Convocation Profile: Caleb Kwon

Caleb Kwon (BA Honours ’15) is an engaged member of the Department of Economics and connected to opportunities to start his academic career. He shares his undergraduate experience and advice for prospective and current students.

Caleb Kwon is moving on to pursue his dreams at Northwestern University, one of the top Economics PhD programs in the world.

You mention that you switched from the business undergraduate program to the economics program, graduating with a Bachelors of Arts (Honours). Can you tell us when you knew that you wanted to study economics? What was the tipping point? 

My decision to study economics was unintentional and even somewhat accidental. Business undergraduate students have the option of taking intermediate microeconomics (ECON 201) as a substitute for one of their managerial economics classes. During course registration, I recalled having a particularly favorable experience in ECON 103 with Doug Allen and because ECON 201 (Intermediate Microeconomics) was not full, I registered for the class on a whim. I had no prior intention of segueing into Economics with this course.

To my surprise, Intermediate Micro turned out to be more than just an elective that I hoped to enjoy. In fact, ECON 201 with Professor Andrew McGee was unlike any course that I ever took as a business undergraduate. The course taught me how to understand human behavior rigorously using logic and mathematics. Fundamental human behaviors in the context of consumers and firms were conjectured and defended brilliantly with the usage of basic mathematics and logic. Similar and even identical ideas were often discussed and analyzed in business classes, but they were often qualitative and lacked the necessary rigor to have many meaningful discussions. Furthermore, the analytical tools and modeling techniques I was exposed to in that class left a lasting impression on me.

While I thoroughly enjoyed ECON 201, it made me doubt if I really wanted to pursue my then current degree in business. On the one hand, I was quite convinced that I wanted to pursue economics. On the other hand, I had already finished half a business degree. However, after consulting with faculty and students in the Department of Economics, I was kindly reminded of the sunk-cost fallacy and I ultimately ended up dropping business entirely.

You have done some very interesting extracurricular activities such as joining the SFU Senate and being part of the SFU FASS delegation to Taiwan. How has these activities complemented your academic studies? 

These activities have allowed me to become a well-rounded student. There are many things that students can learn outside of books and the library. As my main aspiration is to one day become a faculty member at a research institution, serving on the Board of Governors and the Senate provided me with invaluable experience and perspective on how a university functions outside its classrooms.

You have been working at a Teaching Assistant (recognized as one of the 2014 outstanding Teaching Assistants) and a Research Assistant with faculty members in the department. Have you benefited from working directly with these faculty members?

Being a teaching assistant was one of the more enjoyable experiences I had as an undergraduate. Even though I had already taken advanced courses in economics, working as a TA revealed to me that I had very large gaps in my understanding and intuition. Hence, learning how to explain simple concepts and ideas allowed me to remedy various deficiencies in my economic intuition and knowledge. It was also nice getting to know students on a personal level.

Working as a research assistant was also an enjoyable experience that I had during my studies. I am very thankful to the professors that gave me such an opportunity. They placed great trust on me to perform the duties assigned, and despite being unsure of how well I actually did these tasks; the RAships provided me a first-hand experience of how quality research was executed.

One advice that I have for students looking for research assistant opportunities is to make sure that you can dedicate enough time to it. These are serious research projects that consume both time and money from professors. Pursuing these positions when you are very busy with courses is unproductive. But more importantly, you might be seriously wasting the professor’s time and resources by not giving the work due attention. Therefore, I recommend only pursuing Research Assistantship positions during the summer when you are only taking two or three courses (given that you are taking full course loads during the Fall and Spring Semesters).

During your undergraduate degree, you have been able to take some graduate level courses. Has that been a challenge? Do you think taking these classes will give you an advantage in your PhD program?  

After switching in to economics, I knew that I wanted to do a PhD and enter the world of academia one day. Hence, I devoted considerable effort into researching about graduate applications and how one might be able to enter prestigious programs. One of the ways I found out was to perform well in graduate classes as an undergraduate student. This was my main motivation in taking graduate classes.

As an undergraduate, I took three graduate level classes: Masters Micro (ECON 802), PhD Micro (ECON 803) and a theoretical class in Public Choice (ECON 891). In brief, there is no comparison between these classes and your standard undergraduate classes in terms of difficulty. (However, the honours sequence in micro and metrics may have similar workloads). These graduate classes were significantly more difficult and fast-paced than the standard undergraduate theory classes that I had previously taken.  

Sometimes, other students ask me whether or not they should take graduate courses. I tell them that I cannot answer their question but merely summarize the costs and the benefits. The main benefit is that if you manage to do well, you will make a strong case to graduate admissions committees of your ability and competency. However if you do poorly, you will greatly damage your future prospects for graduate school. I have been told that the damaging effects of a poor grade in a graduate class are difficult to erase.

