Letters from the Dorm: school is done, and the summer plans are ready to go

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Tacye Hong
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Tacye Hong |
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Tacye’s summer will be busy, but she will still help out at the Children’s Council.

All the grades for my final exam have been released, and that marks the end of my third year at the University of Toronto. It also means that I only have one year left before I leave this place behind and start a new chapter of my life. While I am looking forward for that day to come, I am also not ready just yet. What am I going to do with my life?

Before all that, though, I still have one (relatively) carefree summer left, and I vow to make it the most epic one yet. Summer 2017 is going to be a good one.

There is the obvious option of summer courses. I have never opted for this and this year is no different. I am currently on track for my degree and I don’t mind overloading courses in order to juggle my financial economics specialist, my actuarial science major and my mathematics minor. And while I love Toronto to no end, spending some time in Hong Kong will be nice after eight months here.

While many of my university friends are spending their summer as actuarial interns, I decided against it. I spent last summer working at a financial institution, where I gained invaluable experience, but as I previously mentioned in this column, I want to try my hands at a research position.

Well I am pleased to say I made it happen. I will be doing an independent research on economic analysis of law at Chinese University of Hong Kong as a summer exchange student. This seems great for me as I have previously done an empirical term paper on this area of economics, and cannot wait to explore more topics within it. Moreover, given that I have decided to pursue at least a Masters degree after my undergraduate education, it will allow me to gain some practice at doing research and writing theses.

Other than the research project, I will also be spending my time studying for a Society of Actuaries examination and the GRE, which is the test you need to write if you want to pursue further education. Being a member of Kids’ Dream, the first child-led organisation in Hong Kong, I will also spend my summer helping out at the Children’s Council project, as I have done every summer. Teaching a group of younger kids about children’s rights and helping them write about children’s issues in Hong Kong is a very rewarding experiences.

So what are you talking about, Lana Del Rey? I don’t see how I can get Summertime Sadness if I follow through with this plan. It seems like a pretty epic one to me.

Edited by Sam Gusway

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