All posts by Alex Lin

I am in my fourth year of the Biotechnology & Economics program looking to purse a career in financial economics. I've completed the CSC and passed the CFA level one exam. My co-op experiences range from business analysis to economic research. I love meeting new people so feel free to chat with me at any time!

Original Articles November 20, 2016 No comments

Graduate School Application Tips for Economics Students

Hi Everyone, going to graduate school is a decision many students have to make and it is definitely a tough one. There are many factors that will make up the final decision you make. I thought this would be a good time to share some tips for graduate school applications.

Remember to come out to the Graduate School Showcase Week happening from Nov 21^st to 24^th to talk to current students, recruiters, and admission committee members.

Tips for a better application:

Get an assessment from your prof regarding how competitive you are for a particular program. They’ve helped students in the past and would know who is qualified to get in.
Make sure you have least two profs you would want a reference from and make sure they know you. The best references would be from your fourth year classes (401,402, and 421) and make sure they’re a “Professor” and not a “Lecturer”. While I wouldn’t personally care, admission boards automatically assume a professor’s recommendation carries more weight.
Make an appointment with CECA to get your CV and Personal Statement proof read. They also offer mock graduate school interviews.
If there’s a course you think you won’t do well in, leave it until the winter term. That way admissions committees will see you’re taking it but they won’t see your mark before you get a decision.
Go network with admission committee members at info sessions. At the end of the day, they’re not just looking at your grades. They want to see that you have potential to achieve something notable and ultimately improve the reputation of the program.
Apply to multiple schools. If one school offers you a bigger scholarship, go to the school you actually wanted to get into and try to get them to match it.
Passing the CFA Level I exam could help your application and/or completely replace the GMAT/GRE requirement.
Related work experience and extracurricular experience will help in more professional programs (like MFE or MFIN) while research activity will help with more academic/research programs (like MA Economics)

Many of these tips are from talking to professors and people familiar with the process. If you’re interested in applying, you should seek out these people and ask for more personalised advice.

Alumni Feature August 5, 2016 No comments

Rosemarie McClean CMA, MBA, BA, ICD.D

Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Senior Vice President

We had the great opportunity to speak with Rosemarie McClean, the Chief Operations Officer and Senior Vice President at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), one of Canada’s top three pension funds with 154.5 billion dollars in assets as of December 2015. Rosemarie is an alumnus of the University of Waterloo’s undergraduate Economics program and holds a MBA from the Rotman School of Management.

Know Your Prof July 19, 2016 2 Comments

Rosemary Peros

Question: Why did you choose a career in economics?

Answer: As much as one can, I knew relatively early on in my academic career that I wanted to be in the field of Economics. How I got there is an interesting story in itself. I found myself (way back when) at the University of Waterloo studying Accounting, in the hopes of one day coveting the title of Chartered Accountant. I realized pretty quickly in first year, while interesting (and probably a lucrative career in many respects), accounting was just not for me. And tucked away in the midst of all those accounting courses, was Economics 101 (microeconomics still to this day!).

Know Your Prof June 12, 2016 No comments

John Burbidge

June 2014 will be the fortieth anniversary of my first publication with Tom Asimakopulos who was my principal PhD supervisor at McGill. You can all read and my CV is public information. Inspection of it reveals that I have written on too wide a variety of topics with many co-authors over the past four decades.

Student Feature June 12, 2016 No comments

PhD Feature: Hong Xiu Li

Tell us about your research interests, particularly research projects you are currently involved with.

I am interested in environmental economics, resource economics and international trade. Currently I am working on climate change mitigation and adaptation.