Management and Economics

Lingjia Wang

A collection of information about the Purdue University Krannert School of Management An anthology composed by A First-Year Purdue student

Table of Contents
Overview ........................................................................................................................................................ 2 Ethnography ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Interview ....................................................................................................................................................... 4
Dr. Hoelle .................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Charles Romine....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Mr. Jiang..................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Reflection ....................................................................................................................................................... 8 Citations ......................................................................................................................................................... 9

Overview
Management and Economics, as two important parts of the business field, are more and more attractive to college new students. Both of these two majors require high ability in mathematics and communication. At the same time, people with better leadership would also be more competitive. So how should we as new college students prepare well for the competition in future? How can we get to know which track in our major is the most compatible one? What should we do to stand out? Read the following things and I hope you will learn something useful.

Ethnography

I attended Game Theory class on time. It was a bright classroom. The sight from every angle was clear and the seat I was sitting on was comfortable. A white board and a big screen were in the front of the classroom. Dr. Hoelle was teaching about the auction. He explained the ways auctions work and the differences between them. Students were taking notes absorbed. Then we discussed how to make the greatest benefits from auction. It really drew my attention. I used to be interested in Game. And the class Game Theory could tell me more things about it. In my perspective, each time we have contact with people it is a game. We all want to benefit from others, but the problem is how? Unlike other subjects like math, engineering, and science, management is a study about people. If I know more rule about the game, then I will play a better role in the game. Thats why I am interested in the class. The class was impressive. Dr. Hoelle made auction interesting. He used models to explain the way auction it works. At the same time, he added a lot of examples into the models which inspired students to passionate of discussion. While Dr. Hoelle was teaching, students felt free to ask questions and he was glad to answer them. I learned a lot of useful knowledge from this class, such as different types of auctions, rules of auctions and benefits of auctions. After class, Dr. Hoelle was surrounded by students and was busy answering question. Obviously he is a nice teacher and is popular with his students. I highly recommend students of management major to know what Game exactly is. Because it appears almost everywhere. In competitions, in economics models, even in daily life. You may

have a better understanding of how things work in business world with basis of Game Theory.

Interview

Dr. Hoelle
The first time I saw Dr. Hoelle, I was a little bit surprised. Because Dr. Hoelle has a Ph.D. in my imagination, he should be older than that handsome man. When I went into his office, he was enthusiastic. After some talking, I learned that he received his Ph.D. last year and his area of research is microeconomics. Currently, he is teaching Game Theory. I asked that if he had any suggestions for new students about how to prepare ourselves to get a decent job. My suggestion is to leave your option open which means you can take a variety of course as long as you like it. he said. I was also shocked that Dr. Hoelle, as a PHD of economics, used to be an engineering student when he was undergraduate. But he never lost his interests in math and economics. By the way, Dr. Hoelle was good at math when he was an undergraduate student. One day, he attended an internship about economics and that was a turning point for him. So always make your option open is my suggestion for you. Dr. Hoelle said. I wrote down the advice and continued with the second question. What is the best advice you got as a student? I asked. Hmm. When I was a sophomore, a professor invited me to take graduate courses. That was helpful to me. He explained that he used to be unwilling to stay in university after he graduated. However now he think that its helpful to study as a graduated student. You would be able to learn more things about your field and that makes you more competitive. That advice helped Dr. Hoelle a lot. As Dr. Hoelle suggested not finding a job too early, I would concern more in Internships. What internships are available to students? I asked. He answered that having an internship is a good thing. However its unnecessary for new students to find a job in a hurry. Dr. Hoelle recommended to gain as much knowledge as possible in first two years and then hunt for a job in next two

years. After that, I asked Dr. Hoelle how can I stand out when applying for jobs or graduate school. His answer was Broad Skills. If you have skills such as computer skills or language, then you will be more competitive than others. In the end of the interview, I asked Dr. Hoelle if theres anything else he think I should know. He thought about it for a while and said You have a long process to go, so you can develop what you like and keep your opportunities open. Joining a club or an organization is also a nice choice. Stay curious about things around you. You still have a long way to go. I appreciated Dr. Hoelles advices and I learned a lot from the interview. In my perspective, I would highly recommend you to take course Game Theory. You wont regret of this choice!

