My Potential to Further Study Business in The United Kingdom

As Myanmar is a former British colony that is ethnically diverse with a hundred thirty-five legally registered ethnic groups and has little-known resources such as jade, it has potential to prosper; however, overshadowing the potential, the corruption has been rampant in the politics and economy, and an unproductive education system has negated the strength of labor force. Knowing this obscure potential of Myanmar, I, excitedly, want to be involved in entrepreneurial ventures and, ultimately, to steer Myanmar in the international economic community.

My experience as the vice-president of Community Service in my junior year proved to be a decisive epiphany. Despite it being a charity activity, I often catch myself referring to economic principles when making decisions. Performing a cost and benefit analysis, I constantly ask myself which fundraising option would bring the most benefits whilst bearing less costs. Also, the team has a “bank” from which all eight groups and the cabinet team withdraw money to carry out projects. In order to both sustain the costs of the eight groups’ events and the yearly major donations by the cabinet team that are of high monetary value, as well as intrinsic, I, as a leader, have to make sure the bank maintains a proper cash flow. Through this activity, I realized that economics is ubiquitous and became engrossed in studying it.

As a junior, I definitely stopped exploring other career options and took classes that directly relate to business theories – AP Statistics and AP Microeconomics – as well as courses that do not directly relate yet still useful in the industry – AP Psychology and Advanced English. As a senior, I currently take classes which are completely in align with business studies, such as AP Macroeconomics, AP Calculus, Personal Investments and Finance, and International Relations. Understanding the importance of networking in the international community, I gear myself with language skills that are not limited to English. For that reason, I have passed the B1 DELF exam and am preparing to take the B2 DELF and AP French exam. I plan to be proficient in French as I am with Burmese and English in order to be able to reach various markets.

To apply what I have learned in class to the real world, I helped to market my father’s interior design business. Using what I have learned in psychology and economics, I help promote it on Facebook, a platform that the local people who are the targeted audience of the business use within their business platforms and functions. In order to thrive in the business industry, being a leader and being international are necessary skills; I believe I have taken advantage of the extracurricular activities offered at school to sharpen these skills. Having been a Student Council grade-level secretary and vice-president in my freshman and sophomore years respectively, I was equipped early on with leadership skills. In attempt to manage an even larger group, I challenged myself to lead the Community Service which consists of eight groups and approximately 160 students or 45 percent of my high school. I earned the position of vice-president in my junior year and president in my senior year. To assist Myanmar in connecting with international community, it is important to be well-versed in the international politics and systems. For that reason, I take part in Model United Nations as a trainer for delegates as well as the chairperson for conferences. Through this, I adopted the habit of checking the international news and saw the importance of discussing them.

Having started my journey of studying business with the available resources at my high school, I feel eager to further challenge myself and take on rigorous courses in the United Kingdom, knowing of its large economy, impressive connection to commonwealth nations, rich history of free trade in British Empire, and economic struggles and successes in the twentieth century.