alumni
Eye on Alumni: Rana Mohie '19
“At the end of the second term of the Master’s was when I really got interested in not just working in the private sector but doing research.”
Rana Mohie '19 (Macroeconomic Policy and Financial Markets) is a PhD student at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. In this Eye on Alumni interview, she talks about her career path since graduating from the Barcelona School of Economics.
What past experience did you have before joining the Barcelona School of Economics?
In my past job at Procter & Gamble, my tasks were mainly designing research, quantitative and qualitative research, understanding customer behaviors, and the effect of economic policies like inflation. It was not economics, but there were topics very related and relevant.
Which were your reasons to study the BSE Macro Program?
I chose the Master's at BSE because I had studied for an engineering degree and I wanted to have a proper education and knowledge in this area. At that moment, I didn’t have the idea of doing a PhD. I only wanted to get the tools and knowledge to be able to do the kind of research that I was doing by then and to do research in my economics department.
Before applying for the Master's degree, I took some undergraduate economic courses like intermediate micro and macro. I started getting more involved with the economics department in my university attending seminars, doing research with some professors, and I really got in macro understanding things like the impact of fiscal policies, monetary policies on countries, etc.
How did the Master's shape your future career?
Considering that I didn’t have a lot of economics knowledge before, everything I know about economics is because of this Master’s and it really helped me. At the end of the second term of the Master’s was when I really got interested in not just working in the private sector but doing research, and I thought that the PhD would really help me. I discussed it with professors, and I finally decided to go for it. My professors were very supportive and gave me advice. This was really nice of them.
I thought that the master's would be mostly studying theories and topics reading papers, but I was actually impressed by how much practice and knowledge we got and how much we got into using tools and coding. It was a pleasant surprise for me to know that I could use all my skills in coding and data in economics and doing macro research. The program was just helping me to use these tools in a way that is really the state of the art research. We were getting practitioners from the European Central Bank, Bank of Madrid, and other important institutions. They were teaching us the tools to be able to contribute to advance this research. It was very impressive for me how much I learned not just from theoretical courses but also a lot of competitional courses. Each course has a part to apply our knowledge on data, research, solving models… I was really impressed by this and it exceed my expectations.
Which was the best part of studying at BSE?
The social part was with no doubt the best. I think BSE puts a lot of effort into making us try to enjoy our time in Barcelona. This really improved our experience. The program is very demanding and you work a lot, but the staff of the school does a lot of things to help us to have this kind of break and do something different. Almost every two weeks, there were nice experiences like hiking, and other activities to get introduced to the culture. We went to Andorra for skiing and it was the first time I saw the snow! It was amazing. Some of the best memories I have from Barcelona are either concerts, these parties, the skiing trip… there was a lot of effort from the school, even now, they try to make this kind of alumni network and events for the different alumni chapters where we meet people from different cohorts and it is really nice.
Do you have any advice for new Master's students?
I would tell them to go for it. It is going to be amazing and will learn a lot. They will have fun and meet people who are from very different places and they are going to make really good friends out of it. Make your decision about what you want to study and, for instance, there is not a lot of places that give you these kinds of specialized programs in macro and you learn so much about macro. Whenever somebody asks me if they should apply for the Barcelona School of Economics, I just say that this is going to be the best year of their lives if they go.
Connect with Rana Mohie on LinkedIn
Learn more about the Macroeconomic Policy and Financial Markets Program