Author: /u/toosmalltorise

Hi Everyone,

I am currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Economics at Rice U and I have the option to leave with an M.A. degree if I choose to do so. I also have a bachelor and (research) master’s degree from a locally reputable university at my home country in the same field (It’s the traditional path to get into a Ph.D. program in economics in the U.S. if you are coming from a foreign institution). I’ve been reflecting on whether I should follow the second path and use my right to OPT to be able to work for a year without the hassle of a required visa status (Ofc, I’ve been looking particularly for employers who’d be willing to sponsor for my visa after the first year of work). Although I am open to talk in details through PM, I can say the main reason is that professional world excites me way more than its academic counterpart does. So, I’d sincerely appreciate if you let me know your thoughts based on your experiences or your institutional information regarding the job market for a foreign individual with graduate degree in economics in the Greater Houston Area. In particular, I seek for advices or thoughts regarding opportunities to work as a data scientist/analyst or as a business analyst.

If I were a citizen of the U.S. or a green-card holder, I probably wouldn’t reflect too much on this and start working right away so that I’d have some level of experience and exposure to the professional world. However, given the circumstances, I have to think and plan carefully, and start taking actions in a very smart way so that I can do my best to guarantee a future for myself here. So, I think it is for the best if I briefly let you know about my background and the skill set I own so that it is easier for you to provide a relevant answer and the discussion can be fruitful for me.

I worked as a TA back there where I used to co-teach and do regular TAship at both graduate- and undergraduate-level courses and I have two internship experiences I’ve gained when I was back in my home country. Here at Rice, I’ve been also doing both TAship and RAship for the last two years. Specifically, I have been developing an academic project from the scratch and I am currently at the point where I’ll be developing a code to complete the project (The code will be a simulation code and I use Julia as the language given its many advantages in numerical optimization). Also, I have a working knowledge of Python, R, Matlab, SQL, Tableu and TensorFlow in addition to relatively more basic skills of MS Office and LaTeX. In terms of analytical mindset, I am heavily trained in both mathematics and statistics in addition to a wide array of topics in economics. So, I sit on a valuable accumulation of theoretical knowledge I’d like to translate into applied projects in a rigorous way! Lastly, I am quite skilled in both verbal and written communication, and story-telling based on a data/research/etc. that I can tangibly support with a report of mine in addition to top scores I got from Toefl and GRE, which I mention just to give you a clearer picture.

So far, my biggest concern has been the lack of professional experience I’ll most probably suffer during my job search and I wonder how I can compensate this in the right and most effective way. As far as I’ve done my homework, I plan to develop some projects both in data science and machine learning contexts, and then publish them in my GitHub account so that I can talk on some real work I’d have done. Also, I believe I should demonstrate my skills when it comes how I can add value to the business which is what all of these are about! I wonder if you have any suggestion in these regards or about anything else that is related to my case, either remotely or closely!

If you read it all up to this point, I cannot express my gratitude for doing so and please do not hesitate to bring up anything you feel relevant or helpful! Thank you very much for all the help!

Hey Everyone!

I hope you all are doing fine and manages to stay sane 🙂

We are a couple of international graduate students located in Houston and my gf has a birthday upcoming. We are not a couple who loves partying, instead we are more of a calmer ones who like to visit new places, go hiking, eat some nice local foods etc. :). So, I am trying to figure out if there are any nice places to visit around Houston either for a day trip or a weekend trip where we can enjoy her birthday together as a couple. So far, we’ve been to Austin and San Antonio but never visited anywhere else! If there are places you think we must see, can you guys please share them here?

Thank you already and stay safe please!