Getting a doctorate in economics — or any quantitative subject — is a humbling experience for an American at an American university. It hits you the first year, when you realize how inadequate your mathematics training is compared to that of your foreign-born classmates. I’ll never forget how demoralizing it was for me and my high-school algebra to sit down for an exam next to a national math champion from South Korea.
US doctoral programs in STEM fields are often dominated by foreigners. But it would be wrong to say they are stealing spots from Americans; US universities have their pick of global talent, and non-Americans just have much stronger math and science backgrounds. And I now appreciate that competing against my classmates helped me in ways I still benefit from.