01 Why DKU?
I chose DKU for the following three reasons:
First, the liberal arts education, which gave me enough time to explore the major I wanted to study in depth and other interests during my freshman and sophomore years, so as to acquire comprehensive knowledge and skills.
Second, the pleasant campus environment and advanced teaching facilities, which supported me to devote myself to learning and practice.
Finally, the cooperation between DKU and Duke (Duke University in the United States) allowed me to learn and grow on two excellent campuses.
DKU’s beautiful scenery and “specialty” black-bellied whistling duck
02 Stories About My Major And Me
The decision to study Economics was made after more than a year of exploration. In my freshman year, I tried courses in three fields: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities&Arts. Through exploration, I found that I was most interested in the field of Social Sciences. Given that Economics is a subject that is highly integrated with world development and personal life, I hope to take into account both macro and micro perspectives and cultivate the ability to solve practical problems.
03 Plans After Graduation
At a time when global climate issues are becoming increasingly severe, my concern for environmental issues is also increasing. After graduation, I will go to Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment to pursue a master’s degree in Environmental Management. At present, the global economic market is in a stage of transformation and upgrading, and new financial instruments are gradually entering the market. ESG, green finance and other fields that combine environment and economy will be the focus of my future study and employment.
04 Significant Research Experience
During my four years in college, I have had two major research experiences.
In the second semester of my sophomore year, I joined Professor Zhang Luyao’s group and mainly studied the blockchain field. My personal topic is to study the effectiveness of blockchain technology in preventing financial fraud. The reason for choosing this topic is its interdisciplinary nature, which can combine big data, blockchain and financial knowledge. Through this research, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the characteristics and functions of blockchain and explore whether this popular technology can make improvements to social hot issues (financial fraud). At the beginning, I didn’t know much about blockchain, and because of the epidemic, I could only communicate with Professors and other members of the group online, so I was under a lot of pressure. But with perseverance and progress, I finally completed the research and deeply realized the importance of passion and persistence in academic research.
The second research experience started in the first semester of my junior year. I followed Professor David Landry’s team to sort out and analyze data on China’s mining companies. I chose to join this research group to exercise my data processing ability and learn how to start academic research to prepare for the Signature Work. With the help of Professors and team members, I learned to use tools such as Excel and exercised my ability to collect information and organize data. During this period, I also completed an Independent Study, which compared the advantages and disadvantages of two data supply websites.
Signature Work Performance
05 Impressive Internship Experience
My first internship was at Allgo China. At that time, I learned from the DKU Career Office that ERGO China had a job opening. After that, I revised my resume under the guidance of the office mentor and conducted interview drills. Finally, I successfully obtained an internship opportunity and established long-term connections with Duke alumni in the internship company.
During the internship, I mainly did three things. First, I studied the articles about the group’s business that ERGO Group had published and translated and disseminated their core content. Second, my colleagues and I contacted media organizations such as CGTN and PR Newswire to arrange an interview with the company’s CEO and published the interview on the official WeChat public account of ERGO China. Third, under the leadership of Supervisor Sun Jianping (who is also an alumnus of Duke Fuqua School of Business), I completed a research project related to the theme of “brand promotion”. I published an article “Talking about brand transformation from Ping An’s logo change” on the official WeChat public account of Jin Ribao and published a research article on “Pain points and strategies of insurance companies in WeChat operations” in the magazine “Insurance Culture”.
I am very grateful to DKU and the Career Office for actively publishing various internship opportunities and conducting related workshops, providing students with timely information sources; and being able to provide us with reliable advice on resume revision and interviews.
06 Meaningful Leadership Experience
During my sophomore year, I served as a Peer-Mentor, responsible for communicating with 9 freshmen from all over the world, answering their questions during the freshman admission period and the process of adapting to the school afterwards. The main reason for applying to be a Peer-Mentor at that time was to establish connections with students of different grades, cultures, and interests, share my experience with freshmen, help them better adapt to college life, and actively communicate with students of the same major but different grades about course selection and class experience, and make progress together. I am very happy to see that everyone quickly found their own interests and hobbies, made close friends, and made progress in their professional direction. I believe this is also the result of DKU’s multicultural exchanges.
07 Memorable Memory In Duke
While studying at Duke in the United States, I experienced interesting group activities in the Managerial Finance course. At that time, my friend and I formed a group with Duke’s international students. We needed to allocate and invest our “assets” based on the information provided by Professor, and we had to make presentations on behalf of the company. At the beginning, we were not familiar with each other and only communicated online, but after several discussions, everyone was very warm and friendly, and we gradually increased the frequency of offline meetings.
During the group discussion, I found that the international students paid more attention to the process of communication than the results and grades. They were very confident when speaking, and they were not afraid of making mistakes, because they would have the courage to recognize and correct their shortcomings. In that event, I gradually learned to express my opinions boldly and actively ask for everyone’s suggestions. With everyone’s joint efforts, we achieved satisfactory results. Being able to apply what I learned to practical problems makes me feel very accomplished.
Watch Basketball Game in Duke
08 Why Love DKU?
I received help from all aspects at DKU. In terms of academics, thanks to interdisciplinary teaching, I was able to choose a variety of interest courses in addition to studying professional courses and had the opportunity to learn more hard skills such as mathematics and programming. At the same time, during the graduate application process, the school’s Writing Language Studio provided very timely and effective help for my writing of essays. In terms of practice, I have tried a variety of student work on campus and established deep connections with students and staffs from different background. In terms of activities, DKU has opened a variety of student clubs, workshops, field trips and other activities, providing us with flexible learning opportunities and practice platforms.
DKU’s common core courses are also unforgettable to me, not only because of the strict requirements of the Professors during the class, but also because these three required courses have greatly trained my writing and speaking skills, which has benefited me a lot. In addition, I would like to thank my mentor Professor David Landry and my academic advisor Professor Cao Huansheng for their help and guidance in my graduation project, academic research, and graduate application. Of course, I also want to thank all the Professors, staffs and classmates I met for letting me spend an unforgettable four years in college.
09 Growth During 4-years Undergraduation
The biggest change is that I have become clearer about my goal planning, and the execution required to achieve the goal has been significantly improved. I have a correct understanding of myself, understand what I like and what I want to do, and can work hard for it.
10 Key Words in 4-years DKU
Freshman: Try
Sophomore: Focus
Junior: Persist
Fourth year: Climb
11 Suggestions to Fellow Students
I hope that everyone can explore widely and deepen their interests during their time at DKU; keep their feet on the ground and look to the sky.
Translated and Edited by Zhenyu Tian, Class of 2027
