Economics personal statement (2l) Manchester offer

Why do you want to study this course or subject?

I was 14 when Malaysia changed its taxation system. I started having questions about why prices fluctuate but my school syllabus didn’t have anything related. For years, I heavily relied on my parents and the Internet for answers. On the day my dad gifted me some Economic books, everything suddenly clicked and started to make sense. Awestrucked, I decided to devote my life to it.

When I attended the Economic Leadership Forum, the panellists discussed education reform to reduce unemployment due to the low supply of local high-skilled professionals. This made me enquire about the relationship between education and employment, especially on how government policies on education affect the graduate labour market. Although my country has made many improvements in its education system in the past decade, this issue still persists. There has to be some underlying reasons as to why. I live in a country where race-based quotas are applied in university placements in an effort to reduce inequality. Thus I ponder, would replacing these quotas with a free market for education improve employment? Or should tertiary education be free for all? Through further studies, I hope to gain more insights regarding development economics.

I first came across the term ‘progressive tax’ during my participation in the Kijang Economics Competition. As I learn more about taxation in my economics class, I speculate about the effectiveness of progressive tax in tackling inequity, especially for the urban poor. I’m intrigued about how fiscal policies can be a solution to the poverty cycle. After volunteering at a government-subsidised apartment in Kuala Lumpur and seeing an overcrowded population, I decided to benefit from my further studies on macroeconomics to tackle prominent welfare issues as I believe everyone deserves a better standard of living.

Subsequently, I have heard of Universal Basic Income (UBI) in economics class but never really understood it. But listening to Daniel Chandler's talk on 'What would a fair society look like' enlightened me further about inequality of opportunities and how progressive policies such as UBI could aid in abolishing the vicious cycle of absolute poverty. His book entitled 'Free & Equal' further confirms my belief about the urgency of economic reforms prioritising justice and fairness to reduce impoverishment. This then introduced me to John Rawl's Theory of Justice. In addition to reading John Rawl's veil of ignorance, I also learned Karl Marx's theory of immiseration which taught me how class inequality is present in most economies especially in capitalism. By converging these abstract factors and statistical research, I want to study econometrics so that I can analyse the effectiveness of policies in improving economic welfare in my local communities just like Esther Duflo did in Africa.

How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?

Other than my passion for economics, I'm also keen on mathematics. Throughout high school, my consistent reputation in Maths Olympiads under the school's sponsorship assisted me to wield critical thinking skills more effectively in real-life context especially for economics. In addition, I won a silver award in the Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition 2022 due to my love for writing.

What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

In 2020, I was the General Secretary of the Student Council. The position nurtured me simultaneously as a leader and a team player. Once, we were tasked with hosting a sports day on short notice. Despite our best efforts, our advisor couldn’t get the needed equipment, so we were forced to make do. Not only has hosting events sharpened my time management, but also my adaptability to unexpected circumstances.

As a student on the prestigious scholarship by (redacted), I would like to fully utilise this opportunity to bring my tertiary education to the furthest limit. Not only will this allow me to manifest my lifelong ambition to be an economist, but also for me to develop my personal growth so that I can contribute back to my community with all my means.

Universities applied to:

• The University of Manchester
• University of Sheffield
• University of Birmingham
• The University of Edinburgh
• University of Warwick

How personal statements have changed?

The current personal statement format, with three 'scaffolding' questions, was introduced by Ucas in September 2025. This personal statement was submitted before then, using the old essay-style format. It has been carefully edited into the three-question format, with all of the original wording kept.

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