Liuxin

After living in United States for six years, I wanted to come back to Asia to pursue my PhD degree. Singapore was a wonderful choice for me because of its cultural diversity. And of course I was attracted by NUS’ excellent academic reputation and research productivity. Besides research-related considerations, Singapore is also a super nice place to live, because of its delicious food and nice weather :).

I went straight to the PhD program after my undergraduate study without having a master degree. So the transition was indeed a bit abrupt to me. I would say that the biggest difference is that I need to manage my own time and push myself to work hard. Specifically, when I was an undergraduate student, everything was very organized – I went to class, did my homework, and studied for the exam – as long as these things are done, I could see some outcomes very quickly. But for the PhD study, I would have to look at a bigger picture – sometimes it takes 3-4 years to publish on a good journal in my field of study. Although everything is more uncertain and slow (in terms of seeing outcomes), I would need to work harder and stay motivated. Compared to my undergraduate study when I was able to see how efforts are translated to good grades immediately, it is absolutely more difficult to stay positive and motivated now because of super high uncertainties involved. I would say this is the biggest difference.

I participated in Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2022, in which I presented two papers. One of these two papers was selected as the top 10% best paper in the HR division.