<University>

See important note at the end

Personal Statement

By

<Your Name>

<Date>

<Lecturer’s Name and Course Number>

 Personal Statement
Globally interconnected and risky marketplace requires people to make wise financial decisions.
Particularly in well-developed economies, advanced financial knowledge is a must to adapt to changing
economic climate and understand the complicated financial products. The increasingly influential role of
finance in overall economic health highlights the need to align the academic financial paradigm with the
real world. Like organizations, individuals of the current era also make the financing and investment
decisions frequently. A firm grip on finance can help individual decision makers to make well-informed
choices. Taking a holistic view, an efficient financial management can resolve many problems that the
world is facing today.

Since studying accounting at the undergraduate level, I have developed a keen interest in understanding
the role of finance within organizations and the overall economy. Alongside my accounting specialization
studies, I managed to learn ACCA on weekends, and up till now, I have passed 12 out of 14 courses. The
motivational force that driven me to do ACCA along with specialization in accounting was that I wanted
to build a strong accounting foundation at the undergraduate level to construct advanced financial
knowledge at the graduate level. Besides building a strong theoretical foundation, I got many
opportunities to apply the learned knowledge in real world context. The most productive experience in
this dimension was my internship at EY (Shanghai) and FXCM (New York). Both internships
significantly enhanced my professional competencies, in particular, my analytical skills. I got tremendous
chances of learning the forex trading and transaction consulting in a practical manner. Moreover, during
the first week at FXCM, I demonstrated my distinguished analytical and learning abilities by securing a
trading champion position on every day of the week. It illustrated my perceptiveness in practical financial
knowledge. Consequently, the company offered me an opportunity to work at their Shanghai branch after
getting back to China.

Besides my interest and technical competency in finance, my academic record has been throughout
brilliant. On the basis of it, I was recommended to Shanghai International Studies University without
taking College Entrance Examination. During my stay at the university, I was ranked among top ten
students and on the basis of it, I was awarded a scholarship every semester till the end of the program. My
performance was extraordinary in courses related to investment, accounting, and mathematics.

Besides focusing on hard skills, I have always been eager to polish my soft skill-set. I am an extrovert
person with strong interpersonal, negotiation and leadership skills. To sharpen these competencies, I have
played different roles like chairperson or team member in various organizations. I have also taken an
active part in professional competitions to enhance my problem-solving abilities. Although, I am
intrigued to learn every aspect of finance from theoretical and practical manner, financial consultancy and
merger and acquisition is the special area of interest. The prime reason for my interest is that I consider
this financial dimension as a cornerstone for modern corporations. Efficient resource allocation is the top
need for not only business enterprises, but overall society to ensure equal wealth distribution and poverty
alleviation that could ultimately turn this world into a better place to live.

I have chosen the United Kingdom for my future as I want an opportunity to get indulge into an
international environment. It will also inculcate a sense of global citizenship that would be the most
important aspect in upcoming era. After completing the graduation, I plan to stay in the United Kingdom
and utilize the learned knowledge in a highly advanced environment that would offer numerous
opportunities to increase self-worth. The main reason for choosing the University College of London is
that I want to construct advanced financial knowledge in one of the world’s leading institutions. Studying
at UCL would enable me to form close interactions with leading finance researchers to gain profound and
cutting-edge insights. It would help me to create a linkage between academic and practical finance and
come out with innovative ideas to strengthen the linkage in best possible manner.

My career target is to work in leading investment banks or consultancy firms and become an expert who
would be second to none in my related area. My ultimate aim is to abridge the companies between UK
and China to meet the globalization challenges and ensure the international collaboration that could turn
business enterprises into interconnected and globalized entities.

Lastly, in my opinion, the only way to be successful in any field of life is a genuine passion, a passion
that I definitely hold for finance studies.
 Reference Letter 1:
Dear admissions committee,
It’s a great pleasure to recommend Jeiqi Zhang for admission to your Masters in Finance program. I had
the chance of teaching Jeiqi in her (--) grade English class. It would be hard to overstate the impression
that she left on me and whole class through her innovative ideas and meaningful discussions. Her
analytical abilities to be articulate about complex texts and concepts, her reading passion and creative
expression made her my most favorite student of that class. Throughout the year, Jeiqi ensured her active
participation in class discussions and always supported her fellow students. Her strong leadership, team,
working and interpersonal skills made her most popular student of her class.
During the semester, once I arranged a presentation session and asked every student to come in front and
express ideas through visual aids. When it was Jeiqi’s turn, the communal computer broke. To
everybody’s surprise, she improvised some vivid and understandable interactions, such as Q&A with the
audience instead of using the prepared visual aids to explain her points. Her calmness, quick reaction and
problem-solving skills left me with an unforgettable impression.
Out of sixty, she was among top ten students regarding overall classroom performance. The main reason
behind her popularity was not only her intelligence but her hard-working, dedicated and passionate
nature. Once, she came to my office to get some tips for improving English fluency. That day she told me
that she rises at 6’0clock in the morning to read English news articles and listen to BBC news related to
finance and economy. Within few months, she made incredible progress in her English language
competency. I believe that her core competency, that distinguishes her from other students is her
persistence, strict self-discipline, self-control and intense passion for achieving her goals, whether it is
improving the language competency or getting admission in a highly renowned institution.
To the best of my knowledge, she has a keen interest in economics and finance that is demonstrated in her
daily habit of reading and listening to world’s major economics and finance news. Moreover, I also knew
that she worked as an intern in a major accounting firm with high prestige. I am confident that Jeiqi
would continue to do creative and great things in future also. I am highly recommending her for
admission to your “Masters” program. She is a standout, multitalented individual, whose competencies
could be an asset for any institute. If you need any further information about Miss Zhang, please do not
hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
[Name]
English Teacher
[Institute Name]
 Reference Letter 2:

