Posts on LSE
May 30, 2006
My thoughts on the Ringmar story...
A lot of people have been asking me how I felt about the Erik Ringmar story, and believe it or not, this is something I do want to talk about in detail, perhaps after my exams! I have a comment though in the meanwhile, and it's probably indicative of how I feel on the issue. Dr Ringmar says:
What I do know is that the in-class student experience often differs very little between the LSE and a place such as the London Metropolitan University. This may surprise you but it something students tell me. Instinctively I rebel against this conclusion, but I have come to believe that the students who make this point are correct.
Then, in what feels a lot like a few kind words for the sake of solace, he says:
What I can promise is that our ‘occasional teachers’ are in a league onto themselves. These are the people in charge of your classes. The people you will interact with most closely. The lecture halls may be filled with hundreds of students, and of course it’s impossible for the lecturers to learn your names. But the classrooms are small and you interact with your class teachers very closely indeed. They will talk to you and you will talk to them. They may even remember your names! The class teachers are our own PhD students and since we are able to get great PhD students, we have great class teachers. They are all very hard-working, conscientious, and approachable.
An LSE class differs very little from a London Metropolitain University class? ``They may even remember your names''? I take that personally. I shouldn't, but I do, and I can safely say that as a PhD student TA that everyone seems to be whining about in forums and on the grapevine at LSE, my classes will beat the pants out of any you'll ever attend. I am proud to be a good teacher, and while not every teacher might share the same enthusiasm as I do for teaching, (almost surely) everyone shares the knowledge that our role is vital in a student's experience at the LSE. Thanks for the sweet words about how amazing we are, but as we say in India, mind it.
Posted by vinayak at 12:45 AM
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May 28, 2006
Advanced Micro
Over one and a half years ago, I wrote what now seems like a highly overenthusiastic post on my life at the LSE. I looked at it and was very tempted to make changes to the post, but decided that I might as well leave my memories in place as they are! You'll notice that I hadn't got the hang of the right titles for people, deciding to use "Dr." instead of "Professor" everywhere. I even spelt assistantship wrong. Much has changed... the Monetary dream/nightmare is now over, I wasn't allowed to take Advanced Micro, I dropped Reform in favour of Monetary, though I still disagree with the suboptimal separating strategy. The most important reason I revisited that post however, was to find my favourite Lucas quote:
"Friedman's course ended my long career as a conscientious, near-straight A student. Now if a course did not promise to be a life-changing experience, I lost interest and attended only sporadically. I accumulated many C's, but also a lot of time to pursue what I found interesting."
As I near what will be a very fateful Friday (the Advanced Micro exam), I realise that I still feel the same way. It's reassuring to have a sense of constancy in the way you feel about something new that you learn. Let me be honest, I absolutely detest some of the things I do in Micro, mostly because I can't do it for nuts. That said, some of the things I've learnt this year have pushed me to limits I didn't think I was capable of. I still can't (for the life of me) entirely think in the convoluted way necessary to answer a Perfect Bayesian Equilibrium or Contracting question to it's entirety. However, each time I go over topics Multi-Party Contracting and Career Concerns (Holmstrom, Gibbons and Murphy, Morris...), I feel more and more guilty for hating Micro so much. I think I hate it because I never see it straight, whereas I can always get some grip, however tiny it may be, on topics in Macroeconomics. I also know why I feel guilty, it's because on the inside, I enjoy being pushed to my limits. My guilt is that constancy... it's a reassurance that somewhere inside, my thoughts on the Lucas quote remain the same.
Good luck to everyone taking the Advanced Micro exam this week... I'll see you on the other side!
Posted by vinayak at 3:17 PM
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March 17, 2006
Back from Paradise
Even though I was gone just for a week, I'm finding it very difficult to get back to the routine of every day life. Having spent a week barely talking to anyone who knew English, I'm suddenly surrounded by people talking all around me, and it feels almost foriegn. It's also weird being around so many busy people again too, it's such a culture shock :) Also, it's back to the crummy food at the Brunch Bow(e)l, and the end of a week's culinary orgasm.
On the bright side it's great to meet up with everyone again and tell them all my fun stories... some of which I'll write about over the next few weeks. Photos will be up soon!
