Ph.D.Program
Wenlan Qian
Finance and Real Estate
BA, Economics
Shanghai International Studies University
MA, Demography
University of California, Berkeley
For Wenlan Qian, Haas was already at the top of the list for Ph.D. studies, given its superior research rankings and placement record in finance and real estate. It was her previous affiliation with the school, however, that sealed the deal. “I had already taken doctorate courses and attended seminars in both finance and real estate before I officially entered the program. I found the instruction to be very intuitive and interactive,” she says. “Plus, the very favorable student-professor ratio makes it feasible for the professors to know each student well and adjust the speed and content of the instruction.”
After studying in Shanghai, Qian received her master’s degree from UC Berkeley in Demography. Along with the chance to pursue an array of outdoor activities, Qian appreciates the diversified culture of the San Francisco Bay Area. “ For me, the highly concentrated Chinese population has been a huge plus,” she says. “ Sometimes I do not even feel that I am so far away from my home in China.”
Of her studies, Qian notes, “One of my particular research interests is on the dual role of housing as both consumption and investment. In the traditional asset pricing literature, housing is treated as a durable consumption good and much is yet to be done to study its effect on other financial asset prices, as well as the interaction between the two.” She continues, “ Haas offers an unparalleled advantage for this course of study, as the home of the top programs in finance and real estate and leading researchers in both fields.”
