Daniel Stein
Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Year in School: Sophomore
Interests/Hobbies:
I love riding my bike and going for long walks on the west side of Madison (or in Milwaukee when I’m home over the summer!). I’m usually listening to music when I have some free time, and I’m also a pretty committed UW volleyball fan!
Involvements/Employment/Activities:
I work as the Program Director at WSUM, our on-campus student radio station — I oversee all of the content broadcast on our FM and online signals, develop show schedules for our nearly 200 active members, and enforce federal broadcast regulations. I am also an academic chair for the L&S Honors Student Organization, where I book faculty members for Honors’ Wednesdays @ Washburn event series.
Where is your favorite place on campus and why?
I would have to say WSUM! I love all of my coworkers and really appreciate that my job gives me the opportunity to meet so many people, plus the station is always a great place to get some homework done.
What has been your favorite Econ course?
My favorite so far has been Dr. David Johnson’s Economics 390 course on Nobel Prize-winning research, which I’m taking right now. I might be old-fashioned, but I get the most out of my classes when they’re taught with just chalk and a blackboard, which Dr. Johnson does masterfully. It’s such a privilege to get to read so many of the papers that changed our discipline in an undergraduate class, and Dr. Johnson does an excellent job of presenting a lot of convoluted concepts in a way that makes sense to those of us without a Ph.D.
If you have any other majors or certificates in addition to Econ, how did you decide to add Econ or add the other major/certificate?
I knew that I wanted to be an economics major after taking the AP sequence my senior year of high school. I love that it makes you see the world differently, which will help you regardless of the field you work in after college. I’m also pursuing certificates in public policy and French — I’ve been learning French since fifth grade and wanted to keep it up in college.
How do you manage your course load?
I’m taking 18 credits this semester, so it’s definitely going to be a lot, but I keep very detailed to-do lists, both on paper and on my laptop. Having all of my deadlines in front of me really helps me prioritize and budget my time.
Where did you intern/research, and did you have a good experience? Why or why not?
I have done two internships with the City of Milwaukee, including with our Mayor’s Office — I took a gap year before coming to UW and worked there for a full year. Working in local government was a great experience because I got to run with some projects that might not have been given to interns somewhere else: I got to work on several detailed policy reports, present to the Milwaukee Common Council, and help develop performance management tools that are now being used by the entire organization. This semester, I’m enrolled in Economics 699 (Directed Study) with Dr. Johnson, which has been an excellent opportunity for me to explore the policy areas that I’m interested in. We’re reading about cap-and-trade program design right now!
What advice do you have for students seeking an internship/research experience?
Be proactive! The internship opportunities you see listed on the Internet are only the tip of the iceberg. If there’s an organization where you want to work, reach out and see if they might have any opportunities for you. A lot of the time, the answer will be no, but sometimes the answer is yes — and in my experience, those kinds of internships give you the opportunity to do more impactful work!
Do you know what you want to do after graduation? If yes, what? If not, what advice would you give to another student who may not know either?
I know that I want to work with budgets and interact with policymaking in some way, whether that’s in the public sector or the private sector, but I’m open to trying new things! For me, taking a gap year and using that time to try out a job I might like to have after graduation was a really positive experience — if you decide that you’re actually more passionate about something else, this is the perfect time in your life to figure that out.