Amazing Student – Hanchen Bai
Texas A&M Department of Economics Amazing Student
June, 2023
Name:
Hanchen Bai
Hometown:
Wuxi, China
High School:
Wuxi Third Senior High School
Degree objective:
Masters of Science in Economics
Expected graduation:
May, 2023
University highlights, awards, scholarships:
N/A
Clubs/Organizations I am (was) a part of:
A&M Photography Club
Current employment:
I’m currently a Teaching Assistant for ECMT 674, and I have accepted the PhD offer from the Econ department, whoop!
Family ties to Texas A&M:
I am a first-generation Aggie!
I chose to attend Texas A&M because…
The Aggie Spirit, the cult-like (in a good way) enthusiasm. On the very first day of my life in Aggieland, it was the orientation day for the new master students, I was waiting for the bus and saw there was a little sign at the bus stop saying, “IDs are required”. I was quite nervous about whether being allowed to get on the bus, so I asked the bus driver, and he welcomed me hospitably. From that point, I knew this is the right place for me and since then I have been surrounded by great kindness and support from the professors, classmates, staff, and numerous aggies, which is one of the main reasons I decided to pursue my PhD in Texas A&M. I shared this lovely story with the bus driver after I accepted the PhD offer, and he told me that he graduated from TAMU with a Business major decades ago and encouraged me to pass on this passion and spirit to more people. “From the outside looking in, you can’t understand it. From the inside looking out, you can’t explain it.” These words always splash into my mind because I have been so deeply touched and feel related all the time.
My favorite things to do on campus are…
Listening to the piano players in the flag room of MSC, observing lovely squirrels, and enjoying sunsets at Simpson Drill Field.
When I have free time, I like…
Going to the gym with my gym buddies, and randomly walking on campus when the weather is nice.
The craziest thing I’ve done is…
I am a risk averse person, so…
My favorite place to study is…
The Graduate Lounge on the sixth floor of Evans Library.
My favorite ECON professor is…
Dr. Liqun Liu, Dr. Craig Schulman, and Dr. Rodrigo Velez, they all have a great sense of humor.
My favorite part of being an Economics student is…
Economics keeps giving me new perspectives to observe and understand the world, and there are so many interesting fields and topics.
If I could share an afternoon with anyone, I would love to share it with…
Miss Rev, the First Lady of Aggieland.
If I knew I could not fail, I would…
Build a time machine.
If money was not a consideration, I would love to…
Spend more time with my family.
What is your passion and how are you committed to pursuing it?
To make marginal contributions to society through my own efforts. It’s not about what you own but what you leave with, so just be kind, be humble and keep doing things with positive externalities.
After graduation, I plan to…
Get my PhD at Texas A&M.
The one Texas A&M experience I will always remember is…
The list is so long, the lovely story I mentioned above, watching the world cup semifinal with my friends, the Big Event, the photography club excursions…