zc796
Jan 24, 2011
Graduate / SOP_BS, MS in Statistics bacground, applying for MS in Economics in Hong Kong [7]
Hi, my mother tongue is not English so I wrote the personal statement in a very direct way.
There is no specific prompts/instuctions for the SOP.
I really appreciate any criticism and suggestions. Thank you!
From a very young age I was fascinated by science fiction. I admired those talented and even crazy scientists in many novels, who have strong love of complexities and details in an unknown world, and powerful imagination that exceeds the limits of the known world. Carl Friedrich Gauss once said mathematics is the queen of sciences. I am convinced that scientific beliefs are generated from imagination, detailed reasoning and objective truth, and in a sense, are based on mathematics.
In 2004, I entered xxx University whose mathematics program ranks among top 10 in China. After the two-year study in pure mathematics I began to be interested in economics and statistics because I was strongly attracted by their beautiful theories and wide applications. "All methods of acquiring knowledge are, essentially, through statistics." C.R. Rao illuminated the role of statistics and showed me the tool to explore both the unknown world and the known world. I was aware that statistics is a powerful tool which could equip me for my truly interested problems. Meanwhile I started to ponder on two questions: (i) how does statistics serve the human being as a tool? (ii) should we be tool-oriented or problem-oriented to solve practical problems?
Seeking the answer of the first question I studied hard on theoretical statistics. At last, I achieved the 4th place in the Department of Statistics of my grade. I applied to the undergraduate research project and wrote a working paper titled "Forecasting on Chinese Population by Using Cybernetics Method" with two fellows. Different from the other population forecasting methods, we considered the transferring rate among cities, towns and villages as an important variable. We also used gamma distribution to predict mortality rate and birth rate, and eventually compared the predicted results under different possible public policies.
To acquire an answer to the second question, I enrolled in the University of xxx in 2008 to further my study in the statistics master program, a small joint program that allows me to closely study from and communicate with the excellent faculties from both mathematics department and business school. After some exposure to research I found a more clear answer to the second question. Seeing the application of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) in asset pricing (Satadru Hore et al., 2009) made me realize that I could strike a balance between tool-driven and problem-driven orientation, namely being motivated by practical problems and then exploring appropriate statistical tools to solve them.
With the answers of the two questions I started my career from xxx as a consultant and now I am an investment banking intern in xxx Securities. During my work I greatly benefited from the logic of reasoning and patterns of argument that I gained in mathematics and statistics training. Meanwhile I profoundly realized the significant role of economics in both consulting and financial services. Since my career goal is to become a financial analyst capable to make applicable and sustainable contributions, I believe that a master program in economics is the missing piece of my knowledge framework, and it could further be a catalyst to my future career.
To achieve this goal my past preparations mainly include four aspects. First, I achieved exceptional academic performance, which I consider necessary for a good analyst. I maintained a cumulative GPA 4.0/4.0 on statistics core courses.
Second, I nailed down one specific field - Bayesian Statistics, deepened my study and accumulated some research and analysis experience. I took the international famed statistician Professor xxx's Bayesian Econometrics course, which consolidated both my understanding and interest in Bayesian methods. In my master report I studied the effects of three different priors for variance parameters in the 2-stage normal-mean hierarchical model. I chose the conjugate inverse-gamma, log-normal and truncated normal as the priors for variance parameters and wrote my own R codes to get the draws from the posteriors using Gibbs sampler and Metropolis-Hastings algorithm within Gibbs. Then I used predictive distributions to do predictions on simulated data. I found that though there is a "non-informative" interval in the conjugate inverse-gamma prior, with an acceptable estimate of the data it could still give the best results. It seems that log-normal prior has very good properties, but few people pay too much attention to it. Through this course and the research I acquired a good mastery of R. More importantly, the experience of being involved in research and being coached by a top Bayesian statistician enhanced my analysis ability.
Third, I worked as a teaching assistant for three-semesters in xxx School of Business, and obtained valuable teaching and communication experience. I graded homework and finance projects, and held office hours for a business statistics course attended by more than two hundred students. When I helped students to understand statistics I liked using plots to simplify problems and introducing intuitive thinking when necessary. After the semester ended, I received "thank you" cards from some students and at that moment it reminded me to truly recollect the enjoyment of teaching.
Fourth, I continued to develop a strong ardor towards the most concerned economic issues, such as employment, income, prices, growth, and trade. More specifically, I want to seek answers to some of the very significant and practical issues, such as the causes of economic recession, underlying mechanisms triggering credit crunch, and implication of globalization in economic integration. I used to read an article by Professor Oliver Hart on the Wall Street Journal, in which he questioned whether the government has abandoned economic principle for its way of handling the current financial crisis. Though I found the argument extremely convincing, I couldn't help thinking about the other way - the possibility that the free market system, functioning well in the past, may not be flawless to provide mechanism for dealing with the crisis effectively without proper government intervention.
The MSc in Economics Program in xxx Business School provides competitive trainings and comprehensive courses. I am most interested in Microeconomics and Macroeconomics Analysis courses and then, with the aforementioned foundations, I would like to select Strategy and Organization, Monetary Economics and Fixed Income Analysis. A desire to receive the best education possible plus the pursuit of my career goal are also my motivations for applying xxx Business School, which has prestigious fame and brilliant economics minds.
