Financial Mathematics Personal Statement

My ambition to study for a degree in the area of financial mathematics is inspired by what I believe is a natural aptitude for mathematics and a deep interest in the world of business.  I am something of a natural entrepreneur and in the small experience I have already had of directing an organisation and contributing to its success, such as running a magazine at school and being the HR director for a Young Enterprise group, I have very much enjoyed the excitement, the responsibility and the discipline involved in meeting deadlines and providing a service which can bring success.  My plan is to run my own business ultimately, but I know that I need a strong basis in accountancy and knowledge of the financial world.  My strong mathematics, and the intellectual pleasure I take in confronting mathematical problems and finding solutions, is the starting point for my ambitions.  I am also very attentive to detail, keen to master the complexities of changing conditions in the market place, such as tax laws, and relish the thought of the very complex problems which will call for all my advanced analytical skills.  I am aware too that the accountant plays an increasingly important role in modern business organisations, and that firms (and individual clients) come to rely on the accountant in the way they have traditionally relied on their lawyer, which means that absolute accuracy is imperative, as are an immense range of knowledge of financial law and trends and an ability to operate under extreme pressure of responsibility. The rewards, both personally and professionally, are very great, and to be a member of such a respected profession is a very attractive prospect. At the same time I am very interested in the way the economy works as a whole. I have read a number of books on the subject, such as John Cassidy’s How Markets Fail and Richard Roberts’ The City: A Guide to London’s Global Financial Centre, and I subscribe to The Economist, all of which have sharpened my appetite to discover more about the economy and the way the world can change so rapidly, as it did in 2008, and further inspired my ambition to work in the financial world.

I am academically able and give my best efforts to everything I am involved in.  I was co-creator and writer of a student magazine at school, for which I had to sell advertising space, collect payment, work out costs and expenditure and operate as part of a sales team.  In our Young Enterprise team my job was to attend meetings and generate energy and motivation in the group.  I worked for several months in a large estate agency, at first in the accounts department, learning about property law, and later in the competitive environment of the auction department, where I was in the top five performers by the second month and was offered a permanent job.

Apart from my interests in finance and mathematics I have done some charity work.  I was elected the charity representative in the sixth form, and while travelling in my gap years I worked at an orphanage for disabled children in Vietnam and in another orphanage in Thailand.  It was often challenging work but full of rewards and pleasures.  I keep in touch with the organiser who sends me photographs and news of how my charges are getting on.  I have also done charity and promotional work for Metro Radio Arena.

I am patient and determined, and as a result I am a good learner.  I particularly enjoy contact with people and find myself at ease with others quickly and comfortably.  I am an excellent team-worker, which is a vital quality for the successful employee in a large corporation, just as it is in an effective entrepreneur.  At the same time I have the confidence in my own judgement to be able to take responsibility for my own decisions and work on my own initiative.  My instinct for mathematical challenges means that my commitment to my planned career is total, and I believe that I have the qualities to make a very successful undergraduate.

This Financial Mathematics Personal Statement example should be used to help guide the writing of your personal statement for your UCAS application to university.