Charles Romine
Today, Charles Romine, the resident assistant of our floor, became my interviewee. He is a junior student, whose major is industrial management. As an upperclassman, I think he will give me a lot of useful advices. Charles as an RA has good grade in his courses. At the same time, he is very popular guy and everybody likes him. I am curious about how Charles balances his schoolwork and his social life. When I went in his room, he was working on his homework. Its a welldecorated and tidy room. After we chatted for a while, I started the interview with the question: Charles, would you like to share your experience with me about what volunteer opportunities, internships or jobs you have participated in? Well, Charles answered, I have worked in Ford Dinning Court as a supervisor; mentored in high, and, as you know, I am an RA. Charles did a lot of different works and gained many necessary experiences. What class did you find to be most beneficial and difficult? Charles thought about that question for a moment and said: COM 114. It is a speech class. It is both the most beneficial class and the most difficult class. But its really important because a lot people are not good at it. Take this course seriously. It really helps with confidence.

As there are many challenging courses, I asked Charles that how many people would be able to pass into the upper division. UmIm not sure about that, Charles answered. But I think its approximate 80% to 90%. However, for most people who didnt pass into upper division its not because they were not able to pass. It was because they have their own view of what they should do. Charles did well in his study. So I was interested that what kept him to have motivation to work hard, in other words, why he was interested in this major. Charles said, Because I like working with people. It really fun to meet more people to me. I totally understand that point. I think management is course which is about to study people. I said. That is also the reason why I chose management as my major. The question I was going to ask next really drew my concerns. How much time do you spend a week on your studies? When I was in my first two years, I spent about 16 to 20 hours a week on studies as there are a lot of work in first two years. Now I am more free than last year so I just spend 5-10hours on my studies. Then Charles stopped for a moment and continued. I would like to give you a tip that I think its helpful. Always work ahead. That is really important. The assignment I am working with dues tomorrow. But I would like to finish it in advance. Then I will have more spare time to do things I like. I definitely agree with his point and I think that is what I need to improve for myself. I wanted to know what courses were worthy taking, so I asked Charles, Do you have any suggestion that which professor to take? ECON 251, Professor Blanchard. She is really good. Charles said. After some questions about study, I changed the topic into social life. I know that you have time for a social life. But how can you do that? I mean, some people sacrificed their study time to have a social life. Well, Charles answered, Just like what I said, always work ahead. For instance, if you have done all homework this week, then you will have a lot of time to spend. Do your works in advance. Dont wait until the last day and stay up late to do the homework. My last question is that do you think there is something you want new students to know? I think you should know the importance of having enough sleep. Its really important because the quality of your sleep concerns the performance of you in tomorrows classes. So dont stay up late. That is the end of my interview. I really appreciate Charles time as he gave me many useful advices. The advice Always work ahead is one of the best pieces of advice I have ever received. It seems to be an easy thing to do. However its really tough to keep it every single day. In conclusion, Charles is an outstanding student and RA. After talking with him, I learned a lot. I definitely agree with what he said. I believe his words would be useful for new students including me.