Dear Admission Committee

It’s my pleasure to recommend Jeiqi for admission to your Masters in Finance program. Jeiqi is one of
most remarkable students I have come across in my ten years of teaching. I have taught her accounting for
three years at (-). Her passion and up to date knowledge make Jeiqi a perfect candidate for your rigorous
Master’s program.
During the three years, she projected herself as a reliable, conscientious and disciplined student with a
comprehensive knowledge of economics, finance, and accounting. She is a sharp, perceptive and quick
learner with a high aptitude for finance and accounting. She always showed a keen interest in discussing
major financial and economic issues at the local and global stage. She had been appointed as a leader in
Accounting club and was always passionate to share knowledge and learn new competencies.
Jeiqi’s personal skills are equally impressive as her intellectual capabilities. She is an outgoing, extrovert
and highly sociable person with a broad sense of humor. She is an excellent team player and knows how
to get along with people from different backgrounds. Moreover, she always shows readiness to take
intellectual risks and loves to play an active part in intellectual discussions. During her stay at college, she
actively involved herself in making numerous interactions with business and finance practitioners.
Her critical and analytical abilities always impressed me profoundly. Jeiqi’s active participation in
accounting and business case studies and latest knowledge about local and global financial market was
the most vivid proof of her zeal and comprehension of business, accounting, and finance. Besides leading
the accounting club, she was the group leader and earned respect from professors and fellow students. She
took active participation in organizing workshops and seminars with guest speakers from renowned
organizations. Her internship experience at () and () revealed her extraordinary competencies to work in
team and adapt to new settings.
She was always ranked among top 10 percent of 60 students. To satisfy her thirst for knowledge, she
started ACCA alongside regular studies to build a strong foundation upon which advanced financial
concepts could be laid during graduation. It was a tough challenge to handle international and Chinese
accounting systems at the same time. To everybody’s great surprise, she efficiently handled both and
outperformed in both courses. Her industriousness and talent in the field of accounting always impressed
me. Besides course work, she actively engaged herself in productive extracurricular activities. In 2014,
she took part in Shanghai Financial Case Study Contest which was held by Ernst & Young. I was a judge
in that competition. Her team made the top 10 out of 80 teams, and she gave an outstanding performance.

Jeiqi earns my strongest recommendation for admission to your Masters in Finance program. She is an
absolute all-rounder, whether it is helping fellow students, successfully leading the group, adapting
herself to new settings, quickly learning technical concepts, critically analyzing business case studies or
impressing the whole class by sharing intellectual knowledge during a class discussion. Her zealous
nature combined with such intellectual abilities leads me to believe that she would achieve huge success
in her career and would rise as a star student in your university. Don’t hesitate to contact me if further
information is required.
Sincerely,
[Name]
Accounting Teacher
(Current personal statement comprises around 750 words, these two are finance personal statements
accepted at world’s top universities each containing approx. 700 words so I guess the word count is ok).
https://www.studential.com/personal-statement-examples/accounting-and-finance-personal-statement

https://www.studential.com/personal-statement-examples/finance-personal-statement-0

The main points to be discussed repeatedly presented in good personal statements (that I viewed) in brief
were:
 An introduction to topic in real world context
 Practical significance of chosen program
 The reason for choosing that country and that university.
 A vivid proof of technical competency in related field
 Favorable projection of overall personality
I touched all those areas.

In reference letters, as per University of Cambridge, the letter must possess:

 A definite proof of student’s competency (regarding ranking)
 An analysis of her/his personality
 Whether s/he participated in extracurricular activities.
 Any specific incident/event/fact proving his/her competency objectively
 Behaviour/engagement in class

I touched all those areas on the basis of available information.

Moreover, I have almost utilized all of her given information. Though I have checked the document on
seotools.plagarism.com, Copyscape, and Grammarly premium and it is plagiarism free. However, after
reviewing, you can check on Turnitin as I have used around 2 to 3 direct lines of her in letters and
somewhere in the personal statement.