This page records the courses that I have taken in UBC during undergrad. I briefly introduce each course and recommend it if I enjoy or find it useful. I hope this could shed a insight for undergraduate students in FRE, Economics, and Land and Food System (LFS), especially the first two years students who are still considering their majors. For employers who need a full transcript, please me a request.
I started UBC in 2020 @ Land One Program, where I met life-time friends and incredible Professors. It's a First-Year program for students from Forestry & LFS. In the program, you will take 5 courses (FRST/LFS 101, 110, 150, BIOL 121, and MATH 184) with same students in the cohort, and receiving Highschool-like support. You also have to take other courses to fulfil your degree requirement so don't forget! I really like the program and I genuinely believe that if I hadn't joined it and received the help from the Coordinator, Dr. Fernanda, I won't be this happy. This program could be a quasi-standard-time-table that LFS doesn't have yet. Thank you Fernanda coordinate this wonderful program:)
Year1 (Land One) - 20/21
BIOL 121 - Land One: Genetics, Evolution and Ecology - Dr. Athena McKown - (course avg 80%)
This is a required course for LFS students. It's not hard and and has a lot in common with Advanced Placement Biology. Dr. Athena is wonderful professor and very nice. She keeps in touch with previous students and even refering us to be Academic Assistant for LFS 101 (Principle of Microeconomics) and MATH 184 (Differential Calculus). I ended up being an Academic Assistant of LFS 101 for Dr. Karen Taylor, and continuing to be her Teaching Assistant in that course. Thank you Athena for the opportunity! Without you, I won't enter this TA path:)
FREN 101 - Beginners' French I - Joyce Lubert - (course avg 83%)
I take this as electives. It's chill but the final group project (making a French video) could be challenging. But It's an asset to be exposed to another Language! Mais Je'ne parle Francias... mon apology Mrs. Joyce! Also, if you're required to learn a language course (mandatory for UBC Arts students), learning the foreign language is a better signal to show committee (entering major and applying for grad school) that you're hard-working. It doesn't make sense that if you are born and raised in China and took Chinese class in college and get a high grade. Trust me, the committee isn't that easy to be fooled.
FRST/LFS 100 - Introduction to Land, Food and Community - Dr. Candice Rideout - (course avg 87%)
This is required for LFS students. This course introduce the majors in LFS and future paths so it's only 1 credit. There's a final group project but I can't really remember the content. It's a making-friend course for me.
PHIL 120 - Introduction to Critical Thinking - Dr. Alexandre Korolev - (course avg 80%)
This course provides necessary logic for everyone, and it's a desired elective. For Chinese students, it may feel like a junior high math course for ZhongKao (中考). I really enjoy it as it improve my logic and I found it useful in economics when we are trying to prove some theory (for example, proving 1st welfare theorem through contradiction) in a easy and logical way. For example, proving first-welfare theorem right. The course is very traditional lecture with assignments and exams. It really pays off if you pay a lot of attention. Another course PHIL 220 is very similar to this and also taught by Alex. Actually, when I am scanning the document of UBC ECON526 (Maths for Econ) published online, I feel that there are some content identical to it. So I believe this is a good preparation if you are going to UBC Master of Economics. I will update it when I actually take that ECON526 course (there has been some major updates for that course so it may not be the same thing anymore, my point is PHIL 120 is a nice course to take).
LFS 110 - Land One: First-year Integrative Seminar - Dr. Fernanda Tomaselli - (course avg 85%)
Dr. Fernanda is the best professor for my first year. She has provided incredible support for my first year when I was trapped in China, taking course on Zoom with 15 hours time difference. I still remember that Dr. Fernance contributed extra hours just to teach me (sometimes with other students), and help me with the application to Food and Resource Economics, where I ended up enjoying and became a TA there. The content is close to another course she's teaching (CONS 200, Foundations of Conservation). In LFS 110, we explored fundamental issue of Conservation, Food Security, Global Warming, and so much more. It's a good exploration about what's the current issues that we are facing. If you don't have a chance to get into Land One, I invite you to take CONS 200!
APBI 200 - Introduction to Soil Science - Dr. Sandra Brown - (course avg 78%)
It's a good introduction course for soil science. It's not hard and quite interesting. I like this course as it introduce me the aspect that I normally ignore. For example, I won't be able to know raising a big herd of cow will cause soil compaction issue if I hadn't taken this course. The most important take away is - Soil is not dirt!
