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Editor's Note
Sail across the vast sea to seek a distant journey, painting a new chapter in the flourishing of the wind. The sound of Li Ge begins, and the graduation season of 2024 arrives as scheduled. The official WeChat account of the School of Statistics and Management inherits tradition and will continue to launch a series of reports on outstanding graduates, showcasing the style of outstanding graduates in the school. First class majors cultivate first-class undergraduate talents. While sharing the fruitful results of talent cultivation, we sincerely hope that more students can draw nourishment, gather strength, and continue to write brilliance from the growth process of outstanding graduates. I also wish every graduate a bright future, live up to their youth, and forge ahead. Please stay tuned for a long time!
Sun Hancheng
Level 20 Statistical Experimental Class
GPA ranking: 1/172
Graduation Destination: Master's Program in Data Science and Business Analytics (DS&BA) at the School of Management, Fudan University
Award-winning
Four People's Scholarships
Top 25 National Economic Hotspots Analysis Competition of Tsinghua Economics and Management in 2022
2022 National College Student Mathematics Competition (Non Mathematics Category) Shanghai Second Prize
2022 National College Student Mathematical Modeling Competition Shanghai Third Prize
First Prize of Excellent Research Report on "Digital Thousand Villages" in 2022
Outstanding Students and Outstanding Youth League Cadres for the 2022-2023 Academic Year
National Second Prize in the 2023 National College Student Mathematical Modeling Competition
2023 Talon Star Scholarship
2024 Shanghai Outstanding Graduates
01 written at the beginning
Finally taking the time to look back at the past, I suddenly realized that at the age of eighteen, I finished my college entrance examination and stepped onto the campus of the University of Finance and Economics, which was a four-year journey. During my time in college, there were many experiences worth savoring, many peaceful nights where I lost sleep due to confusion, and many landscapes that I didn't have time to capture while running. Here, I want to use words to record my thoughts and feelings.
02 About transferring majors
When I first enrolled in 2020, I studied finance. During the first two semesters of my studies, I found that I was very interested in advanced mathematics. When I had time outside of class, I would flip through the textbook and think about the theorems and formulas explained in class. Therefore, before each exam, I didn't need to review deliberately, and during the exam, I was able to complete it ahead of time and score 95 or even 100 points.
After the end of the first semester, except for advanced mathematics, the scores of other courses were dismal. Of course, the grades achieved in the second semester also follow this pattern. I fell into deep thinking. After reviewing the teaching plan of the finance major and gaining a preliminary understanding of the specific content of the subsequent courses, I found that my interest still lies in mathematics, or in applying mathematics to solve practical problems. After the end of the first semester, during the winter break, I made up my mind to switch majors.
At that time, the most popular fields were finance and accounting, and my parents also suggested that I strive to switch to these two majors. However, crowded roads may not necessarily be the right path for oneself. When making a choice, it is important to clearly understand what one truly likes. After learning about statistics, I was deeply attracted by its ideas and charm. I firmly believe that statistics will have a very wide range of applications in the future, because I think statistics is a powerful tool for humans to understand and explore natural laws. By using statistical methods, we can extract the most useful information from massive amounts of data and make predictions or other operations. Additionally, if I choose statistics, I can leverage my strengths in mathematics and continue to learn through my interests.
For a period of time before my major transfer interview, I had to ride my shared bike almost every day and stop in front of the building of the School of Statistics and Management, imagining how wonderful it would be to study here in the future. I successfully switched majors and entered the statistical laboratory class, and since then, I have formed a connection with statistics and hope to spend my whole life dealing with it.
03 Purpose of Learning
Learning is a purposeful thing, and the purpose plays a decisive role in the outcome of learning. 'involution' is the most frequently heard term in recent years, and applying this concept to learning is aimed at achieving high GPA and scores. Grades are certainly important, but if the sole goal is to achieve high grades, one may lose the original intention of "learning for practical use" in the learning process. If our goal goes beyond GPA, we are likely to taste a hint of sweetness in the tedious learning process while achieving high GPA.
I always consider every knowledge point I learn as a call option. I believe that I only need to pay a small price in the present to learn a small knowledge point, and at some point in the future, I can achieve super high returns. In the short term, comprehensive and thorough learning can help me achieve a good GPA. Starting from the second semester of my sophomore year, my GPA has been around 3.9 every semester, with one semester achieving a 4.0 GPA; In the long run, although many specific details of knowledge points have been forgotten, when facing practical problems in competitions or work, I can accurately find corresponding models and methods, and then optimize and improve them through mathematical deduction, which has become a potential good strategy. Long term considerations like the latter are the purpose of my learning.
