Jixiang Fang

Country: China

CSU Degree Program: Master of Financial Risk Management

INTO CSU Program: MSBA in Financial Risk Management

Why did you choose to come to Colorado State University?

I chose to come to CSU because CSU has a very high academic reputation, and Fort Collins is very beautiful. It’s a very nice place to live, and people here are very friendly.

How did the Pathway program help you achieve your goals at CSU?

When I first came to America I needed to adapt to a lot of things, it’s a new country; it’s a new life, a new campus. I think for me the Pathway program has helped me a lot. They gave me a lot of courses that are highly related to finance like mathematics, physics, statistics, and definitely the finance courses. The other year I stayed in the Pathway program, it gave me a lot of introduction courses that gave me a better understanding of finance. Because I already have an admission offer to the Statistics department, and I have another Master’s degree at CSU, these two programs, finance and applied statistics, will combine together and help me to get a quality finance job. When I graduate from that program I will try to find a job in America, hopefully in New York on Wall Street or something.

What was your relationship like with your CSU professors?

The CSU professors are very nice; every professor in our program is very nice. They motivate me to try my best and do something. In every course I think I can do very well because their teaching helps me. They let me know that I can do something, everything I need to know, I can do it.

How did your assistantship in the finance department help you become a stronger student at CSU?

The finance assistantship helped me to have more of a chance to talk with my professors. Sometimes I help them do research and things, like collect data, and to correct their other classes’ students assignments. This process, this experience, helped me to have a good understanding of my academic knowledge.

What advice do you have for future INTO CSU students?

Just focusing on your academic study, I know it’s Colorado and America, it’s exciting and interesting, also there are a lot of things that you want to play with, you want to travel, but you need to remember that you are a student. You need to focus on what you have what you have to learn.