledge as you can! And they really accomplish this goal! Hahahahaha. But this doesn't mean that you don't get tired!
I am a very organized person and I was not used to study until 3am every week. I though this wont happen to me, because I am very rigorous, but let me tell you it happens!!! Hahahaha
The thing is that I just wanted to keep you posted on these things that you usually don't have the chance to know from the programs websites or FAQ. sites.
The funny thing is that this might seem to be happening for a lot of my friends here, but no one speaks about it because everyone thinks is a "cultural shock". It's more natural than we think ;)
If you are considering to study abroad, try to keep a balance between your academic and personal life! And enjoy the whole experience!!!
No wonder why the Econ Department from the University is Chicago is well known from it's lemme: "there is no such thig as a free lunch"!
See you!
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