Politics and Economics

Hector Huang

He is a 10th grade student from Houde Academy, Shenzhen, China. He is interested to pursue a degree in Politics and Economics.

Hector is an inquisitive student who is interested in sociology, politics and economics. He thoroughly enjoyed an Anthropology module at school last year and this motivated him to sign up for a course in Comparative Government.

Scope of the program

Overall structure

Hector and his mentor worked 1-on-1 for eight sessions that are one-hour long. Each session worked towards the completion of a unique research project that is chosen by Hector.

Learning objectives

The goals of the program are to build analytic, research, and writing skills in the social sciences. By the end of eight sessions, Hector will have completed a research paper that investigates a particular topic of interest or concern. Hector’s final paper is titled” “Cultural Ties with Contemporary Economic Policies and Reform: A Case Study Comparing China and the U.S.”

The session time is spent on the following steps and processes: getting to know the student and identifying areas of interest, developing and designing a research question, conducting a literature review, reading and discussing relevant scholarship, outlining a research paper, and writing a research paper.

What challenges did he face?

Hector can be overly-zealous, which often caused discussions diverging into many different topics. In the early stages of research, this is good practice to brainstorm different topics, however one needs to focus on one research topic eventually.

How did our Politics and Economics program help him?

Under the mentor’s guidance, Hector wrote a very strong final paper. He managed to pull together multiple sources of information and make a compelling argument.
Hector learnt to engage and decipher research papers that are some levels higher than what he was used to.

Student’s Testimonial

After a long and fruitful experience with both my mentor and program coordinator, I believe that this program has pushed me out of my comfort zone and also allowed me to pursue my academic interests. This project also made me realize some of my flaws. For example, the planning and gathering of Chinese policies, and the Neo-liberal ideology that shaped the United States in the 1980’s. Overall, this experience was, without a doubt, one of the most rewarding projects that I have ever been in, and it was my pleasure working with both my mentor and program coordinator!
Hector Huang

Matched professor in Politics and Economics:

A lecturer in Urban Studies and Sociology at University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches Urban Health and Criminal Justice. He is passionate in the research areas of health, criminal justice, gender, social psychology, and the military.

Recommendation letter

Based on your knowledge of this student, would you recommend this student to selective universities?

Yes, absolutely. I think Hector will thrive at a selective university and I recommend him with no hesitations. Hector met my expectations. He is open to new ideas and a good conversationalist. I appreciated the opportunity to work with Hector. He has an exciting future ahead of himself.
Lecturer from University of Pennsylvania