I was born ordinary, but now I am ready to grow extraordinary.
Hi, my mother tongue is not English so I wrote the personal statement in a very direct way.
There is no specific prompts/instuctions for the SOP.
I really appreciate any criticism and suggestions. Thank you!
From a very young age I was fascinated by science fiction. I admired those talented and even crazy scientists in many novels, who have strong love of complexities and details in an unknown world, and powerful imagination that exceeds the limits of the known world. Carl Friedrich Gauss once said mathematics is the queen of sciences. I am convinced that scientific beliefs are generated from imagination, detailed reasoning and objective truth, and in a sense, are based on mathematics.
In 2004, I entered xxx University whose mathematics program ranks among top 10 in China. After the two-year study in pure mathematics I began to be interested in economics and statistics because I was strongly attracted by their beautiful theories and wide applications. "All methods of acquiring knowledge are, essentially, through statistics." C.R. Rao illuminated the role of statistics and showed me the tool to explore both the unknown world and the known world. I was aware that statistics is a powerful tool which could equip me for my truly interested problems. Meanwhile I started to ponder on two questions: (i) how does statistics serve the human being as a tool? (ii) should we be tool-oriented or problem-oriented to solve practical problems?
Seeking the answer of the first question I studied hard on theoretical statistics. At last, I achieved the 4th place in the Department of Statistics of my grade. I applied to the undergraduate research project and wrote a working paper titled "Forecasting on Chinese Population by Using Cybernetics Method" with two fellows. Different from the other population forecasting methods, we considered the transferring rate among cities, towns and villages as an important variable. We also used gamma distribution to predict mortality rate and birth rate, and eventually compared the predicted results under different possible public policies.
To acquire an answer to the second question, I enrolled in the University of xxx in 2008 to further my study in the statistics master program, a small joint program that allows me to closely study from and communicate with the excellent faculties from both mathematics department and business school. After some exposure to research I found a more clear answer to the second question. Seeing the application of Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) in asset pricing (Satadru Hore et al., 2009) made me realize that I could strike a balance between tool-driven and problem-driven orientation, namely being motivated by practical problems and then exploring appropriate statistical tools to solve them.
With the answers of the two questions I started my career from xxx as a consultant and now I am an investment banking intern in xxx Securities. During my work I greatly benefited from the logic of reasoning and patterns of argument that I gained in mathematics and statistics training. Meanwhile I profoundly realized the significant role of economics in both consulting and financial services. Since my career goal is to become a financial analyst capable to make applicable and sustainable contributions, I believe that a master program in economics is the missing piece of my knowledge framework, and it could further be a catalyst to my future career.
To achieve this goal my past preparations mainly include four aspects. First, I achieved exceptional academic performance, which I consider necessary for a good analyst. I maintained a cumulative GPA 4.0/4.0 on statistics core courses.
Second, I nailed down one specific field - Bayesian Statistics, deepened my study and accumulated some research and analysis experience. I took the international famed statistician Professor xxx's Bayesian Econometrics course, which consolidated both my understanding and interest in Bayesian methods. In my master report I studied the effects of three different priors for variance parameters in the 2-stage normal-mean hierarchical model. I chose the conjugate inverse-gamma, log-normal and truncated normal as the priors for variance parameters and wrote my own R codes to get the draws from the posteriors using Gibbs sampler and Metropolis-Hastings algorithm within Gibbs. Then I used predictive distributions to do predictions on simulated data. I found that though there is a "non-informative" interval in the conjugate inverse-gamma prior, with an acceptable estimate of the data it could still give the best results. It seems that log-normal prior has very good properties, but few people pay too much attention to it. Through this course and the research I acquired a good mastery of R. More importantly, the experience of being involved in research and being coached by a top Bayesian statistician enhanced my analysis ability.
Third, I worked as a teaching assistant for three-semesters in xxx School of Business, and obtained valuable teaching and communication experience. I graded homework and finance projects, and held office hours for a business statistics course attended by more than two hundred students. When I helped students to understand statistics I liked using plots to simplify problems and introducing intuitive thinking when necessary. After the semester ended, I received "thank you" cards from some students and at that moment it reminded me to truly recollect the enjoyment of teaching.
Fourth, I continued to develop a strong ardor towards the most concerned economic issues, such as employment, income, prices, growth, and trade. More specifically, I want to seek answers to some of the very significant and practical issues, such as the causes of economic recession, underlying mechanisms triggering credit crunch, and implication of globalization in economic integration. I used to read an article by Professor Oliver Hart on the Wall Street Journal, in which he questioned whether the government has abandoned economic principle for its way of handling the current financial crisis. Though I found the argument extremely convincing, I couldn't help thinking about the other way - the possibility that the free market system, functioning well in the past, may not be flawless to provide mechanism for dealing with the crisis effectively without proper government intervention.
The MSc in Economics Program in xxx Business School provides competitive trainings and comprehensive courses. I am most interested in Microeconomics and Macroeconomics Analysis courses and then, with the aforementioned foundations, I would like to select Strategy and Organization, Monetary Economics and Fixed Income Analysis. A desire to receive the best education possible plus the pursuit of my career goal are also my motivations for applying xxx Business School, which has prestigious fame and brilliant economics minds.
I was born ordinary, but now I am ready to grow extraordinary.