Undergraduate / 'encouraged to study sciences' - Cornell Supplement..CALS [3]

Qusetion: How have your interests and related experiences influenced your selection of major?

I hail from a family where nearly half the members are doctors. My cousins are doctors, my two aunts are doctors and most importantly, both my parents are doctors. Therefore my parents expected me to follow their footsteps and pursue a career in medicine which is the "best profession" in the world.

I was naturally encouraged to study sciences all my years at school but I knew in my heart that I wouldn't make a good doctor as the idea of operating on other humans appalled me. I subsequently decided to take Economics in my A-levels along with sciences to explore something out of my family's "realm". The decision was the best one I had made in my life as studying Economics delineated my love for managing money. I loved the graphs, statistics and charts which expressed the financial positions of firms and countries and demonstrated who was ahead of whom.

Belonging to a third-world country, I was bemused by the high terrorism and suicide rates in my country and used to wonder what drove people to such insanity. However, economics displaced my perplexity as when I saw the country's burgeoning budget deficit, extremely low HDI rank of 145, fall of GDP and 50% population below the poverty line, I was able to comprehend the cause of their actions. It became evident that the misallocation of resources had deprived the poor of even the basic necessities to life and had thus increased crime rates and terrorism many fold.

I keep up to date with the economic changes around the world by reading the newspaper and publications such as The Economist. I was particularly intrigued by Joseph Stieglitz's book 'Globalization and its Discontents'. Having read it, I looked back at Pakistan's economic progress since its first IMF loan in 2008. I observed that there had been nothing but price hikes and rising interest rates since. The IMF seemingly cut the budget deficit, and used expansionary policies to increase Pakistan's chances of paying back the loans. However, it left behind a country with a fading middle class, double digit inflation and the large scale closure of small businesses -testaments to the effects of globalization. As an economist, I will look to find better solutions to such problems and strive to benefit society.

I've always been a logical thinker and a practical person. I like to stay clear-headed and focused on my goal which helps me to analyze and solve even the most confounding problems. Having a penchant for math, I love handling numbers and therefore aspire to take accounting as one concentration in my AEM course.

As an international student, I had to collect a husbandry of information to apply to American universities and Cornell's college of Agriculture and Life Sciences topped my list. With a variety of 20 academic departments and a gigantic campus, the school is reputed as a world class institution and the diverse communities along with a seasoned faculty will ensure that I'm equipped with the necessary tools which will help me in my future profession and hopefully take me to the top.

Please reply with your honest opinions. Thanks :)

Undergraduate / 'Imran Khan, Pakistan' - Common app Essay - Influential person [8]

I couldn't post the file as an image so im posting it here. I would really appreciate your thoughts. Cheers :)
TOPIC: Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.

It is said that "where there's a will, there's a way". One such epitome of this aphorism is the legend, Imran Khan. To be honest, I'm not someone who gets impressed by others easily and I'm looking to find flaws and shortcomings in even the most successful of people. However the cricketer-turned-politician of Pakistan, my homeland, Imran Khan has had a profound influence on me.

Despite being an ardent fan of Khan's leadership and cricketing abilities since my childhood, I was truly inspired by Khan about three years ago when I witnessed one of his polemic and thought-provoking speeches in Karachi. In his speech, Imran preached that one should never give up on his or her dreams and related his own life experiences in how he was disparaged and demoralized in both cricket and politics but he never gave up on his ambitions and persistently worked hard. He explained how one should handle failure and setbacks in life and always have concrete self-belief. As everyone clapped and lauded the exceptional speech, I remained motionless on my seat, struck by an epiphany.

His words repeating in my mind, I was awe-struck by his passion and vowed that I would follow his advice. From that day onwards, I have instilled hard work and determination as principles of my personality. I still remember how I used to be extremely weak at Mathematics at school, never getting higher than a D grade; I had accepted that Math wasn't my cup of tea. However, Khan's speech had changed my whole mindset and I became determined to master the subject with renewed vigor. I spent entire nights solving those wretched equations and problems which seemed impossible at first but I would persevere and not leave the study table until I had solved the question. Surprisingly, Math became much easier and even interesting! I ended up getting an "A" in mathematics in both my A-levels and O-levels.

Similarly, I have opened up a side of my personality that I thought didn't exist. I was never really interested in the complex and army-dominated politics of Pakistan but Imran's massive rise in support as a political leader last year aroused my curiosity and intrigued me to examine and evaluate the ideas and talks of the traditional politicians with scrutiny to get a clear idea of who was right and who was wrong. It then became evident that rampant corruption and misallocation of resources was not just a cliché used for political advantage but a harsh reality. This realization has awakened my patriotism and consequently induced a fierce, incessant anger over the egregious, corrupt and dishonest political elite of the country which I covet to see dethroned to make way for positive change.

A true philanthropist, Khan has built the biggest private cancer hospital in the world and a prestigious university from charity money where free services are provided to the poor. His organizations have made it lucid that efficient management and administration are vital for success, qualities that I hope to endow in my business management career in future.