I remember when I was studying "Survival Analysis" in the first semester of my senior year, I was full of anticipation every time I took classes because this course broadened my methodology for analyzing datasets, from complete observational data to censored and truncated data, from parametric and non parametric methods to semi parametric methods. I have more tools than my previous self that can solve new problems. This idea has always supported me in constantly exploring and learning new knowledge, constantly seeking advice from professional predecessors on my current problems and shortcomings, constantly communicating with excellent classmates and listening to their observations and opinions, and constantly accepting criticism, corrections, and suggestions from others.
The story of 04 recommendation research
Before the first semester of my junior year, I had hardly received any awards, and I never thought I would have the opportunity to apply for admission to a foreign university. Knowing that I had the possibility of being admitted to graduate school, in the first semester of my junior year, I participated in all the competitions I could participate in. Although I achieved some unsatisfactory results, these experiences gave me a new and deeper understanding of different fields.
In the second semester of my junior year, I hope to prepare for both recommendation and study abroad to avoid risks. During the preparation process for the experimental research project, in class knowledge learning, and summer camp, I set aside time to prepare for the IELTS exam. Later, I also wanted to achieve a better GRE score, so that I could have more choices. However, time was tight, and the high-intensity study of memorizing more than 100 new GRE words a day and reviewing the first few hundred words put too much pressure on me. After persisting for half a month, I gave up. Now it seems that recognizing one's own ability limit, maintaining a good mentality, and letting go of oneself are also very important things.
After leading the entrepreneurship program through Fudan School of Management's DS&BA program, I did not submit any other projects, and my recommendation period came to an end here.
05 The Most Impressive Person
Teacher Cha is serious, responsible, and approachable. After taking several courses in Intermediate Microeconomics, she can call out the names of all the classmates in the class. When I encountered difficulties in my studies and felt down, Teacher Cha explained the questions in detail in an email and encouraged me, cheering me on. When I applied for summer camp, she took the time out of her busy schedule to write an all English recommendation letter for me.
Teacher Wang was the first teacher to lead me in scientific research. Whether it was in finding a suitable research direction or in the process of completing subsequent projects, Teacher Wang patiently helped us correct our mistakes. I also clarified my strengths, broadened my horizons, and understood what direction I should strive towards in the process of communicating with Teacher Wang.
Teacher Zhang is my Russian teacher, and I have discussed many future planning issues with him, which has benefited me greatly. When I was preparing to apply for graduate school, he constantly motivated me, making me more confident and composed in dealing with various difficulties and challenges.
Mr. Li is a teacher whom I greatly respect and like. In the class of "Time Series Analysis", his explanations were clear in structure and logically rigorous, providing me with many new perspectives for studying time series. He was able to get along well with his classmates, and I still remember the scene after class when everyone swarmed around Teacher Li asking questions. Even on weekend evenings close to eleven o'clock, Teacher Li can patiently answer my questions on the company WeChat. I am very fortunate to have completed a satisfactory undergraduate thesis under the guidance of Professor Li.
My counselors, Ms. Ling, Ms. Zhuang, and Ms. Qu, were able to communicate and exchange valuable advice with me in a timely manner when I encountered troubles. Their kindness and sincerity moved me.
Du Ge is the most helpful senior to me. During the application season, he took time to simulate interviews for me. Whenever I encountered any difficulties in my studies or internships, he always answered questions and was very professional. Du Ge is both a good teacher and a good friend. I have talked to him about everything, and I feel that he has truly achieved the goal of 'doing good things without asking about his future'. Sincerely wish Du Ge all the best at Peking University.
Qiang Ge and Li Shen are my best friends in college. What impressed me the most was that when I needed to ask Qiang for help, he agreed without telling him what I needed to do. I value this friendship very much. And praising each other with Li Shen and eating McDonald's together after class was also a very nostalgic time.
There were also Li Shen, Tao Ge, and Yu Ge who played L4D2 together. Our entire team discussed tactics together in order to achieve victory in the game, never giving up on anyone. I felt very happy and relaxed during that time.
……
Due to limited space, during the past four years of college, there have been many people who have helped me, supported me, and shared laughter and joy with me. I am grateful.
(From left on the ground: Tao Ge, Li Shen, I, Yu Ge. In the air: Xu Ge)
The School of Statistics and Management is deeply innovating its talent training model, actively reforming practice, consolidating professional foundations, deepening school enterprise cooperation, attaching importance to collaborative education, and striving to promote students to combine theory with practice. It is committed to cultivating first-class composite statistical talents with firm ideological beliefs, strong political positions, profound professional foundations, and solid research abilities, and contributing statistical wisdom to the construction of a world-class university with distinctive financial and economic characteristics.
