BSc Computational Finance
Joey Hou
Joey Hou was admitted to the BSc in Computation Finance programme at CityU in 2017. He was the first student in his major admitted to the Joint Bachelor's Degree Program between CityU and Columbia University. Earlier this year, he graduated with First Class Honours. Here he shares about his life in the two universities.
Hi everyone! My name is Joey (Jiangtian Hou). I was in the major of computational finance in my freshman and sophomore years at CityU, and I majored in computer science in the following three years at Columbia University in the US.
The way to the Joint Bachelor’s Degree
I was the first student in my major applying for the Joint Bachelor’s Degree Program. It not only meant that I would have no companions with similar backgrounds to walk through the application process, but I would also need to face all potential outcomes by myself. Luckily, the faculty in the College of Business greatly helped me throughout the process. I also met several applicants from other majors and several senior students at Columbia who gave me opinions and help. With the help of my parents, my friends at CityU, senior Columbia students, and faculty in the College of Business, I went through a lot of difficulties and gained both a clear view of myself and a determined mind. I am glad that I was finally admitted to the Joint Program.
My life in Columbia
Columbia students are very determined and effective. Upon my first day at Columbia, I was told by senior students that there exists a so-called “Columbia bubble” which traps students from leaving the campus. The barriers are made of endless assignments, projects, essays, and readings. This may sound scary, but I must admit it is a truthful representation of Columbia students’ life. While I took fewer courses at Columbia (I decreased the number of courses I took per semester from six to four), the pressure increased because of competitive students and fast-paced instruction. My corresponding Columbia major was computer science and this was also my personal interest. However, the change from a computational finance major to a focus on computer science brought great challenges at first. I didn’t pay enough attention to the fundamental computer programming course as I was a bit over-confident. I got my first and only C grade on a computer science major course, which served as a great warning and encouraged me to rethink my abilities and future plans. One thing that I found precious at Columbia was the way in which you get to know who you really are. After talking with professors, senior students, and fellows, I realized that it was more important to have a complete and clear understanding of myself rather than just getting pretty grades. I then spent three semesters taking opportunities in various career paths and academic areas, including taking a consulting internship, beginning a linguistics concentration, and trying AI and NLP (Natural Language Process) courses. In the fifth (and final) year, I combined my interest in designing and visual graphics with my major, and focused on UI design and front-end web development. These are precious paths that led me to know more about my potential and guided me to what I have achieved so far.