Graduate / I have always harboured a keen interest in Economics and current affairs - Application for UCL MSc [5]

Hi All,

I am currently drafting my personal statement to study Economic Policy at UCL, and really need feedback. Kindly recommend any suggestions and advise on how I can improve. I have already cut down the initial draft but still am unsure on how I can further reduce this draft.

I have always harboured a keen interest in Economics and current affairs, my interest became a subject of inquiry and curiosity through the extensive coverage of the 2008 financial crisis catastrophe. A desire to become more than avid laymen compelled me to pursue this field. Studying the subject during my schooling years, provided me with an in depth methodology and understanding of its paramount influence on the economy. My fascination was not just limited to finding out more about the cause of the financial crisis, an interest piqued because of its presence in contemporary issues whether it's social or political and the diversity of the different economic branches. It's a unique and a continuously growing discipline which evolves by adapting to the dynamic changing environment as seen with the rapid acceleration of globalisation. It has also proven to be useful to governments as a proven viable compass in aiding policy making decisions. I believe studying Economic policy would enable me to apply modern economics to complex contemporary issues that governments face.

During my undergraduate studies, I studied an array of modules including macroeconomics, microeconomics, behavioural economics, international economics, public economics, developments of economics analysis and econometric's. I was especially intrigued by how insights from economics and psychology could be combined to form behavioural economics to study consumers and producers interpersonal interaction and irrationality in decision-making through empirical analysis. Its effectiveness can be seen, as a number of countries are using behavioural economics in the public sector. For econometric's I familiarised myself with running regressions and forecasting techniques using statistical software such as E-Views to provide evidence and relevance to support economic theories, this made me discover how indispensable econometric's is in economic theory.

For my development of economics analysis class, I studied the history of economics beginnings from Adam Smith philosophical nature to it evolving into a technical subject otherwise known as today's mainstream economics formulated by Ricardo, Baptiste and Paul Samuelson with his book, "foundations of economic analysis" Learning about the disciplines profound inception has proven to be extremely helpful in evaluating current theories using differing schools of economic thought and dealing with real world topical issues better. I believe these attributes to be tangible to me, especially as a budding economist

In my final year I studied economic theory and policy which combined both microeconomics and macroeconomics theories from a policy making perspective. This module entailed using economic theories and maths to evaluate the policies effectiveness and implications to governments and consumers. Beyond the technical nature of maths, I was able to analyse and rationalise reasoning's through presentations and class discussions. For an assignment, I was tasked to evaluate the effectiveness of government policies through its flaws and success's in achieving its aims using graphical illustration and linear algebra; this showed me a glimpse of how useful and transparent economic theory can be in tackling government policies. I gained a conceptual understanding on mathematics role as a crucial aid to economic intuition as it gives meaning and supports economic analysis through quantifying the theories/concepts. For macroeconomics, we used analysed how the government uses aggregate demand components such as government spending to influence policy, and how these policies affects a nations trade balance and exchange rate. I chose to do a country report on Venezuela's policy reform in the past forty years, using data processing procedures and examined how its dependency on oil determined macro policy decisions.

My internship with green economics institute further confirmed my passion for research. My biggest achievement was to write an article and present a PowerPoint presentation at the event on my native countries' economic and political issues. I was able to incorporate economic theories and apply it to writing articles which included an academic paper which analysed the macro- economic instabilities that plague my native country . During this experience, I also gained invaluable skills by blind editing and reviewing academic literature- which can prove to be useful for the academic writing skills course. In addition, I was a contributing author to the books "Africa: Transition to a Green Economy" and "Green Economics & Finance".

There is a definite allure to studying at UCL as it is situated in of the most globalised cities in the world, it is a leading institution renowned known for its global reputation as the hub to esteemed academics, high quality staff and research of high caliber. UCL presents the perfect platform to further build on my solid grounding in economic theory through quantitative complexity and advanced real world application. The diversity of the module options is also an integral reason to pursue this course, with vast options such as health economics. The breadth of modules UCL offers would enable me to accumulate knowledge and insight into the different branches of economics thereby acquiring versatility which would thus help me on my goal towards a research oriented career.

Thanks guys in advance