Personal Statement - Richard Zhang
A junior now studying at Renmin University of China toward a Bachelor of Economics degree in Accounting, I have always been attracted by the dynamism, risks and challenges that prevail in the area of financial management and investment. When I was a child, people in China still knew very little about finance. Then, as a teenager, I witnessed a violent Stock Rush mow down everything in its path and I began to know what finance is and saw that the finance started to play a more and more important role in the people’s life in China. As a result, my interest in finance grew gradually with my age. As a versatile girl, I had many dreams when I was a child, such as becoming an artist, a doctor, a scientist… However it was not until an incident occurred to me in my high school days that I finally made up my mind to be devoted in the one of making myself an entrepreneur operating in the thrilling and breathtaking arena of finance.
In a family party, I met Arthur, a friend of my mother’s, a successful securities specialist, and he discussed with me on some of the most exciting topics I had ever heard of, such as futures, securities and investment consulting. I was deeply attracted by this conversation, as I found the distant world of financial investment was actually so close to me that I could feel the heartbeat of the breathtaking stock exchange and futures trade. Wow! It’s almost like a dream. Till this day, I could still recall the excited feeling I had at the moment. To me, that day marked the beginning of a new era. Meanwhile, taking his advice, I picked up accounting as my undergraduate major to be well grounded in the fundamentals of financial management.
At the university, I have been systematically exposed to the concepts and theories of financial management. Ever since I was a freshman, I have held that I need to master the basic knowledge of accounting so as to realize my dream. Over the last three years I have been at the university, my academic performance exceeds most of my fellow students, which placed me among the Top Five in my major courses. What’s more, my performance in mathematics has been particularly outstanding. All my scores of these courses are 4 (4.00 scale). At the same time, I realized that mathematics serves as an essential tool for quantitative analysis, which is one of the most important research methods of modern financial management.
This pushed me to strengthen my capacity in applying mathematics to analysis of the problems I encountered in the studies of financial management, during the course of which I found the quantitative approaches to such problems to be very limited in China today, compared to the developed countries in the west. Though as a junior, I had received rigorous training in all the math courses required for further studies of finance, including calculus, algebra, statistics and probability, I could still feel the insatiable thirst for truly understanding of the mathematic models that appear in the advanced course books of my majoring field. This time, I got the advice from Arthur that combining the quantitative analysis with real-world investment practice will assist me in the comprehension of the seemingly discrete theories.
As the leader of a delegate from our class, I joined the Stock Operating contest held by the university, promoted by a visiting American professor in our department. We were asked to use the supposed 100,000 US dollars to purchase the stocks in China and American stock markets, respectively. After 6 months, the person who gained the largest amount of money would win in the contest. To win in this contest, I read the stock market analysis from newspapers and Internet every day. What’s more important, I carefully analyzed the financial conditions of every company whose stock I bought with the models I learned within and beyond classrooms. After 6 months’ hard work, I finally got the No.1 in this contest and won the bonus of 500 US dollars. However, what made me feel even happier is not the money, but what I have learned from this contest.
Through 6 months’ comparative study of the Chinese and American stock markets involving the quantitative research methods I grabbed in my previous studies, I found that unlike the western stock market, which is well-formed and in big scale, the scale of Chinese stock market is comparatively small and many disadvantages exists in it. The fluctuation in Chinese stock market is irregular and random, as the models I applied to analyzing them did not contribute much to the correct decision making, and that is why the stock market is not trusted by a majority of Chinese people. That explains why people in China prefer to put their money in banks, rather than investing the money into the securities market. These facts are the sign of the immature stock market. To establish the well-developed stock market, China still has a long way to go.
This idea has reminded me that I need further academic training in a western country to help me reach out for the professional success in my future, because I know that financial investment is a very challenging field. With anticipation and excitement, I have found the M.Sc. program in Finance and Economics at Warwick to be very befitting to my goal. As an undergraduate student, I have achieved excellence in building a solid groundwork for further probing in the core of the field where my interest lies, and if I could be granted, I am confident to achieve even in your institution. Your perfect combination of theoretical and practical training should lead me soaring into an enlightened intellectual realm, for which I shall find what I desire to help me fulfill my dream.
Upon completion of your graduate business training, I plan to return to China to establish my own consulting firm for financing and investment in China and make myself an expert in these two areas. This would give me a chance to help more Chinese enterprises solve the problems they meet in financial management. At the peak of my professional career, I want to foster an international forum that aims at the global academic exchange on finance. This, I believe will greatly boost the future development of the financial system of our nation. The practical work will in turn contribute to forming my theoretical framework and help me establish my own theoretical system in designing an appropriate way for Chinese enterprises to flourish in the globalization trend.
You’re faithfully
Richard ZHANG
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