01 Why DKU?
As a brand-new university, DKU is endowed with vigorous vitality by the cooperation between top universities in China and the United States, the sharing of resources and the continuous enrichment and improvement of campus culture. Choosing DKU means choosing to be a pioneer, participate in the construction of the school, and create my own future, which is very attractive to me as I like to explore. The liberal arts curriculum system is also very attractive to me, because it can give me more opportunities to explore future academic or career possibilities after finishing my senior year of high school. I think it is worth looking forward to spending four years of college life in such an environment full of opportunities and high fault tolerance!
02 Stories About My Major And Me
Since my parents are in business, I have always wanted to develop my own career. I have a strong sense of empathy, and I am usually concerned about social affairs, so after entering the school, I selected some courses related to economics. After some exploration, I deeply felt the charm of this “social science”: it requires a certain political insight, social responsibility and sensitivity to numbers and rules, which I have, and which is also in line with my own plans for the future. Therefore, I firmly decided to choose political economy as my major.
03 Plans After Graduation
After graduation, I plan to pursue the M2M double degree program at the Yale School of Management, which is a ceiling level opportunity for undergraduates without extensive work experience. The two-year project is a joint venture between Yale and HEC Paris, the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. My first year will be a Master of Management at the University of British Columbia Business School in Canada, and my second year will be a Master of Global Business and Society Management at Yale University. Two years of study in business schools in different countries can expose me to more abundant academic resources and further broaden my vision and social network.
04 Significant Research Experience
Since my sophomore year, I have had the honor to join Professor Zhang Junjie’s research team at DKU Environmental Research Center. The first job was as the sole student worker in the Green Finance Special Policy (SPS) research team of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), mainly responsible for collecting basic data of the industry and seeking empirical and quantitative support through meeting minutes and interviews with relevant experts and researchers from financial institutions and enterprises. I also participated in the drafting, translation and revision of the Chinese and English text of SPS Special Policy Study on Green Finance and coordinated the daily meetings of experts from the Chinese and foreign project teams to ensure smooth communication among all parties. Finally, the policy research results were published smoothly.
Since then, I have continued to participate in the research of low-carbon transition in Professor Zhang Junjie’s team. Although Professor Zhang does not teach undergraduate courses, he very much encourages undergraduate students to participate in research, and he will summarize and make suggestions on our research work in weekly meetings. Cooperating with him makes me understand that high-quality scientific research work cannot be achieved without the original interest and enduring exploration power of researchers. The researchers and seniors in the team are also very patient to guide my daily work and will also help me explore my own research interests and exercise my ability to do research independently.
My qualitative and quantitative analysis ability has been improved through continuous scientific research experience. I also learned a lot about the environment, society and governance (ESG), and became more concerned about the environment and sustainable development, as well as equal rights for women in economic activities, which to some extent became the direction of my future work.
05 Rich Internship Experience
During the summer vacation of my sophomore year, I successfully entered Shanghai PWC Consulting for a summer internship and experienced the daily work of consulting on the spot through submitting resumes and telephone interviews in the internship information sharing community of the school. In nearly two months, I fully and deeply participated in the Chinese smartphone market research project, assisted the project team in designing and promoting the consumer market research, collected market data through desk research, questionnaires, expert interviews and store visits, analyzed and exported valuable insights to customers.
My supervisor, who happens to be an alumnus of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, also gave me a lot of help and guidance during my internship. Despite the strict requirements, the atmosphere of the whole team is still relatively relaxed, and everyone’s cooperation is also tacit. The consulting work exercises logical thinking, information collection and communication skills. It also gives me a sense of accomplishment to dig deeply into an industry and have a clear understanding of its market pattern and future development trend in a short period of time.
PWC Internship
06 Meaningful Internship Experience
Since high school, I have had a strong interest in debating and became active in national competitions. After entering the school, I learned that DKU did not yet have a Chinese debate club, so I immediately started to organize it with a few like-minded friends. After the establishment of the club, my role was also upgraded: I no longer only prepared for the competition as a debater, but also needed to organize daily club activities, recruit and select new players, organize lectures with well-known debaters from outside the school, and communicate with fellow schools to learn from each other.
To the pride of our entire debate team, we reached the final four of the LinkedIn Cup National Debate Competition last May and won the best debater. As the youngest team among the participating universities, we not only have the smallest average age of members, but also the shortest team. In the absence of an instructor and no experience in the workplace, we simply rely on our own continuous collection of information and discussion to polish the war more and more brave, I think this is the best recognition of our own strength and teamwork.
Debate venue
I enjoy the purity of the debate arena and cherish every victory I have with my teammates. From the friendly competition of Fudan University to the World Cup and World Championship, to the far-reaching International Youth Debate on sustainable Development, and the LinkedIn Cup debate competition, from students to workers, we discuss philosophy, debate policy, and promote rights, and are fascinated by the flood of information input, brain-burninglogic reasoning, and live views. The debate team was founded with the same passion, and everyone has a strong sense of purpose and belonging to the team, which in my opinion is the embodiment of leadership.
World Cup debate match photo
In addition to the debate club, I’m also one of the leaders of the Hugather volunteer Society. During the summer vacation of my sophomore year, when I went to the market in Dayuwan, I happened to come to the booth of Kunshan Disabled People’s Home. On the table were all the perfume bags made by the children of the Disabled people’s home. After talking to the stall owners, I learned that they were eager to prove that the work of people with disabilities was also valuable and meaningful, so I proposed to gather a group of volunteers from the school to provide support for them. The stall owner readily agreed, and we began to cooperate. The club will help the home for the disabled to do daily activities publicity, and will accompany the children to do crafts and other fun activities on weekends.
Hugather Society Recruitment
07 Why Love DKU?
DKU’s academic atmosphere is free and inclusive, professors will encourage students to do their own interest in research, the school also provides plenty of research opportunities and support. At the same time, the students around me have strong academic pursuits and will constantly motivate themselves to go out of their comfort zone.
The social atmosphere at DKU is very natural and comfortable. I really liked the orientation week at the beginning of my freshman year, when people were driven by clever activities and naturally started to talk and exchange names. Over the next four years, the flexible course selection system allowed us to interact with students of different majors and grades. The small and beautiful campus allows us, as students, to establish a more intimate connection here and unite as a united collective.
I think many of the students around me are very excellent: some students have high academic achievements, they usually have a very firm research spirit; Some students have a large amount of reading, dabble in a wide range, like to share their own words; Most of the students are very concerned about social hot spots, and actively speak out, and even implement into action; There are also very outgoing “we media” bloggers who shine on social media. At DKU, everyone shines in their own direction, and I was very lucky to spend my four years in such a community.
08 Suggestions To Fellow Students
Looking back at my four years at DKU, exploration was the beginning of all stories and the key to the future. So explore, begin! Don’t be afraid of any fresh start. A few of those countless starts may turn out to be lifelong pursuits, but even a three-minute fling can be a unique and rewarding experience.
“Study hard, Play hard”, don’t waste any opportunity to gain knowledge and improve your ability, but also seize every chance to connect with anyone or anything around you. Treat DKU as your treasure hunt and playground, you will have companions, guidance, waiting, encounters, difficulties, and finally harvest!
Translated and Edited by Zhenyu Tian, Class of 2027
