Where Our Alumni Work
- AmTech
- Bank of Hope
- China Eastern Airlines
- China Merchant Capital
- Comunidad Mujer
- CybEye
- Beacon Economics
- PriceWaterhouseCoopers
- Techfield LLC
- Bocconi University
- China Securities
- Department of Land Transport, Thailand
- Geringer Capital
- Global Genius Fund
- Kayne Anderson
- K2 Economics
- Liferay
- Protiviti
- Neustar, Inc
- Industrial Securities
- Latimer Partners LLC
- Wilshire Media Group
- Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore
- USA-UES
- Resolution Economics
- Sohu.com
- Soochow Security
- Uphonest Capital
- Westlake Ventures
- University of Zurich
- Bank of Wenzhou
- Aaron Capital
- United Nations Development Program
- US Golden Career Human Resources and Technology
- Talking Data
- Fow-Volkswagon
- Apex Logistics
- United AMG
- Crestridge Consultants
- Ingenius Prep
- CIT Bank
- LA College
- Bank of Mexico
- Crest Point LLC
- Missfresh
- Financial Services Agency, Japan
- Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
- Department of Land Transport, Thailand
Alumni Spotlight
Yanli Liu
What made you choose the MAE?
From the perspective of course offerings, MAE is a great combination of economics and big data, which would pave the way for us in the job hunt and pursuing an academic career.
The experienced and intelligent faculty of the department is also an advantage. Based on the reputation of UCLA and the Econ Department, I believed that MAE is a new but promising program, and my experience here confirmed my thought.
What do you like best about UCLA?
Diverse culture and academic atmosphere are truly impressive. For the most part, students get attention at UCLA. Professors and the administration care about the future development of students. They are responsible and super nice.
What are your interests outside of economics?
I am interested in exploring new places and try various traditional local foods. Also, I like to read literary classics and watch documentaries.
Kang Niu
What is your hometown?
Harbin, China
What school did you attend for your undergraduate education?
Harbin Institute of Technology
What made you choose the MAE?
The qualified faculty and coursework arrangement.
What do you like best about UCLA?
The atmosphere. Everyone is so nice and ready to help each other. I don’t feel excluded at all.
What is your current job?
Research Assistant at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
What are your future goals?
I am applying for econ PhD programs now. I hope to become an economist someday.
What are your interests outside of economics?
Films!
Chayanit Somsuk
What is your current job?
Transport Technical Economist at the Department of Land Transport, Ministry of Transport of Thailand.
What are your future goals?
In the near future, my goal is to continue to enhance my technical knowledge in economics and engage in government projects at the Thai Ministry of Transport for a few years before pursuing a Ph.D. program in Economics or Policy Analysis. My long-term plan, after completing a doctoral degree, is to either look for research positions as a policy analyst or teaching at an academic institution.
What are your interests outside of economics?
Web design and development is what I enjoy doing when I have some spare time. Back in high school, I created a web page about my favorite Japanese comics using source code that I found online along with my limited skills in Photoshop. Even though this hobby was not related to my academic studies back then, it was helpful for me when it comes to getting better and faster at coding, which would be helpful later in using quantitative research methods.
Pau Gally
What is your hometown?
Mexico
What school did you attend for your undergraduate education?
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
What made you choose the MAE?
Because it is a short, rigorous and intensive program taught by one of the most prestigious economics departments in the world; in addition the curricula was perfectly aligned with my professional goals.
What do you like best about UCLA?
The campus is spacious and beautiful, the sports facilities are of high quality and the atmosphere in the university is relaxed and friendly.
What is your current job?
Economic Analyst, Banco de México (Mexico´s central bank)
Minxuan Wang
What is your hometown?
Inner Mongolia, China.
What school did you attend for your undergraduate education?
Renmin University of China.
What made you choose the MAE?
I could learn both Economics and Data Science in this program, and get the chance to meet top professors in Economics field. Also, UCLA is my dream school!
What is your current job?
Data Scientist at CyberInsight, focusing on Industrial AI solution.
What are your future goals?
Keep studying while working, maybe apply for another Master program in the future.
Qi Li (Peter)
What school did you attend for your undergraduate education?
Renmin University in Beijing, China
What do you like best about UCLA?
I would like to say the campus. It’s historical, peaceful and beautiful. I really miss UCLA after graduation!
What made you choose the MAE?
It’s because of my background and personal interest. I majored in mathematics during undergraduate, and I am really into the economic world, so MAE is a perfect combination of both.
What is your current job?
I work as an Investment Associate for Westlake Ventures in Silicon Valley.
What are your interests outside of economics?
The NBA. Lonzo Ball from UCLA will be the next superstar!
Gengen Yu
What is your hometown?
Beijing, China
What made you choose the MAE?
UCLA Econ is ranked as Top 15 within the US, and the reputation proves the excellence of the Econ department and the quality of the MAE program, including the Professors and all other sources. I studied Quantitative Economics at my undergraduate school, so I wanted to learn more about ho I could apply my skill sets into the practical world.
What advice would you offer anyone considering the MAE?
MAE is a very vibrant program with so many responsible and intelligent professors. The unforgettable studying experience at UCLA can enrich your whole life and help you with your future career.
What are your future goals?
My goal is to work in the risk management department within financial institutions.
Anne-Sofie Biltoft
What is your current job?
I work as a credit analyst at Kayne Anderson.
What are your future goals?
Hopefully, I can get a successful career in finance at Kayne Anderson.
What are your interests outside of economics?
