PhD Candidate in economics with more than 10 years of teaching and tutoring experience in basic and advanced economics courses

Find out more about Rainier

• When and why did you develop an interest in your chosen field?

  I did not originally plan on being an economist. In high school, I thought about taking up law or medicine. My love for the social sciences and my passion for quantitative techniques eventually led me to choosing economics as my university major. A few years later and here I am, pursuing a doctorate in economics.

• What makes you passionate about your subject?

  As theoretical or as complex as it can seem sometimes, I think of economics simply as the science (or the art) of making the most efficient choices possible. Economics teaches us that because of scarcity, every choice we make entails a trade-off, an opportunity cost as economists say. If you choose to produce one commodity, then you forego the opportunity of producing another. If you choose to spend your income on one good, then you lose the chance of spending it on another item. If you want A, then you have to give up B, C or D. Every decision you make, economic or not, entails a sacrifice on your part. It's a simple but powerful way of looking at reality.

• What do you like about tutoring? What makes you a "Superprof"?

  The best part about being an economics tutor is helping students overcome their fear of calculations and mathematical models. Mention statistics or calculus to some students and they freak out. So my usual strategy is to give as many sample problems as possible, at least until everything gets less confusing for the student. The key is to make students understand that all the formulas and mathematical techniques that they have to contend with are just tools; they are not ends in themselves. At the end of the day, they have to interpret the values that they have solved for and apply these to real world problems.

• Do you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you? Please explain.

  I give credit to all my mentors for shaping me into the economist that I am today. But if I have to pick one that most inspired me, it's definitely my introductory economics professor. She introduced me to the wonderful (and sometimes complicated) world of economics. Her passion for teaching and making students learn the hard stuff made a lasting impression on me. My macroeconomics professor also served as a great mentor, further expanding my understanding of what it means to specialize in either macroeconomics or microeconomics. When I decided to return to university to teach part-time, they became my colleagues, and working alongside them made me realize that teaching and economics are really what I like doing.

• What are your keys to success?

  As cliché as it may sound, nothing really beats hard work. Of course, success is also determined by the opportunities that are available to you, so it is important to make the most out of them.