sagebison
Nov 30, 2022
Graduate / My statement of purpose for Msc Finance at LSE [2]
I previously studied Economics at Univeristy of Bristol for undergraduate. This is the current draft of my personal statement for graduate study in Finance at LSE. Am looking for some advice on where I can improve.
When I was thirteen my father passed away and I remember thinking, would we be evicted from our home? Have to transfer to a different school? How were we going to afford anything now? That was when I was first introduced to the world of finance. I found out that there were more applications to money than just deposits in a savings account. Comprehension of the economy and financial market allowed my family to generate income from investments and sustain itself. My past has inspired me to grasp the ability to make impactful financial decisions, and the quest to develop the relevant areas in depth has brought me to LSE.
After graduation, I plan to become a financial analyst for an investment bank. From there, I want to gain the necessary exposure and experience to improve my capabilities eventually specialising in the buy-side of M&A and Private Equity. My purpose in this career choice is my desire to help clients make effective financial decisions that create value. Not only does it require me to understand the different strategies of raising capital and methods of execution, I must also know how to handle unexpected situations of financial distress. Therefore, to be a competent candidate I believe the units "Private Equity, Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Finance" and "Mergers, Buyout and Corporate Restructurings" will arm me with the necessary skills to handle problems I might face in the future.
Working as an analyst also requires me to calculate the intrinsic value and thereby price of securities for clients to take advantage of but with the availability and accessibility of data nowadays being so abundant, the efficient market hypothesis could not be more likely. Yet there are professionals like Warren Buffet, who are capable of making financial decisions that generate abnormal returns. I hope to comprehend how he is able to do so despite the level playing field through participation in "Corporate Finance" which will equip me with different valuation methods besides discounting future cash flows, and their key applications in real world cases that grant me the opportunity to draw my own conclusions and compare them to the decisions made by businesses. Any contrasting views will require me to think critically about the difference in thought processes which only serves to better my ability to navigate the financial market.
I am also interested in learning from Dr Igor Makarov in this programme's compulsory module. His papers on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology are comprehensible and gave me insight into what is normally considered a very difficult field to understand from the perspective of someone on the outside. From his paper Cryptocurrencies and Decentralised Finance (DeFi), I learned about the benefits for communities and economies from engaging in a DeFi system and can empathise with those that support the crypto space. In it there is also a chapter on the importance of regulation, which has now become a vital point of discussion following the collapse of the second largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. The paper provides brief solutions to tackle the issue of regulation which ultimately aims to increase the transparency of the system. In my opinion, the crash of FTX has similarities to The Great Depression in that businesses are able to sell financial products to customers who do not have all the necessary information when engaging with these corporations. This issue highlights how valuable information about asset classes and their markets is.
Because investment banking attempts to engage in as many industries as it can, engagement in this programme will further develop my research skills in communicating the most relevant information for investment decisions. As a result, I must be capable of analysing and managing the risk that comes with the business of interest to clients. Enrolling in the "Risk Management in Financial Markets" unit, exposes me to the methodology of analysing financial risk in different securities. By understanding what the risks are, I can better comprehend the practical applications of the theories in the unit and continue to actively engage my mind. Furthermore, the ability to implement the computational Value at Risk measures supplies me with the tools to best help clients in making informed decisions.
Altogether, these are my academic interests and motivation in studying these units at LSE.
In addition to this, I believe that interacting with the wide array of resources in the Professional Development Programme from financial modelling workshops to alumni panels will provide me with the opportunity to understand the practicality of theories to real world scenarios and prepare me with the most relevant skills to fulfil my professional aspirations.
My undergraduate degree would show I can perform successfully in this programme. Throughout my studies I have constantly interacted with theories and data in different softwares that include R, STATA and MatLab to generate regressions that offer economic interpretation. In my third year unit Macroeconomic Theory & Policy I based my coursework on the practical applications of theoretical models like the Real Business Cycle model. In my essay I analysed and assessed the relationship between the necessary assumptions of the model and the empirical evidence that helped validate said models. Working on this unit I was able to understand the importance of different theoretical frameworks used to interpret the behaviours and decisions that affect the economy. This provides evidence that I am capable of implementing theoretical models into real life case studies.
Furthermore, my strong understanding in both macroeconomics and microeconomics have given me insight into consumer decisions which affect the direct flow of savings and investments in the economy in ways that facilitate the accumulation of capital and the production of goods and services. In particular, my knowledge in intermediate macroeconomics has allowed me to utilise growth models to simulate shocks in the economy that affect the cost of capital and therefore understand the business decisions that reallocate resources to achieve the optimal outcome.
Lastly, I believe that the finance units "Portfolio Management" and "Financial Markets" I undertook in my final year of undergraduate have prepared me to cover the content in one of the two compulsory units that sit at the base of this programme. From these modules I have learned the framework that is used in analysing both portfolio performance and portfolio choice allocation in different securities to achieve the highest level of return for a given level of risk. Along with this I was also taught the different valuation methods associated with the main three asset classes, the interest rate risk in fixed income securities, and the strategies of hedging risk in derivatives.