I am very interested in animal welfare and hope that one day I can contribute to make the world a better place for animals. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with the people I care about.
What advice would you offer anyone considering the MAE?
Know your statistics and your math!
Biwei (Michael) Qi
What made you choose the MAE?
MAE successfully gathered some of the best faculty members in the UCLA Economics department. The curriculum is well designed. From my interview with Amy (Director of Academic Affairs), I felt that the program is willing to take any suggestions to make their students more comfortable and successful during their time here. So I decided to accept the offer.
What do you like best about UCLA?
The location and the weather.
What is your current job?
I am currently a consultant in a management consulting firm called Protiviti. My projects include: business performance improvement, enterprise risk management, financial due diligence, etc.
Jun Zhu
What is your hometown?
Suzhou, China.
What school did you attend for your undergraduate education?
Xiamen University, in China.
What made you choose the MAE?
It is an intensive 9-month program of advanced training in applied economics, so it can help me be better prepared for future work. Also, UCLA’s Department of Economics is one of the best in the world. All the faculty are experienced and world famous. It is a great opportunity to get in touch with top ideas.
What do you like best about UCLA?
UCLA is a place of diverse culture and academic freedom. Also, the campus is safe and pretty.
Shuhao Jiang
What is your current job?
I’m a financial analyst at a local investment company in Los Angeles.
What are your future goals?
For the short term goal, I want to be a leader in our department. In the long term, I would like to set up my own business focusing on international trade.
What are your interests outside of economics?
Now I pay a lot of attention to Chinese history and American literature. When I‘m free, I like to hang out with my friends, read books, listen to music, work out at the gym, and volunteer for our community.
What advice would you offer anyone considering the MAE?
Try to find out what you need and what the MAE can give to you. If they are matched, then come here to study without any hesitation. Before the program begins, you’d better go over your advanced mathematics and learn some fundamental knowledge of programming.
Ying Xu
What do you like best about UCLA?
First of all, LA is the best city in the world. You will love this place once you have lived there. Nice weather, nice people, and all that entertainment.
What is your current job?
I am doing IPO (initial public offerings) for companies. Basically, I deal with all kinds of financial issues and legal matters to make those companies qualified for IPO.
What are your future goals?
I hope to be a qualified sponsor representative.
Lester Pi
What is your hometown?
Anaheim, California
What school did you attend for your undergraduate education?
UC Santa Cruz
What made you choose the MAE?
Learn more about analytics, data, & economics
What are your interests outside of economics?
School/Work related: data science, algorithms, learning new things at work
Non-School/Work related: basketball, skateboarding, beer
What advice would you offer anyone considering the MAE?
Since the program is only 9 months, make sure to have as much fun as you can
Edoardo Marchesi
What is your hometown?
Rome.
What do you like best about UCLA?
The well-established faculty.
What is your current job?
Research assistant and Teaching assistant in the Finance department at Bocconi University.
What are your future goals?
Apply to a Ph.D. in Economics.
What advice would you offer anyone considering the MAE?
Start thinking where you want to head in life and apply to job positions as soon as you can, but
enjoy LA.
Edward D’Emidio
What made you choose the MAE?
I knew I wanted a one year long terminal Master’s program; the MAE’s 3-quarter program schedule, the course curriculum, and the reputation of the university and department made me pick UCLA over other universities in CA with comparable programs (USC and UCSC)
What are your interests outside of economics?
I’ve always liked natural history, geography, political theory, and law. Economics was a good middle ground between those fields and math, stats, and computer science. Aside from that, my hobbies are cars and whisky.
What advice would you offer anyone considering the MAE?
If you still have time left before finishing your undergrad, I would recommend taking whatever classes you have available to you in math and comp sci. In hindsight, it would have been good to have a more extensive math background before going into the MAE program. Computer science skills are also something that have become a pretty standard requirement for anyone that wants to complete a graduate degree in economics, and you’re not doing yourself any favors by putting off becoming fluent with some form of statistical analysis software or a programming language or two.
Yu (Sam) Xia
What do you like best about UCLA?
The professors’ great input for this program. I could not imagine how accessible they were before the program. You may get your email feedback either 11 p.m. or 6 a.m. and sometimes it feels you are using Messenger instead of email.
What is your current job?
A three-year Management Trainee program at China Eastern Airlines (CEA).
What are your future goals?
My short-term goal is being a qualified department manager after this program for sure. Talking about the long-term goal, there are so many possibilities. This world is changing so fast as well as my long-term future goal. We will see.
What are your interests outside of economics?
Travel, foods and basketball. Go Cavaliers! Long live the King!
Yueyao Li
What is your hometown?
Chongqing, China
What school did you attend for your undergraduate education?
UCLA (Economics major)
What do you like best about UCLA?
The professors are really nice and patient, and courses are well related to the real world. We can learn many practical skills from one-year of learning.
What are your interests outside of economics?
Traveling
What advice would you offer anyone considering the MAE?
Try to get some basic knowledge of R.
Jue Wang
What do you like best about UCLA?
UCLA provides us with great employment service. The career center holds related career fairs all the time so that we can communicate with companies face to face. These enthusiastic teachers from career center will help you with your resume and give useful suggestions on job interviews. Many students can achieve offer from their dream company during their study in UCLA.
What is your current job?
I’m now a financial commissioner in Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. I’m responsible for financial management of different projects around the world which includes financial reporting and risk management.
What are your future goals?
My recent goal is to get more working experience in Huawei, learn more practical skills in financial management through this platform. In the long run, I’d like to study MBA in US, join the core management group in my company and create more value for our customers.
