Q&A with our current graduate students.
Interview with Meiying Han. (Sep. 2006)
Q: When did you come to Stony Brook, and what was your background?
A: I came to Stony Brook in August of 2005, right after four-year college study. My undergraduate major in China was Finance.
Q: What are you currently doing?
A: I have just started my second year as a PhD student in economics. I am a full-time student. I am now doing a teaching assistant job–giving recitations for intermediate microeconomics undergraduate course. I am also learning a lot from the teaching experience.
Q: How are you financially supported?
A: Like most of the other students in our department, I receive both financial support to cover my tuition, and a stipend for my work as a T.A.; the latter covers my living expenses.
Q: How would you describe your first year in the Ph. D. program in Economics at Stony Brook? Is there anything that you did not expect before you came?
A: For the first year, basically we were taking preliminary courses and some of the courses turned out to be challenging for me. I benefit a lot from discussing with our professors, senior students and my classmates. I also worked on a term paper for the Econometrics course by Professor Mark Montgomery. It was a very good practice for me. I started to attend some department seminars in the first year, which was the very first time I saw people presenting their research projects.
It is not much different from what I expected before coming here; living on campus is very comfortable. There were some difficulties in the very beginning–language, course works, and getting familiar with new environment–but finally we all get through.
Q: What make you decide to study for your Ph.D. at Stony Brook?
A: I checked general information about graduate schools in the US on the Internet and I found that Stony Brook had a very good reputation. I also checked on the department website and emailed some senior students; they helped me know more about Stony Brook. And there are some of my friends from the same university with me also came to Stony Brook at that time.
Q: What would you like to tell our prospective students regarding applying to the Ph.D. program at Stony Brook? When you applied, what were the main concerns that you wanted to clarify but was difficult to find information on?
A: Before applying PhD program, it is very good if students give a serious consideration about research interests. Doing some preparation for related courses also helps a lot. When I applied, I went through all the information on websites, there is a very complete application instruction. We can also get information about faculty, staff and graduate students on the department website.
Q: How do you like the life at Stony Brook, forgetting your studies for a bit? For example, if you live on campus how do you like it? and if not, how is life out of campus.
A: I live on campus; it is very convenient for me to get access to all kinds of information. There are many festival celebrations and parties on campus. Students in Stony Brook come from all over the world; there is a strong feeling of being in a multi-cultural campus, which is very special for me. Stony Brook is near New York City, there are also many beautiful sites on Long Island. There are many places we can go with friends for weekends and vacations.
Q: Have you made friends here, is it easy to meet people and interact with them?
A: First of all, our classmates are very close with each other, we are all good friends. I am living on campus, and our apartment complex is mostly for graduate students. So I also made friends with people living nearby. We spent time together for some weekends.
Q: What do students usually do during the summer?
A: For the first summer vacation, I was doing a grader job, also preparing for the comprehensive examination which is right in the end of the summer. As far as I know, some senior students just go back home, both international and native students. Also it is a good time to take a trip within the US.
Q: What do you plan to do in the next year?
A: For the second year, it is time for us to explore more about our research interests, as we are going to decide the research field. I am interested in empirical study, labor field, now I am still taking courses; in the end of the second year, I will work on a second year paper, which I guess could be my first formal step in research.
Q: If you had to give one piece of advice to a prospective student, what would that be?
A: When you apply just make your interest in this department clear, it is very nice studying here.