Posted by vinayak at 2:40 PM
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February 24, 2006
Drinks at Pitcher & Piano
Cheryl and I celebrated our birthdays in style this evening at Pitcher & Piano on Kingsway! Since I was really sick on my birthday, I decided to postpone a get together with my buddies from the department. Here are snaps with the MRes gang (just ignore Rex's totally bored look), and the Econ admin gang. Click on the pictures for the rest of the set.
Posted by vinayak at 10:44 PM
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February 15, 2006
Advice for the masters thesis.
I was feeling bored so I started writing another advice essay. This is my third one, after my exam and teaching advice sheets. Do any of you guys who did the MSc. last year still read my blog? Do you have advice that you'd like to share? I know that Saumitra and Majid still check in from time to time. Do other readers have any wisdom they'd like to liberally donate?
Here's a copy of the draft document.
Posted by vinayak at 6:52 PM
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October 17, 2005
The short story of my life
Now that I finally have a few minutes in life to spare, I thought I'd go over what I've been upto the last few weeks! I had a really nice trip home - it was great to get some rest after the hectic summer of teaching. I've started up my year as a visiting research student, and decided in the end to stick with two core economics courses (advanced macro / advanced micro), and a course in stochastic processes. The general idea is to get some of my core requirements out of the way at the end of this year. A lot of people I spoke to felt that the extra math / stats was probably better picked up after a clearer research idea was in place. In a way this made a lot of sense for me - given that I'm already in graduate school; I don't want to be inefficient about my course choices (doing things for now that will not be useful in the immediate short run). However that said, I'm a hardcore believer in the fact that extra math will never go to waste. In a way, I think my course choices reflect the balance of thought. Stochastic processes is the one subject I am DYING to learn. I know I have immediate and ready uses for the stuff I learn there.
The other benefit to taking these courses is that it gives me a little more time to do two things closest to my heart. One is developing the EC102 Wiki, an idea that's been floating in my head for ages and finally took shape into a real experiment (more on this in another post soon). The other is a general desire to help with meaningful research, and hopefully start writing a paper towards the beginning of next term. Given the way my courses are structured, I should hopefully have enough time to do these things.
Anyway, that's the quick update from me! More posts soon...
Posted by vinayak at 6:21 PM
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August 22, 2005
Monday morning blues
The summer has finally decided to move its arse southwards... it's an awfully nippy Monday morning... I realised (courtesy Shweta) that I hadn't written anything for over a week... and thats clearly unacceptable!
The 2005 Econometric Society World Congress is under way here in London - Kevin, Anisha, Ziad, Ilze, Ollie are attending/volunteering there. They report that just about everybody who's anybody is at UCL right now. I'm thinking of attending a few Monetary Policy / Inflation seminars, though how exactly I'm not sure :)
Just over a week left until the incoming grad students start up. The September Course this year looks quite different from what we had last year - not necessarily tougher, but more concentrated. If I'm not mistaken, I didn't even study as hard for my exams as I did for the Math camp - the sheer mass of work that needs to be done every day leaves you no choice. Enjoy your ten days while you can - don't bother reading Econ/Math/Stats... just have fun and then see what needs to be done when you get here!
Once you get in / if you're already here, drop by and say hi!
July 5, 2005
MSc
I made it.
The upside: From total and utter nonsense at undergrad, I managed a kickass grade in relative terms.
The downside: I'm Indian, so the usual philosophy applies: I could have done about two million times better if I had studied harder, and mooed around a little less.
The upside: I'm done with my course.
Another upside: I'm just beginning.
Posted by vinayak at 2:15 PM
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Hardly a few hours left
I'm counting down the hours to my grades coming out. For all the mental abnormalities that the author of this blog displays, stress loads are THE highest on the day the grades come out. My blood pressure Dornbusches the moon (Dornbusch is a common Economics synonym for 'overshooting'), my heart rate automatically self increments by some exploding exponential value, and my world generally comes to a halt.
Some people pretend like they don't give a shit, but my humble hypothesis is that every ounce of shit that their able bodies can produce in a given time period (we could graph the impulse reaction function if necessary) has been aptly, and more importantly deftly redirected towards the effort of controlling the urge to jump off a bridge.
Hence the term "I'm scared shitless."
There's your bit of Vinayak philosophy for the day...! Bring it on examiner man!