Mr. Jiang
When I told my father that I was searching for a practitioner in business field for an interview, he strongly recommended a colleague of him Yongzhi Jiang. Mr. Jiang is a general manager of investor relation in CNOOC LIMITED. When he was young, he studied at China University of Politics and Law for International Economics Law. After he graduated, Mr. Jiang decided to study abroad and pursued MBA program majored in Finance and Accounting. Knowing that, I made an appointment with Mr. Jiang without hesitation because I was sure that he would give me useful hints about my field. Mr. Jiang accepted my invitation of the interview with interest. As he was a businessman, we only had 30 minutes to talk. This was a telephone interview. Hello, Mr. Jiang. I am glad to have an interview with you. Thank you for your time, I know youre busy. My father told me Mr. Jiang has a meeting half an hour later. You are welcome, Lingjia. Its my pleasure. After some greetings, I asked something I was interested in; I know you now are a general manager. But I am interested in how closely does what you learned in college relates to what you actually do? I was learning Finance and Economics before. So what I do now is completely relative to what I have learned. Thats a good thing. I said, But have you changed your job? How about your former job? Well, Mr. Jiang answered, I have been working in another oil company as an In-house counsel. It was still relative to what Ive learned in college. As Mr. Jiang is a successful businessman in my perspective, I asked his definition of success. And his answer was just like what he was doing. He said, Enjoy what you do. That is my definition of success. Then I asked Mr. Jiang, as professional businessman, how he arranged his resume? To my surprise, Mr. Jiang only gave one tip, Behave yourself. All you need to do is just show the company what kind of a person you are like. And express you are suitable to the position. That really made sense. I think Mr. Jiang was right. I dont have to exaggerate anything. Just behave myself is ok. I knew I should build my resume, but I was not sure whether I should find an internship. Mr. Jiang highly recommended getting an internship if there is an opportunity. I was interested that how a businessman likes Mr. Jiang balance his work and family. Mr. Jiang answered I used to be focused on my work when I was young. I didnt have much time spend on my family. Even now I am still busy.

So I thought it maybe really hard to balance work and family for every businessman. At the end of the interview, I asked a question that I had asked to professor and upper-class student. What do you wish you had known or done differently when in college? Spend more time in gym. We cannot work without a healthy body, can we? Mr. Jiang answered. Personally, I totally agree with that point. Then, I asked the last question Do you have any other advice for new student in college? Mr. Jiang thought about that question for a while and said Study hard, party hard. That is my advice. Study is important, but dont forget to enjoy your college life. Having an interview with a successful businessman really teaches me a lot. I appreciate Mr. Jiangs advices as I find them really helpful for me as a new student majored in management. Hopefully you will find something useful from advice, as well.

Reflection
As a student of Krannert School of Management, I am pleased to receive so much useful advice in my freshman year. I used to be interested in Management. Because this is different from other majors like math and physics. Management is a study about people, and economics has many things similar with Management. After sitting in an upper-level class and interviewing a professor, an upper-class student, a practitioner, I started to be attracted not only by Management, but also by Economics. As they are related, I was encouraged to have a double major in Krannert School of Management, which is a nice idea. Each interviewee has given me useful tips. From interviews, I learned that I need to open my options to many fields; I should do my work, ahead of time, so that I will be able to arrange my time more efficiently All of these tips motivated me to do well in this field in which I am interested. They have much more experience than I have. So I am sure that the advice they have given would have not only for me, but also for all the students who are in the same field of me. There is a saying in China that do something for a person wont be better than teach him or her to do the thing. So I think advice is the most precious things they have given me. From the interviews, I found out that having a double major with both Management and Economics would be a better choice as interviewees recommended.

However, it is not enough to only know what to do. We need to act. The things interviewees mentioned may sound easy, but would be hard to practice at the same time. So if we want to stand out and to be more competitive in future, we must act from now. The interviewees have one thing in common that they all worked hard. That is what I actually need. Somebody believes that work smart is more important, which I also agree. Nevertheless, even if we work hard, we still need to work harder. I think work hard is the only way to success. In conclusion, I think the advice given above is helpful. I strongly recommend new students to know the advice. Even if you are not a new student, I think you can still learn something from them. For me, I already learned a lot from interviewees.

Citations
Rawls Hall. en.wikipedia.org. Web. 10 Nov. 2011 Yongzhi Jiang. platts.smugmug.com. Web. 10 Nov. 2011 Dr. Matthew Hoelle. matthew-hoelle.com. Web. 10 Nov. 2011 Wang, Lingjia. Charles Romine. 21 Oct. 2011