Back to the Future : An Interview with Maggie Shi ‘ 16
Back to the Future : An Interview with Maggie Shi ‘ 16
Maggie Shi is a second-year economics PhD student at Columbia University . Her research interests are in public finance and labor economics – interests that were very much influenced by the classes she took at Rice . Maggie was a member of Baker College and majored in Mathematical Economic Analysis and Statistics .
How have you enjoyed your first two years at Columbia ? What can you tell prospective students about economics graduate school ?
I have grown immensely , both academically and as a person . The first year was tough but also incredibly rewarding . As in most economics PhD programs , at Columbia I had to take the “ big three ” core classes – micro , macro , and ( econo ) metrics – and prepare for certifying exams in the summer . While three classes might sound like a breeze … it certainly wasn ’ t ! I probably worked 2-3 times harder than I did as an undergrad . They put you through the ringer so that you understand the models inside and out . This requires understanding every assumption , working through all the details in the mathematical proofs , and fully grasping the intuition . But all that hard work wasn ’ t fruitless . Once I understood the material , ideas and models I had encountered in my undergrad courses at Rice suddenly clicked together . I really started to appreciate the beauty of economics ( am I getting too nerdy here ? Guess that ’ s why I ’ m in grad school !). The first year of grad school also pushes you as a person – I came out of it a lot more self-disciplined and a lot more aware of how to manage stress .
I ’ m now in my second year , which is a lot more relaxed and fun . I ’ m taking really interesting electives in public finance , political economy , education , health economics , and development . I ’ ve enjoyed seeing what is on the research frontier in these classes , and I am planning
on choosing public finance and applied microeconomics as my two fields . I ’ ve also started to dip my toes into empirical work this year , which you don ’ t get to do a lot in first year .
How did your classes at Rice as well as your overall student experience help you prepare for graduate study ? In what ways do you feel you could have been better prepared ?
I think the most important classes that prepared me at Rice were the electives . Yes , math is incredibly important , and so are the basics of micro and macro . But personally , the research and ideas I was exposed to in my electives are what keep me inspired .
Another really important part of my Rice experience was the mentorship I received from professors . While I was applying for PhD programs , they helped me evaluate schools and showed me what I needed to do to improve my chances . Last year , when I felt like there was no way I could master the material , I thought back to all my Rice professors who believed in me , and I pushed on .
Looking back , my only regret is that I didn ’ t work under a professor to get more research experience – many of my classmates had experience as research assistants . So , I am still catching up to them in terms of Stata and data cleaning / management , although I can leverage what I learned from my honors research project in my senior year .
Are there other things that you would recommend that our students do to prepare themselves for graduate studies in economics ?
First , make sure you really want to get an economics PhD . Figure out what people do after getting an econ PhD and what life in a PhD program is like , and see if it lines up with your own preferences . Graduate school is not just five more years of undergrad . If you do the research on grad school and are still interested , then I would recommend reaching out to professors in the department to ask about next steps . This probably includes taking as many math classes as you can , studying for the GRE , maybe taking a course in the ECON grad program , and doing an independent research project in your senior year .
What are the best features of the Columbia PhD program ?
It is a really supportive environment . Of course , I have not personally experienced any other PhD program , so I can ’ t really compare . But I have found that my classmates are really friendly and not competitive at all , which is great when it comes to first year classes and also coauthorship opportunities in the future . Additionally , there are very few limitations on research areas as there are so many professors whose research covers almost any topic you might be interested in and Columbia ’ s economics department doesn ’ t have a reputation for being heavily skewed toward any particular field . There are also a lot of fantastic economists working in Columbia ’ s other graduate schools , like the School of International and Public Affairs , Teachers College , and Columbia Business School .
How do you like living in New York City ?
I love it ! It is really different from Houston – lots of public transportation , walkable neighborhoods , and we get all four seasons ! Columbia is located a bit north of the busiest parts of the city , but it is still in Manhattan . My neighborhood is relatively quiet ( which is good for when you want to focus ), but I still have access to everything New York City has to offer . It is definitely an expensive city for a student living on a grad school stipend , but there are lots of inexpensive and fun things to do . Being a grad student , my hours are flexible enough that I can do things like catch a matinée performance of Hamilton or go to the Met on a Tuesday afternoon when no one else is around . Living in New York City adds a great new dimension to graduate student life .
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