LFS 101 - Land One: Principles of Microeconomics with Applications to LFS - Nisha Malhotra - (course avg 82%)
Yes, I only got 77%, even though I have taken Advanced Placement Microeconomics and got a 5 (full mark). Yes, I only got 77%, even I was a tutor for Advanced Placement Microeconomics. Yes, I only got 77%, and I still become the Academic Assistant and Teaching Assistant for this course (I love Dr. Karen Taylor for giving this wonderful chance and Dr. Athena McKown for refering me to this job). From my personal perspective, most of the ECON 101 courses (equivalant to FRST/LFS 101) are taught badly. Dr. Karen Taylor teaches this course incredibly well, but FRST/LFS 101 is for Land One student only.
LFS 150 - Land One: Scholarly Writing and Argumentation in LFS - Lindsay Cuff - (course avg 86%)
This is a necessary course for everyone, and it's equivalent to WRDS 150 and all other scholarly writing course. You will learn how to write a paper, properly cite literature, form good logic, and so much more! Lindsay is very supportive and the TAs are so supportive! We had a lot of peer-review during learning, which is kind of hard because you will get your critical comment. But it really pays a dividend for your future writing.
Year2 (FRE) - 21/22
After Land One (1st year), I majored Food & Resource Economics (FRE). It's a second-year entry program and it soon will be a first-year entry program with multiple specializations! It's a very small programm inspired by Master of Food and Resource Economics (MFRE), and we share a lot of professors in common. I met a lot of wonderful people here, and due to the small program size, we received incredible help from professors! Actually, my Academic Assistant & Teaching Assistant job both came from MFRE's professor: Karen Taylor and Michael Johnson:) I can't think of the counterfactual of not getting into FRE. Getting into Land One and FRE are the 2 most wonderful decisions I have ever made, which is not easy for a teenager (back then, I am mature now, I think).
ECON 221 - Introduction to Strategic Thinking - Dr. Hao Li - (course avg 72%)
This is a great Game Theory course that challenges my logic and intuition. Dr. Li is a wonderful researcher whose interest is Economic Theory as well as Game Theory. His teaching maybe a bit too much for a first / second year student. This course is 200-level so may not useful in the transcript if you would like to major in Economics, which requires 300-level Economics courses. But the knowledge you get here is very useful I promise, and it will be a good preparation for ECON 441 (Introduction to Game Theory and Applications), the advanced ECON 221, and is very important if you are considering getting a further degree in Economics. Dr. Johnathan Graves is also teaching ECON 221 & 441, and maybe a bit friendlier.
FRE 306 - Introduction to Global Food Markets - Dr. Karen Taylor - (course avg 80%)
This is my very first FRE course, and I met my life-time friend here. This course is very "Economics 300-level-like" and won't be very hard if you are good at Principle of Microeconomics. The Excess-Supply-Excess-Demand model for international trade may be challenging for some students, but if you follow Dr. Karen carefully and attend the course, it's not hard at all. This course is a good fundation if you get her recommendation letter to apply for MFRE. I am grateful that Dr. Karen wrote a Reference Letter to support my MFRE application, and I am actually feeling sorry for her because I ended up choosing M.A. Economics at VSE instead. But for whatever reason, this is a great course and Dr. Karen is a nice professor! Sometimes this course may be taught by Dr. Richard Barichello (also MFRE), and he is great too!
PSYC 102 - Intro to Developmental, Social, Personality, & Clinical Psychology - Dr. Simon Lolliot - (course avg 71%)
It's the best elective I have ever taken:) and the teaching from Dr. Simon is wonderful! I chose this course because the topic is fasinating, and really broaden my horizon. I recommend this course to everyone who's interested in Psychology! The content is intuitive but the reading and memorization can be a bit overwhelming. Just take it for fun!
LFS 250 - Land, Food and Community I: Intro to Food Systems and Sustainability - Dr. Will Valley - (course avg 81%)
This is a project-based course and has 2 terms, 6 credits. It's also a making friend course and team-work course. The TA is very important and I love my TA Hafsa she's wonderful and supportive! The examination is not traditional but more like a interview / oral exam. I still remember that I am always the very first student to take the exam... The system just wants me to be the first.
ECON 234 - Wealth and Poverty of Nations - Dr. Thorsten Rogall - (course avg 81%)
This course is a wonderful development economics course! Dr. Thorsten is a wonderful professor! But I am sad that after the sabbatical, he's going back to his country... He's so humourous and the topic is so interesting - we investigate the fundamental reason of poverty, inequality, and development like Institution, Culture, Geography, etc. We read a lot of books and paper, and we are introduced some econometrics tools like Instrument Variable - It makes me understand that correlation and causality are two very different thing. The research of Dr. Thorsten is fasinating - he used raining as an Instrument Variable in his paper about Rwanda Genecide... He's wonderful... and really spark off my interests about so many development economics question. I hope I can take another course with him again.
