of course, i remember you -- i called you the little yaoming when you WERE an exchange student.

am very happy to learn all these nice acheivements you have made. can i skype you? I am going to give you my most straight-forward advice for your deliberation or FOR US TO discuss later.

1. try to stay at arizona state to OBTAIN YOUR masters with that nobel prize professor;
2. if you have no place to go better than fullerton, take it since it's an okay offer;
3. if 2 is executed, you can consider finding a job in the US or COME back to hk because with the actuarial sciences and a masters in economics and TA qualification, you should land a nice job with good prospectS;
4. then consider a PhD or MBA after a few years of work at an international organization like HSBC, jp morgan, and etc.
5. but if you want to become an academic in the field of economics, then do a masters in econ in a second tier uni and work very hard to enter a first tier uni like chicago, harvard, or at least ucla, etc.

if THIS is not clear, feel free to skype me.

i AM proud of you, XXXX.

don't forget to visit me at the same office when you are in hk next time, okay?

wingcheng

-----Original Message-----
From: XXXX [mailto:XXXX]
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 5:18 AM
To: Cheng Wing chung
Subject: Question from XXXX

Hi, Dr Cheng. Do you still remember me? It is Raymond. How's everything going? I am already in my senior year at Arizona State University ( In case if you haven't heard of it, this is the school where President Obama will come in 3 days). I have question to ask you. Since I am in my senior year, I am facing a dilemma to decide if I should go graduation school or not. I will earn my bachelors of Art in Mathematics ( concentration on actuarial sciences), and minor in Economics ( my school ranked top 25 in economics, one nobel prize economicist, Dr Edward Prescott). I want to apply for graduate program in Economics. Now, I do get an offer from California State University-Fullerton for MS in Economics; They will cover my tuition plus salary from being a graduate teaching asisstant to teach economics. Should I take it so that I can use the master to apply better school for PhD in Econ? I have a 3.4 by time I graduate ( in other words, i can directly apply for at least a tier 2 University for a phD). To get a master or further, it is pretty big both for me and my family as you notice that I was one of those who couldn't even get into University if I would have continue studying?in HK. I hope you can give me your advice, and I would greatly appreicate it.

Yours
XXX