Hello! I'm Allison Nimz, a graduate of BYU-I since April of 2022. I grew up moving around the United States and the world; exploring different cultures always has a place in my heart. When I first attended to BYU-I, I claimed International Studies as my major. An influential professor motivated me to use college to explore new things and challenge myself, rather than sticking with the skills I already knew. So, I switched my major to Economics!It has been a difficult, yet rewarding road. I've dedicated hours to learning theory, math, research techniques, programs (Excel, R, Python, and SQL), and leadership. Paired with my degree is a Military Science minor, which has taught me teamwork, critical thinking, leadership styles, professionalism, discipline, conflict resolution, and grit. From my degree, I am most proud of my undergraduate thesis, which was a quantitative analysis, in which the dean of my department commented that it "was ambitious and well researched." I chose to use data from a longitudinal education study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and evaluated if family background factors --- such as parental education, expected education obtainment of children, parental and sibling makeup, resources available in the home and others --- could be used to predict a student's success in life by using final college GPA as an indicator. I explained different variables, fallacies that I was finding, additional data that would be needed, and made recommendations for future research. I also incorporated economics by discussing how this knowledge would affect students, education, and the economy.I am looking to work full-time for a company that will encourage me to grow my knowledge and skills beyond my education. In a few years, I hope to start a graduate degree program after gaining industry experience to ultimately become a policy advisor for the government. Currently, I find myself most interested in analyzing data, understanding what the numbers mean, solving problems, and research methods. I have enjoyed research, labor, and macro-economic theory. Outside my degree, I like to study the housing market, depression economics, and effects of policy. I own a professional photography business, enjoy making soap, scrubs, and bath teas, and try to travel when I can. Thank you for stopping by!