Posted by vinayak at 5:10 AM
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June 17, 2005
Freeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I repeat:
I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Wohooooo! I'm done! I'm done! India, here I come!
I will be away in India for the next three weeks... though I'm sure I'll keep writing.
But... the important piece of information to take from this mostly useless piece of writing is:
I'm FREEEEEEEEE!
Posted by vinayak at 8:20 PM
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After the exams... the damage assessment.
I'm still recovering from the whole exam ordeal, in a way, its like the day after your haircut - I swear you can feel the hair still on you! I'm nervously pacing around the house, thinking about what to do next! I figured I might as well take the time to write out my exam experience.
Micro:
For both my Micro and Macro exams, I had the benefit of studying with my soulnerds Janak and Kevin. In a way that eased the pain of the experience. We REALLY crammed it up for Micro. I swear (and I believe I have said this before), if I see another General Equilibrium question in the next year, I might consider jumping out the window.
The exam was a different story. It was incredibly difficult. I know it's normal for every batch to scream and shout about how the previous year was easy. Somehow I really felt that this exam was marginally (by a long margin... calclulus might not help) tougher. There were a lot of new types of questions that I think I was unprepared for. I know I have a lot to complain about, but as always, I never like getting personal or putrid on my blog. Micro was a tough exam, but I have no regrets on the whole with the course, and had a good time learning a subject I often detest. I will write more about this in my year end review of the MSc.
Econometrics:
In my humble opinion, a good course is tough on the inside, but puts up exams that a prepared student can really ace. Too many courses are difficult and then put up an impenetrable exam, leaving students highly disillusioned. Econometrics easily comes under the former classification. The exam was a joy. Now I'm not sure whether I did well on it or not, but the hard work that I put into it paid far higher dividends than Micro did. I really appreciate the fact that there is almost NO informational asymmetry in this course. Exams, along with their solutions are available and date back to 1997. The exam this year was predictable enough to favour a prepared test taker, and had just the right amount of tough questions to annoy the hell out of you. On the whole, I think this was my best paper.
Macro:
I must admit I had very little time and inclination to study hard on the two days before my macro exam. This was because my ordeal with a really tough Micro exam, followed by the Econometrics exam had taken its toll on me. Half of this exam was once again heavily tilted towards a prepared test taker. Looking back, someone who was REALLY prepared should have gotten a full score on those questions. The other half was a nude walk in the Himalayas. Once again, I'm sure I can whine, but there were exams that were far worse in my life. I don't think I really mind that much that half the exam was tough, because the other half was really really really doable. I would safely say that Macro was my second best exam.
Monetary:
This was by leaps and bounds THE toughest exam I have EVER taken in my ENTIRE life. I am not sure how the exam went, and which side of the curve I will end up on, so that leaves me a worried man for the next two weeks. I'll write more on this when I start writing my end of year review.
On the whole - two good exams, one almost good exam, one utter and complete disaster.
The upside: I'm FREE!
Posted by vinayak at 7:52 PM
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June 10, 2005
So long... and thanks for all the fish!
Now I'm not particularly your average social animal. However, I would have NEVER figured that I knew so many people who took my course, or that so many of them knew me! This evening at the London Aquarium (where we had our Econ Department farewell) was absolutely amazing!
Having spent an entire year here at the LSE, I really felt sad this evening to have to say goodbye to so many friends that I made along the way. From the gang that I survived Math Hell Camp with, to guys who are still cramming for the exam some of us still have to write next week... it felt so amazing to be around some of the smartest, most warm people I have ever met. It also was a day where you met people you have seen almost every day, but never bothered to introduce yourself to. People who (as I found out) could have lived in the same little hamlet that you might have grown up in... in Saudi Arabia. To talk about my kiddy days with someone who lives in the same neighbourhood that my mom spent a week squelching out my younger brother is just amazing. Its surreal.
Incidentally, its also interesting to notice that so many of you from my batch have come by this website. I'm happy that I provided you with cheap entertainment when the times were low. Make sure you pay me back for all this ugly crap by keeping in touch with me, wherever you might be. Most importantly, if you're in London this summer or next year, drop me a line and look me up!
If I can find the people who took photos from the party, I'll post them here later!
Posted by vinayak at 11:56 PM
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