MSSP Student Profile: Ruxin Liu
Ruxin Liu has a different schedule than most of her classmates. She wakes up late in the morning and does most of her work in the afternoon, preparing for her classes that start around 8PM in her time zone. These classes end around 1AM in the morning after which she gets ready for the next day and goes to sleep. B.B. King once said “The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.”, a quote which Liu has shown to be true.
Many schools have transitioned to online learning platforms, and at Boston University the Learn from Anywhere program means just that: classes can be taken from an apartment in Boston’s East Side or, in the case of MSSP student Liu, a house in Shanghai, China. Liu double-majored in Environmental Biology and Statistics at the University of Toronto in Canada. As she progressed through her undergraduate career, she realized that she was drawn to statistics and decided to pursue her masters. In her search she wanted to find a program that fostered her love of data analysis and gave her practical experience in the field of statistics. She described the MSSP Program as the “ideal” mixture of these, and was excited by the accelerated timeframe in which she could complete it.
Liu found that most schools only offer a theoretical base for statistics graduate students. Upon finding that Boston University offers both theoretical and practical programs, her decision was made. However, not long after, the world entered the Covid-19 Pandemic. Her initial reaction was to consider deferment for another semester, hoping that the pandemic would pass, but when online learning became available she readily accepted the challenge.
While she prefers learning in-person, she enjoys the advantages of online learning such as more accessibility to professors and easier collaboration with her peers. It’s difficult to manage the odd times and workload, but Liu mentioned that she’s grateful that she only needs to study because “some other classmates … have internships, so it’s tougher for them. They go to sleep and then the next day they have to go to work.”
Restrictions on where she can go due to public health guidelines make it hard for her to find the proper work-life balance, but she is sure to take a day out of each week to do the things she enjoys, whether that be “spending time with family, watching TV that [she] likes, or walking around.” She often takes Sunday as her day to recharge before classes roll around on Monday.
Liu’s dedication to her education is exceptional, even among the talented group of graduate students that are currently enrolled in the MSSP Program.
This profile was written by Isaac Schorr.