Scholarship / One interest that makes me different from other students [5]

Most students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way.

*Application essay topic B. Irish so will be applying as international student. Total word count: 358*

my interest in stock market

One interest that makes me different would be my interest in the stock market. From the age of 12 after a conversation with my parents in which the informed me about our families financial problems. This sparked an interest in finance. I would continuously look at the stock markets checking how companies I knew were doing. Eventually I decided to find out what all the numbers and finance lingo meant such as the market cap or dividend and yield. After reading many online articles on The Wall Street Journal (well the free ones at least) and on Yahoo! Finance, I decided to learn more about the investment side of finance.

Unfortunately, I learned that a lot of investors are the 'gambler' type using things such as 'binary options' to make a quick profit. Growing up, I learned to smart and safe with my money as it was a scarcity. After investigating many investing apps, I finally stumbled upon one called 'Rubicoin.' When I say that this was like a dream and perhaps one of the greatest moments of my life, I'm not lying. It was perfect. While not a broker, it thought me everything about investing and even had a number of recommendations and a lot of information of specific companies. They later launched two more apps, named 'Invest' and 'Learn.' I looked up the company (Rubicoin Limited) and found out something amazing. They were Irish and based out of Dublin. I loved and still love everything they do. They are almost like superheroes to me.

Rubicoin threw so much fuel on the fire and sparked so much more interest in me that I felt as though I had to continue on this path. So much so, that I decided to get in contact with them in the hopes of gaining some work experience there. When they said yes I was over the moon. I had one of the best weeks of my life and learned so much. They are only a small company of 13 employees, including Founder and Co-Founder, but they have played a massive part in charging my love and interest in finance and investment.

Scholarship / I've been living in a bungalow my whole life - influenced environment [6]

*Application essay topic A. Irish so will be applying as international student. Total word count: 505*

What was the environment you were raised? Describe your family and explain how the shaped you today

my attitude has changed

For my whole life I have been living in a bungalow in the beautiful Irish countryside with my father, mother and younger sister. When I was born, I became the last millennial child of my whole family and shortly after my birth my mother quit her job to raise me. I was age six when my sister was born. This was a happy time for the whole family. I was so excited to have someone to play with, and to this day my sister and I get along great. My mother was never able to get her job back, or any job for that matter as with only a secondary school education (high school), employment was hard to come by. This put a strain on my father (also with only secondary school education), who would constantly work overtime to try and keep our family afloat. As a child, I never noticed any of our financial problems, which weren't helped by the world recession. For all I knew we were just like any other family. When I reached secondary school I became more aware of my family's financial constraints.

In secondary school, while I found great friends to hang out with, I always felt left out of conversations such as talk about new phones or going on holidays to far flung corners of the earth. I had never been on a plane so I would always try to either change the topic of conversation or try to side step questions on the topic to avoid embarrassment.

It didn't take me long to realise that what I was doing was wrong and cowardly. My parents did everything they could for my sister and I to have the best lives possible and I am certain that they will continue to help and guide us in everything we do in our lives. It was this taught that made me change my attitude. My family shaped who I am today with their help and guidance through all the difficult times we have been through, and I believe that they will continue to mold me into a harder worker and even better person (because no one's perfect, right?).

I am now entering my final year (12th grade) of secondary school and I am going to be giving up my lunch times for the academic year as a mentor so I can help and guide the new students who have come to our school. I hope I can support them and be there in a time of need, just as my parents were, and still are, for me. I still haven't been on a plane, and I have the same phone that I had four years ago, but that's not going to stop me from working hard to reach my dream of become a financial advisor so that I can help other people provide for their families, and so I can help my own children be as hard working and as caring as my parents have thought, and shaped me to be.