Academic preparation and student readiness

¶ … intended major? Discuss how your interest in the field developed and describe any experience you have had in the field - such as volunteer work, internships and employment, participation in student organizations and activities - and what you have gained from your involvement

My intended major is economics. When pressed to answer why, I am almost tempted to respond how could I not -- there are precious few fields of study in the humanities, natural, or social sciences that do not contain some sort of economic influence -- and economics has been influenced by all of these disciplines as well.

History has been motivated by people's economic needs and desires to acquire more goods and to achieve material security. Seismic shifts in international politics have occurred because of different nations' economic relations with other nations, as the mother countries struggled for domination in colonial spheres of influence. The desire to live a good life and what constitutes a good life depends on human psychology, and marketing strategists must look to psychology to understand how to advertise a product. Even literature portrays the economic struggles of some characters against the conspicuous consumption of other characters -- "please sir, may I have some more," is one of the most famous cries in a novel, that of Dickens workhouse orphan Oliver Twist. Economics requires math to graph these various desires in a way that is comprehensible to pricing, and the sciences provide economic life innovations such as the Internet, stimulating change with leaps and bounds.

Thus, I feel by studying economics, I would not only study the financial markets and learn how to deploy my acquired knowledge to my employer's and my own best interests and advantage -- I would also gain a great economic knowledge of the world and other fields of study to supplement my real world education and experiences in business. While volunteering at my father's store, I have seen in a hands-on way how pricing can influence the different selections of individuals, and also how the subtle distinctions, on a psychological level, the idea that something is 5.99 seems like less, much less, than 6.00. Economics is part of the daily grind of my father's life, and a constant topic of discussion at the dinner table -- how to bring customers in the store he mused, as he picked my brain to see what items were hot amongst my age group. He trusted to ask me how to encourage people to stay longer in the store and buy, buy, buy and I learned from his constant questioning.

Of course, not all of my interests have been economically motivated. But sometimes, I have found that, through my altruistic participation in student organizations, such as my work as treasurer of the Key Club in high school, that using advertising and persuasion to encourage people to give of their time is the most difficult economic activity at all -- time is a scarce resource for high school students. Also, as treasurer, I was often entrusted with the delicate task of balancing the inflated and costly fund raising activity ideas of some members with the reality that to realize the purpose of the Key Club, we had to raise as well as expend funds -- unlike other clubs, that were organized purely for nonprofit status, to please the interest of their members.