Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences that were particularly meaningful to you.
Now that I am wrapping up my journey as a school student I consider the Mathematics classes the best part of my study. Whatever it was, from graphing to trigonometry, from geometry to statistics, I have always admired the strict beauty and complexity of Mathematics. When I first took Economics, however, my attention was hooked immediately. Being quite a rational-minded person I was sure to fall in love with such a practical and flexible subject that infiltrates every sphere of human life. Economics has vast implication area. There can be no effective government, no developed culture unless the country is well sustained. Russia has proved it on its own skin not once: during the oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible (1565-1572), during the great hunger of 1600-1603 the fight for true knowledge, for internal beauty was forsaken for a battle for survival. Crisis of economics forced the country into cultural stagnation. There are numerous more examples and I came to see these deep sequences as quite natural. They are a real prove that Economics is the basis of life, satisfying the unlimited demands of humanity within limited resources. It has a capacity to ameliorate our society: eliminate unemployment, offer people security in their future and in future of their kids. As I was gradually progressing through the course, my understanding and appreciation for Economics grew proportionally to the material studied.
My love for Economics takes roots in the "Civilization", which is a create-your-business program. Over the course of the year the participants meet once a week to get the basic theory of Economics and Finances. In June, the practical part of the course is held in a hotel near Moscow. There, participants divide into teams of three people each and create enterprises, open factories, compete on the market, unite into monopolies, bankrupt, start over again etc. Three and a half years ago this gave me the first taste of the way Economics works and planted admiration for it. Learning to cooperate effectively, demonstrating initiative, taking risk, making on-the-spot decisions and accepting responsibility, solving challenging problems along the way - all of it inspires me to learn rules of real Economy. It was the "Civilization" that gave birth to a desire to get knowledge beyond what extracurricular program could offer.
One day, I hope to work in Business Management. I am outgoing, hardworking and articulate person and feel the need to make an accent in my career on these qualities. Besides, one of the chief joys of my life have always been learning languages and at this point I freely speak Russian, English, Japanese, French and Spanish. Working in Business seems to offer a great opportunity to apply this knowledge productively. Every time I see social commercials advertizing various small businesses that have recently appeared, I can't help imagining how one day I will become a part of one myself. Then I could occupy myself with work that I have passion for. That seems like a terrific perspective to me. Being an enthusiastic learner, I have found the path I want to follow and I am prepared to work hard to achieve my ambition. Meanwhile, the study of Business or Economics itself brings a lot of pleasure and satisfaction to me. I am a rather self-motivated person with the determination to study subject in-depth and throughout - that is the only way my curiosity can be satisfied. I believe I will be able to fulfill many of my dreams as a university student, get involved both in career related activities and in sports. I hope to be a good ambassador for which ever university accepts me.
Alina, I would definitely choose to expand upon your second topic which centers around "Economics". Most specially if you are applying to a related course. It offers the kind of extra curricular participation that is to be expected of a serious incoming college freshman. The "Civilization" create-your-own program is actually something that could be considered unique by the admissions officer.
Play up the practical participation that you had in the program. Be sure to enhance the image of your participation by discussing exactly how you worked with the team in the set up. Don't forget to mention which parts of the program influenced you to continue further studies outside of the extra curricular activities. That will not only show how your extra curricular activity blossomed into something that you realized you want to do that kind of work in life.
I hope that you can post your updated essay version here so that we can help you fix it up :-) Don't forget to post the essay prompt with it as our guide :-)
