Mathematics personal statement example
Mathematics personal statement Mathematics personal statement: My ambition to study for a degree in finance and accounting and to make my career in this field has developed partly out of my study of economics at A-level. I have been struck by the extreme relevance of the subject, the way that its concerns affect our everyday lives and explain and perhaps determine how we live. The immediate situation makes it an exciting time to be an economist, with the 2008 shock still reverberating around the world and countries which were very prosperous being brought to the edge of bankruptcy in a short time with no obvious solution in sight other than a decade of austerity. I am very keen to understand the forces which have led to this and to consider whether they could be predicted or controlled. Accounting also attracts me as the way into a career in the financial or business world, where I can use my economic know-how in real financial environments, analysing a corporation’s information and managing its assets. I am very much aware of how modern companies depend on their accountants in the ways they have traditionally depended on their lawyers, so that the accountant’s responsibility is therefore momentous, but to be a member of such a respected profession would bring me both personal and professional fulfilment.
I am a keen reader of The Economist, enjoying its weekly update on macroeconomic issues and the way they explain events in the world, and I have read Philip Coggan’s The Money Machine: How the City Works, a first rate introduction to the whole subject. I have been particularly interested in the subject of microcredit – how very small loans can empower people and spur entrepreneurship – which I learnt about in an economics lesson about Muhammed Yunus, who set up a project in a small town in Bangladesh called Jobra, using his own money to offer low-interest loans to the poor. It struck me as a wonderful piece of inventive thinking, offering a self-help model which avoided the complexity of government control and regulation.
I spent my primary education years in Saudi Arabia and my secondary in the UK, so that I feel that I have a greater awareness of different cultures and environments than most of my peers. I am fully bilingual, with Punjabi and English equally as my mother tongues, a useful asset in an increasingly international world. I have worked for some time in Saudi Business Machines, an IBM company, in the Software Group, a team of 14 people responsible for the sales function of IBM software. I learnt much about the financial processes and controls which were in place to protect the stability of the company, as well as developing my team working ability, maturity of attitude and skill in the management of time.
At school I was a prefect, responsible for helping younger pupils and setting an example to the rest of the school. This was a responsible position and helped me to learn how to deal with other people and to lead where necessary. I was a member of the CCF, working in a cooperative team of six, completing various courses and drawing on resources of self-reliance, endurance and perseverance. I am a keen sportsman, representing the school at cricket and also enjoying football, badminton and pool. I was a regular attender at the debating society, which was excellent training in persuasiveness, logical thinking and arguing, and considering evidence dispassionately. I have also worked on voluntary projects, including running a summer fête for the Fremantle Trust to raise funds for a care home, managing a project and organising with some efficiency.
I am academically able, with a particular aptitude in mathematics. I have strong analytical skills and enjoy the challenge of problems and learning new information. I have good communication abilities, think logically and calmly, while remaining very focused and determined. My commitment to my subject is total and I believe I have the necessary qualities to become a very successful undergraduate.