Education
Overview
Institutions: University of York (BA), University of Illinois (exchange), Loyola University Chicago (MUA), Princeton University (PhD Candidate)
Undergraduate classes include: Micro and Macro Economics, Applied Economics, Population Economics, Health Economics, American Art History, Mathematics, American History, History of the Reformation, Transport History, Quantitative History, Early Modern and Modern History
Graduate classes include: Statistics, Policy and Program Evaluation, Epidemiology, Immigration Policy, Urban Sociology, Mental Health Policy, Gender and the World Economy, Economic Development, Migration and Development, Demographic Methods, Network Analysis, Micro-economics, Research Ethics
Detail
Growing up in Cambridge and Oxford, I was lucky to attend good schools, and have a good record of academic achievement. At Oxford I completed my secondary education at the Cherwell School where I was a member of the Student Council. For my GCSEs I chose to study History, Business Studies, Drama and French. I got 6 A*s including all core subjects (Sciences, Maths and English) as well as History.
A great enjoyment for History at GCSE encouraged me to continue studying history to A levels along with Economics and Politics. With 3 As at A level I secured a place at the University of York to study History and Economics. In my first year I took a course on quantitative history, and began reading authors such as Braudel and E. A. Wrigley. I quickly developed a strong interest in the quantitative approach and areas of history such as migration, urbanization and health.
In my second year of University I spent a semester studying abroad at the University of Illinois. The exchange was one of the best experiences of my life, as well as one of the most formative. I gained a lot of confidence, maturity and initiative as well as making strong friendships. I studied Intermediate Micro-Economics, two courses in American History and an overview of American Art History. My grade point average was 3.75 (converted to Firsts at York).
After returning to England I studied the reformation, writing an essay on the effects of religious migration in the Netherlands. I also took courses on Commodity Markets and Population Economics. I also achieved my best grade that year in Macro-Economics.
In my third year I devoted most of my energy towards my dissertation, where I discussed the impact of famine for Ireland’s urban development. I was extremely pleased to get a First for my dissertation. I also studied Urban Transport History, Applied Economics and advanced Macro-Economics. I graduated in July of 2009 with Upper Second Class Honors (2.1).
Between 2009 and 2011 I was employed as an associate with Grant Thornton and studied towards the ACA qualification. Although I decided on a change of career paths I completed exams in the areas of Accounting, Tax, Law, Assurance and Business Management.
In August 2012 I began studying at Loyola University Chicago towards a Masters degree in Urban Affairs. In my first year I took classes in Statistics, Geographic Information Systems, Political Feasibility, Urban Policy and Migration. In my second year I took a statistics class learning SAS programming as well as classes in Local Economic Development, Program Evaluation and Urban Theory. I graduated in August 2014 with a 3.81 GPA.
In 2015 I started working towards my PhD at Princeton. In my first three years I took classes across several departments. Quantitative courses included three semesters of statistics, and classes on epidemiology, demographic methods, and network analysis. Although I was already familiar with Stata, I started using R for most of my quantitative classes at Princeton.
I also took elective classes across a range of subjects focusing on development, migration, and health. Some of these, like Professor Portes’ class on migration and development, were closely related to my dissertation research, while others, like a class on mental health policy, expanded my knowledge of other areas.
I took general examinations in demographic methods, migration and displacement, and demography and development.
Since completing my PhD I have continued to maintain and build my skills through continuing education including courses from the University of Maryland and University of North Carolina.