ECON 255 - Understanding Globalization - Dr. Jamie McCasland - (course avg 77%)
This is a paper reading course as well, and focuses on globalization. The delivery of the course is similar to ECON 234 but we have some tutorials, in-class presentation, and Climate Simulation (a WTO role play presentation). It can be a good intro for ECON 355 or even ECON 455 in terms of intuition.
ECON 301 - Intermediate Microeconomic Analysis I - Dr. Il Myoung Hwang (Sam) - (course avg 78%)
This is required for FRE, Economics, MFRE, and M.A. Economics. It is basically ECON 101 with Differential Calculus (MATH 104). Sam is not very good at teaching when I was taking this course with him, maybe because he was very busy and stressed with his paper. I struggled a lot at the beginning, because my Math and Economics are transfer credit (not to mention my 77% ECON 101). But after the math is sorted out, it's actually pretty easy and Sam's teaching is traditional. By the way, the TA, David Weaver, has provided me enormous help on course content and valuable insight about M.A. Economics program. Thank you David:)
Year3 (FRE) - 22/23
ECON 355 - Introduction to International Trade - Dr. Victor Couture - (course avg 76%)
This course introduce the fundamental models of international trade. Dr. Victor teaches this course very well! He also used a lot of real-life example to make sure that the content isn't dry. I am sad that he is about to leave UBC and join University of Toronto. I was expecting a higher grade for this course because I have done very well on all midterms and assignments. Some would actually recommend ECON 455 (International Trade), because that's more mathy, and credit is only granted for one of ECON 355 or 455. But if you only needs the intuition, ECON 355 isn't that bad. By the way, Dr. Victor has done his Master at VSE and provided some wonderful advice to me. Thank you Dr. Victor:)
FRE 326 - Empirical Methods for Food and Resource Economics - Dr. Michael Johnson - (course avg 75%)
Dr. Michael is the best statistics professor you have in UBC! This course is definitely hard and the content is similar to ECON 326 (Intro to Econometrics II), but it teaches more hands-on and team-based study like Tableau, RStudio, Excel, group project, presentation, and so much more! It's definitely a great course to take! But you need to give absolutely everything to get a good grade. At the end of the course, we are required to finish a group project, which is pretty similar to what ECON 326 requires, but at a focus of statistical inference, rather than finding anything causal. One website that I wish to know if I were learning this is the COMET.
FRE 385 - Quantitative Methods for Business and Resource Management - Dr. Michael Johnson - (course avg 74%)
It is also taught by Dr. Michael, and it's a MFRE course so we are taking it with master students and learning the same thing, but the exams for undergrad the easier version. The teaching is very intriguing and a lot of interaction and games involved! This course uses a lot of Excel and the knowledge is very applicable in industry, like sensitivity table, calculation of shadow prices, optimization, and so on. I am honored and flattered that Dr. Michael wrote me a reference letter for MFRE application, and gave me a Teaching Assistant position for his LFS 252 (Land, Food, and Community: Quantitative Data Analysis). I recommend everyone to take his courses, not only because they are useful, but also because his the best statistics professor you have in your life I promise!
ECON/FRE 374 - Land and Resource Economics - Dr. Frederik Noack - (course avg 77%)
I am not exaggerating, but Dr. Frederik saved my life. Ok I may exaggerate a bit, but he is very caring, and provided me with the help that I exactly need... Without him, I may not even able to pay the tuition and finish my undergrad, seriously. It's a long story and I will save it next time. His course is very intuitive, and go through a lot of aspects in environmental economics. The lecture could be a bit dry if you don't participate or comment. But once you get into his vibe and follow his pace, everything will be so interesting! Also, the office hour is very helpful because you will get a chance to know Dr. Frederik and I promise you, he will be the best professor you have for environmental economics. The presentation is kind of stressful but it's short and interesting because you have a chance to pick the topic that you like and present it in front of the whole class. Dr. Frederik has also wrote me a recommendation letter for my application to UBC M.A. Economics. I genuinely, genuinely, genuinely believe, he is the reason that I can make it this far... Thank you, Dr. Frederik Noack... I don't know what should I say and what can I say to thank you for everything:) I am currently volunteering to help him with some projects. I guess this is how I can partially contribute something for him...
COMM/FRE 394 - Government and Business - Dr. Keith Head - (course avg 82%)
This course teaches basic ECON 101 stuff, along with some philosophy, international trade, ESG. Actually I can't really remember but it's an interesting elective to take. Dr. Keith is a good Economists and he advise PhD students in Sauder program. There's a debate and video presentation (a 3-minute Video you and teammate made after class) in the class.