In short I believe that Msc Finance allows me to specialise under the umbrella of economics, the field that most strongly ignited my curiosity. After studying for my master, I see myself as being industry ready. I will use my intellect to drive further curiosities and utilise my knowledge in society to achieve my professional aspirations.
personal statement
I previously studied Economics at Univeristy of Bristol for undergraduate. This is the current draft of my personal statement for graduate study in Finance at LSE. Am looking for some advice on where I can improve.
When I was thirteen my father passed away and I remember thinking, would we be evicted from our home? Have to transfer to a different school? How were we going to afford anything now? That was when I was first introduced to the world of finance. I found out that there were more applications to money than just deposits in a savings account. Comprehension of the economy and financial market allowed my family to generate income from investments and sustain itself. My past has inspired me to grasp the ability to make impactful financial decisions, and the quest to develop the relevant areas in depth has brought me to LSE.
After graduation, I plan to become a financial analyst for an investment bank. From there, I want to gain the necessary exposure and experience to improve my capabilities eventually specialising in the buy-side of M&A and Private Equity. My purpose in this career choice is my desire to help clients make effective financial decisions that create value. Not only does it require me to understand the different strategies of raising capital and methods of execution, I must also know how to handle unexpected situations of financial distress. Therefore, to be a competent candidate I believe the units "Private Equity, Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Finance" and "Mergers, Buyout and Corporate Restructurings" will arm me with the necessary skills to handle problems I might face in the future.
Working as an analyst also requires me to calculate the intrinsic value and thereby price of securities for clients to take advantage of but with the availability and accessibility of data nowadays being so abundant, the efficient market hypothesis could not be more likely. Yet there are professionals like Warren Buffet, who are capable of making financial decisions that generate abnormal returns. I hope to comprehend how he is able to do so despite the level playing field through participation in "Corporate Finance" which will equip me with different valuation methods besides discounting future cash flows, and their key applications in real world cases that grant me the opportunity to draw my own conclusions and compare them to the decisions made by businesses. Any contrasting views will require me to think critically about the difference in thought processes which only serves to better my ability to navigate the financial market.
I am also interested in learning from Dr Igor Makarov in this programme's compulsory module. His papers on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology are comprehensible and gave me insight into what is normally considered a very difficult field to understand from the perspective of someone on the outside. From his paper Cryptocurrencies and Decentralised Finance (DeFi), I learned about the benefits for communities and economies from engaging in a DeFi system and can empathise with those that support the crypto space. In it there is also a chapter on the importance of regulation, which has now become a vital point of discussion following the collapse of the second largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. The paper provides brief solutions to tackle the issue of regulation which ultimately aims to increase the transparency of the system. In my opinion, the crash of FTX has similarities to The Great Depression in that businesses are able to sell financial products to customers who do not have all the necessary information when engaging with these corporations. This issue highlights how valuable information about asset classes and their markets is.
Because investment banking attempts to engage in as many industries as it can, engagement in this programme will further develop my research skills in communicating the most relevant information for investment decisions. As a result, I must be capable of analysing and managing the risk that comes with the business of interest to clients. Enrolling in the "Risk Management in Financial Markets" unit, exposes me to the methodology of analysing financial risk in different securities. By understanding what the risks are, I can better comprehend the practical applications of the theories in the unit and continue to actively engage my mind. Furthermore, the ability to implement the computational Value at Risk measures supplies me with the tools to best help clients in making informed decisions.
Altogether, these are my academic interests and motivation in studying these units at LSE.
In addition to this, I believe that interacting with the wide array of resources in the Professional Development Programme from financial modelling workshops to alumni panels will provide me with the opportunity to understand the practicality of theories to real world scenarios and prepare me with the most relevant skills to fulfil my professional aspirations.
My undergraduate degree would show I can perform successfully in this programme. Throughout my studies I have constantly interacted with theories and data in different softwares that include R, STATA and MatLab to generate regressions that offer economic interpretation. In my third year unit Macroeconomic Theory & Policy I based my coursework on the practical applications of theoretical models like the Real Business Cycle model. In my essay I analysed and assessed the relationship between the necessary assumptions of the model and the empirical evidence that helped validate said models. Working on this unit I was able to understand the importance of different theoretical frameworks used to interpret the behaviours and decisions that affect the economy. This provides evidence that I am capable of implementing theoretical models into real life case studies.
Furthermore, my strong understanding in both macroeconomics and microeconomics have given me insight into consumer decisions which affect the direct flow of savings and investments in the economy in ways that facilitate the accumulation of capital and the production of goods and services. In particular, my knowledge in intermediate macroeconomics has allowed me to utilise growth models to simulate shocks in the economy that affect the cost of capital and therefore understand the business decisions that reallocate resources to achieve the optimal outcome.
Lastly, I believe that the finance units "Portfolio Management" and "Financial Markets" I undertook in my final year of undergraduate have prepared me to cover the content in one of the two compulsory units that sit at the base of this programme. From these modules I have learned the framework that is used in analysing both portfolio performance and portfolio choice allocation in different securities to achieve the highest level of return for a given level of risk. Along with this I was also taught the different valuation methods associated with the main three asset classes, the interest rate risk in fixed income securities, and the strategies of hedging risk in derivatives.
In short I believe that Msc Finance allows me to specialise under the umbrella of economics, the field that most strongly ignited my curiosity. After studying for my master, I see myself as being industry ready. I will use my intellect to drive further curiosities and utilise my knowledge in society to achieve my professional aspirations.