I am convinced that one’s ability to do well in graduate courses cannot be predicted by their success in undergraduate level econ classes alone. (As was the case of my own. I had poor grades in econ and business in my first two years at SFU). Rather, a very strong background in mathematics is a better indicator. I would personally only encourage peers to take graduate courses if they have an A+ average in at least 4-5 math classes past calculus II (along with several intermediate theory classes in economics).

Graduate courses are exactly that, graduate courses. They are intended for students that have completed, and performed well in, undergraduate level courses. The material is difficult, the grading is difficult and you are competing against very motivated and competent students. Therefore, the decision to take graduate classes should not be made hastily.

In hindsight, I realize that I was a bit naïve and even a little foolish in taking graduate classes only a year into my econ degree. I was ambitious and confident but my training was insufficient compared to the graduate students in the master’s program. I had been in economics for only one year but I thought that my math background and my work ethic could compensate for my insufficient training in economics. Fortunately, I survived, but if I could go back to the time when I was making that decision, I would’ve thought about it a while longer and talked to more faculty and graduate students.

As a TA and an undergraduate student, what advice do you have for a newly declared economics student?

One of the regrets that I have is not taking enough seminar classes (ECON 400 levels). I remember there were seminar courses in game theory, international trade, time-series econometrics that I missed out on.

Among all the courses that I have taken, I enjoyed seminar classes the most. You have a valuable opportunity to develop research interests, but more importantly learn insights in producing quality research through your professor. I have cultivated my intuition of subjects largely through the influence of these professors. It is also through these courses where I developed most of my research ideas.

What advice do you have for students who want to enter a top economics graduate program like Northwestern University? 

To begin, make sure that graduate school (PhD) is something that you actually want to do. It shouldn’t be something that you believe is simply “nice to do” or something that you consider because you are unsure of what you actually want to do. There are significant sacrifices that you will have to make during your undergraduate studies to be competitive for a top graduate program and they will only be worth it if you are absolutely set on doing graduate school. 

Next, take the right courses. After (or during) the completion of your degree requirements take a wide variety of upper division seminar classes. These classes are usually smaller and have a narrow focus. They will allow you to develop research interests as well as to make yourself stand out to the professor for strong letters of recommendation. Taking graduate classes is also an option (see previous question). I recommend four classes during the Fall and Spring semesters and three courses along with a possible RAship during the summer semester.

In addition to the courses you take in economics, it is essential to take classes in math and stats. I strongly recommend taking the more challenging stream when possible. (MATH 152 instead of 157, 158, STAT 270 instead of BUEC 232, MATH 240 instead of 232 and so on). There are courses offered by the math department intended for social science students that do not cover the appropriate theoretical material needed for more advanced math courses – it is thus best to avoid them. An excellent grade in a more theoretical stream of a course is worth more for admissions. I recall that several schools that I applied for explicitly stated that any math class intended for social sciences students would not be looked at as a math class.    

While taking math is helpful for getting into a top graduate program, it is also important to not overload on them. There comes a point where math courses diminish in worth, both in training and the competitiveness of your application. In my opinion, it is better to have excellent grades in a several key courses (linear algebra, multivariable calculus, real analysis, probability and statistics), than to have many courses with just “decent” grades. If one has a more theoretical focus or has a genuine interest in mathematics, a whole major may be beneficial. However, for application purposes, a minor with excellent grades may be sufficient. For what it’s worth, when I applied to graduate schools these were the only math courses that I had: MATH 157, 152, 240, 251, 310, MACM 101, 316 and STAT 270.  

After you’ve taken the right courses, attained research experience and have taken the Graduate Requirement Exam (GRE) ask economics professors that you’ve developed relationships with on what range of schools you should apply for. They will be honest and precise with their recommendations and you should heed their advice. Nobody is more knowledgeable and experienced than they are as they have written many recommendation letters in the past.  

Any last words that you would like to say?

I am going to make the claim that the professors in our department are some of the most friendly and welcoming faculty members in academia. Their research is outstanding and their teaching is excellent. Despite their long laundry list of administrative duties, they still take the time connecting with and spending time with their undergraduate population. I cannot count the number of times that I would just walk into the office of various professors to chat about economics and other miscellaneous subjects. During these times, I have never felt unwelcomed or that I was wasting their time. Even professors that I never took a course with were welcoming when I approached them with ideas about a paper or a course.

I would like to close this interview by thanking the professors in the department for their excellent instruction and research supervision, my letter writers for their time and encouragement along with all the support staff that provided me with guidance and support.  Thank you.