Read the following example of a personal statement for the Economics and Business course. I hope it will help you write a good personal statement.
I always order Italian food when I eat out with a boy. If I didn’t, because of social customs, I would have to reciprocate, but as a man, he possibly wouldn’t be eager to be bought dinner by me. Still, I would feel obligated to pay him back, so I would be likely to do anything he asks me. For me, go-ahead and independent would be a considerable cost, higher than the price of food. So, I prefer to split the bill. This kind of cost, not related to spending money, economists call a “hidden cost”, awareness of which is a massive advantage to me.
Knowledge of this and many other economic terms comes from my two-year participation in the Economic Knowledge Competition (EKC). Economics is not part of the Italian school curriculum, so I got together with a group of students my age and we taught ourselves. The first thing which struck me was the lack of girls in the group. I think the phenomenon of so few girls taking part in the EKC occurs because they don’t see any examples around them of female success in this competition, so they believe that they can’t become successful either. I wanted to change this, so I decided to become a leader of the male-dominated economics group. I thought that a female leader would encourage more girls to learn economics. To my satisfaction, there are currently almost as many girls participating in the group as boys. This observation made me curious about women’s nature, so I read Simone de Beauvoir’s “The second sex”, which allowed me to understand the genesis of women’s current situation.
Leading an economics study group has another great benefit for me. I have to explain economic concepts clearly and concisely so that my students understand them. I have learned how to simplify the complexity of economic concepts and illustrate them with examples from historical and current political situations. It has taught me how to use my economic knowledge in practice and enabled me to assess global politics accurately. I am thus able to understand podcasts like “The week ahead” from The Economist and “Behind the money” from the Financial Times, which I listen to in my spare time. Besides making me more familiar with global politics, this has allowed me to notice how often China is mentioned in those programmes. I saw how important this country is now with the second-biggest economy in the world and its external public policy. The trend is continuing to grow, so I realised that, If I want to keep up with progress, I need to learn Mandarin as soon as possible. I won third prize in the Italian edition of Chinese Bridge, the international contest on Chinese language and knowledge about China for foreigners, which inspired me to apply for a one-month scholarship in China this year. Mandarin is a language which demands a lot of patience, and I have had a lot of moments of doubt, but I think I made the right decision. I will certainly continue studying it at university.
The desire to change my environment pushed me to fight industrial pollution in my city of Krakow, one of the most polluted cities in Europe. The problem was, the majority of Krakow’s dwellers didn’t protect themselves from smog, because they held the view that masks are not fashionable enough to wear. To solve this problem, under the slogan “Wear The Mask”, my team and I organised two photo sessions and a fashion show. It was an enormous success. Two huge Italian TV stations interviewed us, and over 30 newspapers published articles about us. We also noticed that significantly more people started wearing masks. This project enabled me to develop my organisational skills; it also proved rewarding and fulfilling. In the process, I became more aware of how important local initiatives are for social life. Overall, I convinced myself that perseverance and enthusiasm are critical factors for change.
I believe that your degree program is an excellent and challenging opportunity to develop my interest. I would love to and be grateful for being able to attend your university.
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