I might not be the prince of Belgium, but I’m one of the few, maybe the only (?), Nicaraguan currently doing a PhD at Harvard. First my undergrad was taken by my government, now DHS wants to come for my grad institution… I think I’ve seen this film before and I didn’t like the ending… 🎵

End of semester: 3 final exams, 3 research proposals, 1 final essay. Got sick during the final week and I am still sick (low oxygen is the worst). It was the best semester academically but also probably my worst in output terms. And also, depression is real. 🥲

Not me getting sick two days before my final exam.

When I first left my country, this was one of the debate I didn’t fully understand. I learned Stata and R and have taught both as well. However, it was because back home, the cost concern wasn’t an issue. We all had Stata copies from a professor who got the license while studying abroad haha.😅

Finished the final readings for the semester—wrapped up with great material!

Ayer, Jorge Enrique Mendez se gano el premio #FlechaAlAire a la mejor tesis de educacion del @itam-mx.bsky.social. Tuve el honor de asesor esta tesis junto con Cristian Sanchez. Un breve hilo sobre esta tesis y sobre Jorge, que tiene una historia increible 🧵

Me, writing recommendation for a final individual policy memo:

There goes my motivation.

I still panic when I download a paper that is +100 pages (but only 30 of content) and I have to read it for a class.

When the solutions to the pset of public economics is pushing 30 pages. 😶‍🌫️

Apply and join our team to conduct pioneering research on international educational migration!

Attending my first NEUDC today and presenting tomorrow as a PhD student! :) Back in 2019, I went to the ASSA-AEA meeting in Atlanta but didn’t speak to anyone because I was too nervous. I was a master’s student then. 🥲

I never run out of ideas. I run out of motivation.

I have become the very chaos I once aimed to eliminate—over 100 tabs in Chrome.

I’m genuinely too sad to be reading papers right now.

Did my first Econ of education seminar during the PhD. I am so exhausted and it was just for one hour.

We are failure. We couldn’t finish the donuts again.

Writing a referee report for labor. Now I understand why everyone complains about tables and figures at the end of the text.

PAPs in economics should be reframed as Concepts of a Plan.

My advisor: so you got a research idea for the semester? Me: I have concepts of a plan. My advisor:

The dataviz course is amazing! I know at least 4 professors who have used the site as a foundation to build their own courses. We even adapted it for a math camp recently: harvard-api209.github.io/api209-math-... It's truly a masterclass in building effective course websites!

I had to TF a 3-hour session starting at 9am. Now I understand why neither professors nor students like back to back sessions, lol.

Yesterday, someone told me I was a great TF and that the materials I shared were helpful. 🥲 Apparently, those Bok Center Teaching Trainings are working.

Please should stop using the “PhD is a marathon not a sprint” analogy. Why would I want it to be a race? 😫

If you have 20 mins, enjoy this delightful podcast on our Science Adv. paper on the effects of personalized recommendations on contraceptive uptake through the tablet-based counseling app we developed. Susan Athey is particularly brilliant. Starts at minute 13:40. podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/s...