ECON 356 - Introduction to International Finance - Dr. Viktoriya Hnatkovska - (course avg 73%)
It's one of my highest grade course. Dr. Viktoriya teaches a lot of model and it could be a bit hard to understand everything. But she also teaches economic intuition very well so you won't get lost if you attend her class everytime. The teaching is traditional - lectures, assignments, exams - and requires a lot of individual study. Dr. Viktoriya also teaches M.A. Economics at UBC on Macroeconomics and International Finance. I am looking forward to take it:) I am honored to have Dr. Viktoriya written a recommendation letter for my M.A. Economics Application for UBC. Without her strong reference letter, I won't be able to get the first-wave offer along with $14000 TAship:) Thank you Viktoriya.
FRE 302 - Small Business Management in Agri-food Industries - Dr. Kelleen Wiseman - (course avg 78%)
This course provides you the fundamental accounting, business planning, business proposal, and presentation skills. There are tons of real-life examples in the course that can help you understand the very core thing in business. Her course inspires me to take COMR 457 (Accounting) and COMR 473 (Finance) in my 4th year. I am sincerely thankful that Dr. Kelleen wrote me a strong reference letter for my MFRE application and granted me $5000 scholarship. Thank you Dr. Kelleen:)
LFS 350 - Land, Food, and Community II: Principles and Practice of Community Food Security - Dr. Will Valley - (course avg 87%)
This is a team project course and very similar to LFS 250, but more concise. There's a lot of reading and small quizzes, and you really have to do a project on-site. My project is the Backyard Garden at the Museum of Vancouver with Jiawen Chen, Tine Xie, Jessey Ye, and Amber Cui. The project Backyard Garden is not initiated by us, but "inherted" to us to maintain. I have become good friends with my teammates and they are wonderful people:)
ECON 441 - The Process of Economic Development - Javior Torres - (course avg 81%)
It is a very interesting and mathy version of ECON 234, I really enjoy it! The topic is also about development economics, but it dives deeper into the model, econometrics method, and so we are required to write a referee report at the end. This course is more of a looking at microeconomics development issue, and ECON 442 Issues in Economic Development is more of a macroeconomics perspective
Year4 (FRE) - 23/24
COMR 457 - Fundamentals of Financial Accounting - Akash Rattan - (course avg 78%)
It is the first time Akash teaches this course, but Akash has 20 years of experience in the industry so it's a easy-peasy for him to teach this course well. It's very structure, very intuitive, very organized! I am shocked that someone can teach a this course this well! I struggled a bit at the beginning and I didn't even understand Dr. and Cr., but Akash helps me a lot and provided wonderful advice for my future path. Thank you Akash:) I am willing to take his course again and I definitely recommend this course to everyone I know! As Akash said: "This course should be taught in Highschool" because it's that useful and that important!
ECON 302 - Intermediate Macroeconomic Analysis I - Dr. Emrul Hasan - (course avg 73%)
This is required by Economics and M.A. Economics. But Dr. Emrul has made the course so interesting and not dry! Dr. Emrul's portfolio is amazing as he has multiple bachelor and master degrees. But interesting teaching doesn't mean that this is an easy course - you have to commit a lot of time after class to understand the contents and do the assignemnts. But if you can handle that and actively participate in his class, Dr. Emrul will be your good friend. His will also give you a lot of career advise too, and he has provided me wonderful insight:) Thank you Dr. Emrul.
ECON 345 - Money and Banking - Dr. Anichul Khan - (course avg 79%)
Dr. Anichul is a very good Lecturer, and his teaching is clear, organized, and intuitive. He is serious and very professional. I love his class. He teaches very well and knows what he's doing very well. If you follow his practice and assignment, there will be no surprises for you. But I wish Dr. Anichul could encourage students more beyond the class materials:) I recommend all his course.
ECON 398 - Introduction to Applied Economics - Dr. Johnathan Graves - (course avg 81%)
This is my highest grade course, and the most useful course from my perspective because it teaches you valuable knowledge about causal inference, and Dr. Johnathan will be the best Econometrics professor you meet in UBC. You are expected to learn major applied econometrics tools like IV, DiD, and so on. Even you are not interested in applied economics, this course can help you understand what economists are doing when you are reading their paper. This course will prepare you very well for ECON 425 (Introduction to Econometrics) and ECON 490 (Seminar in Applied Economics). My very first paper Religiosity and Income - For The Love of Money Is The Root Of All Evil? was done in his course. Also, the TA, Paul Corcuera, is so supportive and he is one of the best TA (in terms of support and knowledge, he is the TA for PhD!) I have ever had in my undergrad! Paul also connected me to his friend, Diego Zuñiga, who works at the Bank of Canada to help me with my interview for the RA position there. Thank you for all the support Paul:) and thank you Johnathan for this wonderful course!
