Undergraduate / "In drawing and in economics" - Transfer for Art and Economics [2]

commonapp transfer statement for brown

how does it look to you guys? any last minute suggestion?

It was an instant infatuation. There is a sort of abstraction and extrapolation of the world in economics that is similar in drawing, and I am absolutely drawn to it. The world is far too complex for us to understand in complete details: so we must dissect it apart and filter out the unnecessary details, leaving us with a simplified model.

In drawing, we translate a three-dimensional object, perhaps a person, onto a two-dimensional plane. Our purpose is not to conserve the object and its details into a two-dimensional form; mostly, we try to understand it. We try to capture the essence of the object - the part of it that speaks the loudest to us, the one that renders all other details to be trivial. Through drawing, I can concentrate on one particular object, slowly examine its essence, explore its relation with the world and possess that understanding. Because this process is like meditation, private and even spiritual, the final product is a knowledge personal to the artist.

In economics, instead of an object in two-dimensional form, we have an economic model expressed in words, diagrams, or mathematical equations. An economic model simplifies and abstracts (or at least attempts to) from observed data to construct a framework to explain an economic process. Economic process is what occurs when an individual, a firm, or an institution makes a decision. Because an economic process is not segregated but interlinked to many other ones, we must decide rationally of which variables and which relationships between these variables are relevant. Even though the process omits some important aspects of real-world behavior, a correctly built model can remove excessive details and allow us to focus on and understand the relationships in question. Drawing breeds an intimate understanding between the object and the artist, but economics offers me a more critical observation of the world, prompting me to think rigorously about the consequences and byproducts of a decision.

However, when I finished my introductory economics courses last fall, I soon realized that NYU does not offer the exact major I now hope to pursue. I'm majoring in economics, but the program at NYU is divided into two concentrations - a Theory concentration and a Policy concentration. The former one provides students a formal approach to economics analysis, while the latter one has a less formal approach and emphasizes the role of economic institutions and the understanding economic problems and policies. A student can only pick one concentration, but I wish to have a blend of both. When I visited Brown University over the winter break, I was impressed by range of classes offered in economics, especially Economics of the Environment in Developing Countries. Your broader approach to the field with emphasis on analytical tools has great appeal to me. By attending Brown University, I hope to broaden and deepen my knowledge in economics, participate in more summer internships, work as a research assistant, and eventually go on to graduate school in economics.

I also found out that I could not major in studio arts as a student attending College of Arts and Science at NYU. Although NYU has many schools and departments, students' access to different resources are often limited. Brown University, on the hand, opens up resources to encourage students to explore different disciplines. Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts allows more space for performances and art exhibits, which will foster more collaboration among actors, artists, writers and musicians. At Brown University, I will have a better access to art facilities, and my creative process will be enriched through increased awareness to others' ideas. Not only is interaction among different disciplines crucial to our creative process, but also it is important to our intellectual growth since it encourages us to to explore and examine our understanding of the world.

At Brown University, I hope to better my understanding in economics and arts through programs that match my interests, but most importantly, I want to be challenged by others' ideas and my own personal inquiries. I want to learn to think critically with more openness, to abstract and extrapolate from the world to form my own unique understanding of the world. These are I what I wish to pursue at Brown: a chance to nourish my mind to be one that is worthy of the world.