(Beijing) It’s been a fun ride
My final semester, in full quant gear. It’s time to man up and math up. If I have to get out of school, I’m going out with a bang, not a whimper.
Continued…
Posted in College Life, Economics, Politics.
By qui tacet
– January 14, 2010
(Sun Yat-sen memorial, Zhongshan) Cigarettes in vending machines, probably not such a great idea.
There is a graceless human tendency to wish upon others the ills visited upon oneself. Instead of pointing successors towards short cuts, you relish seeing them clambering through identical hoops.
The author of this particularly insightful observation was describing her experience advising a prospective journalist. She was asked for advice about how to write a book about Africa in a thoughtless way that was not conducive to actually receiving the desired information (it provoked the sentiments quoted), but she offered some very different and still valuable wisdom. In other words, the person got what they needed, but not what they wanted to hear. Unfortunately, it’s more likely that her wisdom was ignored by the intended recipient.
Continued…
Posted in College Life.
By qui tacet
– December 29, 2009
(Dongdaemun, Seoul) Where does my future lie?
Dear qui tacet:
Thank you for your interest in Boutique Consulting Firm.
After reviewing your qualifications and our present requirements, we regret that we will not be pursuing your application further at this time. Our decision only reflects an attempt to match the talents of prospective employees with our current openings.
Continued…
Posted in Business.
By qui tacet
– October 24, 2009
(Chifeng city, Inner Mongolia) Senior year. Gotta work like a dog.
The penultimate semester of my undergrad days. Minimum number of classes, maximum attention to each.
Continued…
Posted in College Life.
By qui tacet
– September 27, 2009
(Balinyouqi town, Chifeng prefecture, Inner Mongolia) So more people can hear her story…
Congratulations! In the face of a very difficult selection process, one of your photos was selected to be included in the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and Columbia University’s Photography Society’s upcoming exhibition. This is a strong testimony to your talent, as we received over 130 photos submitted and had room for only 25. The jury was very impressed by your work and looks forward to including it in the exhibition.
Continued…
Posted in China Trip, Development.
By qui tacet
– September 19, 2009
(Hong Kong IFC. View from RED Bar) It’s a long way up, and a long way down.
Congratulations! I’m happy to say that we’ve finished reading through all 1500+ applications, and your name has come out on top. You should all be extremely proud of your accomplishment, as this was the most competitive year in Business Today conference history (our acceptance rate was even lower than that of Princeton itself)!
You come from over 20 countries and 100 colleges; You speak more than 50 languages, you’ve started your own businesses, you’ve won international awards, and you are all around world-class students. It didn’t take me long to realize that I wouldn’t have been accepted to my own conference.
This will be my third time at Business Today, and I’m looking forward to seeing old friends again. I wish that more of my friends from GIS had been accepted, though. Some of them are far more accomplished than I. Unfortunately, I suspect the selectivity of the program rises proportionally with the cost of flying the candidate over, and for me that’s a $2.25 subway ride.
Posted in Business, College Life.
By qui tacet
– August 29, 2009
(Sheung Wan, Hong Kong island) Names matter.
Those of my readers from Singapore or familiar with its customs should be aware of a particular social institution known as, among other similar names, the ‘government scholarship’. However, this term is highly misleading, not only to foreign observers but also many Singaporeans, as the institution has only a passing resemblance to what the rest of the world understands the term ‘scholarship’ to mean. Here I propose a different name.
Continued…
Posted in Education, Singapore.
By qui tacet
– August 12, 2009
(Taipei) Competition is a necessary but sometimes insufficient condition for quality.
Two years ago around this time, shortly after my stint at a DC think-tank and a public policy summer camp, I wrote my first op-ed on higher education subsidies in Singapore, and it got some attention from legislators and published in the state media.
The subsidy, the Tuition Grant Scheme administered by the education ministry, is not means-tested and subsidy amounts depend on the specific university and field of study, and is fairly substantial – as much as 75% of full tuition. It is also tied not to citizenship or residency (as is common elsewhere) but to attendance at certain schools in Singapore, namely the local public universities and the vocational and trade schools (the polytechnics and other diploma providers). I use the term public because all of them also receive operating subsidies via the education ministry. Anyone who attends these schools is eligible for the subsidy – rich or poor, citizen or foreign national – but these schools only. I am primarily concerned with its provision at the undergraduate level though in principle my arguments extend also to the vocational and trade schools.*
Continued…
Posted in Economics, Education, Essays & Writing, Singapore.
By qui tacet
– July 22, 2009
(Pyongyang subway) Everyone takes the subway, even KPA soldiers! Or maybe there really is an underground bunker there.
They were the first to greet us at Sinuiju. That is, after the KPA soldiers had inspected our documents, presented by the mainland tour guide. It was a printout of tour passengers, with our passport-size portrait photographs pasted on adjacent to our profiles. The border guard who came onto the Dandong-Sinuiju train cabin only asked for it after seeing my passport cover of a different shade of red, which after glancing through, was satisfied. I wondered if the reason for his increased vigilance was that mainland Chinese were considered less of a security risk, and that I would have normally required a more intensive background check.
Continued…
Posted in Korea - Pyongyang Diaries.
By qui tacet
– July 16, 2009
(Taipei 101 store) Don’t touch the general!
Regular posting will be delayed yet again as I will be in Taipei for the Global Initiatives Symposium at National Taiwan University. GIS is an Asian business student conference, modeled on the St. Gallen Symposium – I met one of the organizers when I went to SGS – except that its Asia focused and not Eurocentric like SGS is. It’s the first time Taida is putting this together, and I’m optimistic that it will be just as professionally organized. This will be my first visit to Taiwan, and a welcome break from my summer of Stata.
Posted in Business, Other Asia.
By qui tacet
– June 24, 2009