FRE 490 - Current Issues in Food and Resource Economics - Sean Holowaychuk - (course avg 80%)
This is a project analysis, report writing course. You will be amazed by how many mal-functioning projects are there in the world and his course is trying to let you explore, criticize, and propose a solution for those projects. Our project focuses on the Monitoring, Evaluating, and Learning Report of the Project: Somalia Empowering Women through Education and Skills Project - "Rajo Kaaba". Sean is a wonderful teacher for this course, and he is very caring and willing to be friends with everyone. I really appreciate this common vide of all FRE and MFRE professors - they are always so caring and supportive. I would recommend this course if you want to know how to really evaluate the real-world project and have a sense that how can they be improved, and not wasting money.
COMM/COMR 473 - Business Finance - Caren Lombard - (course avg 75%)
This is an introduction finance course that I will recommend to everyone because it's very useful! The course is intense and fast, but the content is not hard at all as long as you have done all the practice provided. There will be some presentation and team-based project, and it's a good chance to get to know the finance of the company you like!
ECON 303 - Intermediate Microeconomic Analysis II - Dr. Il Myoung Hwang (Sam) - (course avg 76%)
This is complementary with ECON 301, because these 2 together will cover the most important part of Intermediate level Microeconomics. I recommend you to take it from the same professor to make sure the consistency and continuity of course content. Sam is better at teaching for this course, and I am so happy that Sam has become more supportive and more willing to get to know students after 2 years since I took ECON 301 with him. The TA, Pedro Pessoa, is pretty chill, and provided me some insight about future path. Last but not least, Sam wrote me a reference letter and helped me get the first-round offer from M.A. Economics at VSE:) Thank you Sam:)
FRE 420 - The Economics of International Trade and the Environment - Dr. Carol McAusland - (course avg 79%)
Dr. Carol is a critical thinker and has provided me lots of wonderful and unbiased insights for my future, improved my logic, pointed out my Achilles' Heel... I truly appreciate it! The class could be a bit long but her teaching is passionate and clear. There will be some debate and Dr. Carol leads us to do the debate step by step: from finding information, making slides, writing summary, and real debate. This is valuable and transferrable skill to future research. Dr. Carol is also very caring, wise (she has been a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair!), and she said something that has moved me:"I want you to think Office Hour as an entitlement." I don't know why, but I am deeply moved by her word and attitute.
FRE 474 - Causal Inference in the Economics of Natural Resource Conservation - Dr. Sumeet Gulati - (course avg 90%)
Wonderful class, and I believe it's complementary to ECON 398 rather than substituable. ECON 398 will prepare you very balanced theory training and hands-on experience, but FRE 474 will draw more attention on paper reading, logic building, and hands-on experience. In the class, you will have to do paper replicate, and write a referee report at the end. Dr. Sumeet's course is indeed very chill and the TA, Erin Litzow, is one of the best TA I have ever had. She is so passionate, helpful, and supportive! In my heart, she is better than Paul (although Erin said Paul is better), and her portfolio is amazing! Apart from that, Erin has also provided me valuable insight on how to prepare for M.A. Economics. Thank you Erin:) and thank you Sumeet for this wonderful course.
FRST 443 - Remote Sensing for Ecosystem Management - Dr. Nicholas Coops - (course avg 82%)
He is so humorous and his teaching is wonderful! 8AM may be a pain but it's so worth it. Dr. Nicholas is very good at remote sensing and is so knowledgable (Canada Research Chair Tier I). Remote sensing is increasingly important for Economics - development, environment, inequality, regional convergence, and all kind of stuff - so I recommend Economics students, not only FRE, to give it a try! The tutorial could be a bit forward than the class, but it provides a lot of hands-on experience. There will be a presentation and a paper (both of them requires a group of 4 people), and it's quite fun actually.
This is pretty much every course I have taken in UBC for my undergrad. Of course, the information I provide isn't completely unbiased and suffered from selection bias, but all of us are looking at the world with our own stereotype. I love these courses and I am glad that I have a chance to learn from them, mentored by them, and even work with them. I also have to thank some professors although I haven't taken courses with them: Dr. James Vercammen for building the FRE programme; Dr. Richard Barichello for wonderful conversation; and many of my friends at UBC:) I am no where near a perfect man and no qualified for so many things. But it is your help, my luck, and my family that make me here today.
June 7th, 2024
In Shenzhen, Guangdong, China