学霸是怎样炼成的

问：首先恭喜你获得美国哥伦比亚大学的录取通知书。现在是不是有一种梦想成真的感觉？

答：嗯，是的，我现在真的非常高兴，终于如愿以偿了。你可能不知道，我这一路走来有多么不易。

问：嗯嗯，是的，你的经历很丰富，而且也都很优秀，能给大家分享一下吗？

答：谢谢，的确像你说的那样，在本科期间，我自己确实很努力，要知道我的本科学校北京外国语大学距我的经济学双学位北京大学是有一段距离的，我本身是英语专业的，为了补充经济学相关背景，每周我都要骑着自行车奔波于这两个学校，特别是暑假的时候，北京很热，其他的同学要么回家了，要么出去玩了，只有我还得待在闷热的宿舍学习。最崩溃的时候，往往是期末考试的时候，为了同时取得本科英语翻译专业和经济学专业的良好成绩，我需要通宵熬夜复习，一手英语翻译，一手微观经济学。就这样一直坚持到最后，功夫不负有心人，最后两方面的成绩都非常不错。

直到留学申请这个环节，我才遇到了一些自己根本解决不了的问题，留学申请也并不像我想象中的那么简单。在这里，我要非常感谢时代焦点的指导老师，特别是许老师，针对我未来的申请项目和目前的申请背景的差距给了我很多专业的建议。

问：真的非常佩服你，你真的是很不错。那你能否简单地给我们讲一下时代焦点在后期的申请过程中给你的具体建议吗？

答：嗯，可以的。焦点团队针对我复合型的专业背景，本科文学方向，双学位经济学，为我量身打造了两套院校申请和文书设计方案。

第一套方案针对我自己未来要学习的公共管理和公共政策方向，许老师建议我多研究一些中国非营利组织的管理理念，以及中国当下福利政策执行时遇到的困难；第二套方案是针对我本人经济学方向研究经验的积累，着重挖掘我在经济领域的独特视角与探寻发现，从而差异化我的申请文书的制作。

问：听着确实不错啊，事实也是这样的，因为你的国内本科阶段学的是英语翻译，硕士学的是经济学，要去美国学习公共管理和公共政策，每个阶段学习的专业都不一样，都有不一样的挑战。

答：是的，的确是这样的，在这一点上，我要非常感谢许老师对我的帮助，这一点在我成功申请到美国哥伦比亚大学和芝加哥大学硕士项目中起到了至关重要的作用。

问：嗯嗯，我们还有一点好奇，就是想问你一下当你拿到北京大学的硕士学位之后，为什么还要选择去美国继续学习呢？

答：是这样的。不管是在北外，还是在北大，我都在接受一些比较传统的中国式的教育，但是我接触过一些从国外留学回来的海归老师或者国外的教授，他们的学术视野和眼界更为广阔，在这一点上，我被他们深深地吸引了。所以，在大学本科的时候，我就萌生了毕业之后去美国留学继续深造的念头，要亲身感受世界一流学府的思维和理念，让自己与世界的距离变得更近。

问：再次祝贺你，也祝你学业有成之后，能在更广阔的舞台上施展你的才华！

答：谢谢你们！

时代焦点其他名校录取的学员，比如录取到Columbia, Cornell金融工程项目的Penny同学，录取到MIT金融硕士项目的北京大学学生Lu Jing也都是这一类型的学员，详情可点击时代焦点官方网站：http://www.focusedu.cn/

以下是卜燕楠同学的文书：

In my freshman year, I worked as an interpreter for China Global Debt Capital Markets Congress and had the opportunity to work with Dr.XX, a senior offcial of People's Bank of China for over a decade.Impressed by the intricate impact of fscal and monetary policies upon economy, I asked him how I might work in this field.He kindly advised me to pursue a double major in Economics, and said that he would offer me an internship if I could get straight As.

For the following two years, I biked thousands miles at night and weekends to pursue my Double Major Program in Economics at Peking University.Switching between two universities and two majors was more diffcult than I had imagined：when my friends were busy socializing around campus, I had to handle my double workload.Nonetheless, with J.D.Salinger's rebellion and Noam Chomsky's linguistic philosophy on the one side and Arman Alchian and Gary Becker's economic empires on the other, I enjoyed my college life no less than they did.The liberal education I received at BFSU（XX）exposes me to a wealth of critical thoughts while the rigorous training I had at PKU plants the seeds of my academic pursuit.

Through the Economics Program, I have not only acquired knowledge of mathematics, economic theories and econometrics, but also seized various opportunities to sharpen my insight into economic issues.I deliberately sat in on advanced classes such as“Real Analysis”and“Financial Econometrics：Time Series Models”to refne my quantitative skills.I also actively attended graduate-level International Economics Seminars launched by Dr.XX, discussing with scholars their choice of variables in regression models.Also, I served as a research assistant for Dr.XX, studying China's economic problems from the perspective of race-to-the-bottom.Moreover, I carried out my own term-project for the course Financial Economics by establishing the GARCH model to analyze returns and volatility of China's stock market.

Luckily, with my hard work and good grades, I got to work with Dr.XX Ph.D.candidates this year at the PBC School of Finance（PBCSF），the think tank of China's central bank.My research focused on China's economic transition and monetary policies.With Renminbistill pegged to a basket of currencies, China is facing multi-fold challenges.On the one hand, its GDP is growing at a slower pace, putting pressure on the employment rate.On the other hand, high infation keeps China from further easing measures.The Renminbi appreciation might help relieve the inflation stress, but is likely to bring decline in export and lead to an infow of hot money.Together with many Ph.D.students, I conducted comparative studies of developed and developing countries’previous practices.Using data of infation, consumption, income and housing prices of other nations as a benchmark, I analyzed China's growth path in the past thirty years, and detected that China is now facing a critical dilemma：how to curb high infation while sustaining high growth.On top of that, as the intellectual home for China's economics talents, PBCSF enabled me to approach the heart of economic conundrums.

For instance, I often debated with students there about whether Keynes's theorem still rings a truth today, or about whether Krugman appropriately evaluated technology progress in his prediction of“no miracles in Asia”.

My future researches would focus on policies regarding China's fnancial reform so as to solve the dilemma I’ve mentioned above.After graduating from Harris, I plans to continue my study in a doctoral program and then work at a Chinese think tank, thereby witnessing the contribution of my professional knowledge towards the real world.With my existent research experiences, what I need, in order to achieve my goal, is exactly the MPP program that Chicago Harris offers.

Harris's unique class setting appeals to me for several reasons.To begin with, since analysis of economic policies not only involves math and economic principles but also political methods, courses like“Political Feasibility Analysis：Winning Strategies in Public Policy”and“Political Institutions and the Policy Process”will be instrumental in my future career.What's more, MPP at Harris will open up valuable opportunities for me to learn from top policy practitioners through either one-to-one mentor program or internships in the city of Chicago, and help me set up a worldwide network connecting creative thinkers and infuential leaders.For example, attending lectures by senior policy makers like Richard Daley would prevent me from talking vainly with models and theories and teach important lessons on the application of expertise.

I would like to concentrate on the Public Sector policy with an emphasis on Finance and Public Expenditures, etc.In addition to the rich offerings of Harris, I appreciate the fexibility to take classes from different schools to help me gain a holistic perspective to face the increasingly interdisciplinary challenges in today's public policy areas.