Why Carnegie Mellon? Anonymous

Before I had even entered kindergarten, I would sit on the floor of my father's study room every Saturday morning, both of us bent over a large artist’s sketch pad that was covered in numbers and equations instead of paint or charcoal. From a young age, I enjoyed the logical and systematic style of thinking that he knew so well: it was alluring, powerful, almost mythic to my young mind. But as I matured beyond the intrigue of mathematical theory, I became particularly fascinated with how I could apply my mathematical knowledge to real-world problems, and developed a strong interest in Economics after taking an introductory Economics course during my junior year. Besides learning about how the stock market functions and how to manage my personal finance, I was alerted to the momentous economic issues that plague our nation as a whole, such as the sky-high national debt and severe market crashes like the one in 2008. Our current financial system is flawed, to put it simply; I believe that we should have a system that alleviates the nation’s financial struggles rather than exacerbating them, and I want to develop such a system.

To get started, I undoubtedly need a solid background in Economics because the basis of creating a...