网申系统：Academic Statement of Purpose
The applicant should provide a 1.5-2 pages, 1.5 spaced, 12 pt font, statement and also submit a 2-3 minute video
presentation answering the following questions:
1)
why you are interested in Financial Engineering;
2)
why you would be a good fit for the University of Michigan program;
3)
what your strengths and weaknesses are
4)
and what career options you see for yourself in the future.
学院页面:
The statement should be a concise, well-written essay about:
1)
your background
2)
your career goals
3)
and how the Financial Engineering Program will help you attain your career and educational objectives.
(Instructions for submitting your statement of purpose can be found when you are completing the online
application.
All Financial Engineering applicants must submit a 2–3-minute video presentation introducing yourself. You may
give any information about yourself that you feel is relevant, but you must explain why you are interested in
Financial Engineering in general and the MSFE program at the University of Michigan in particular. In this video,
you should also argue why you would be a good fit for the University of Michigan program, what your strengths
and weaknesses are and what career options you see for yourself in the future.
面背一遍下面这篇 SOP 了，any suggestion？
我基本上打算在 video 里
Academic Statement of Purpose
Xinyi (Amber) Cai
(U-M ID)
Program: Master of Science in Financial Engineering
I have been aggressively outperforming myself during the past years, since I
established my interest in quantitative risk management. So here I am, as one of the
best students in China’s top undergraduate Economics program, seeking a place in
U-M’s excellent financial engineering program to prepare for my career.
Why Financial Engineering
As one of the career paths of financial engineering students, risk management
has captured my attention since my sophomore year. I was attracted to the field
during an internship in ICBC’s Loan Department, when I learnt about China’s
disturbing risk management situation. I did more research, and the field astounded
me by the beauty of modeling the world in statistics and the ingenious design of
derivatives.
My short-term goal is to become a market risk analyst. I like how the position
requires one to constantly stay in touch with market dynamics and collaborate as part
of a team. So far, I have been building up my competence: to get the taste of being a
risk controller, I interned in PricewaterhouseCoopers and audited credit reviews; to be
ready to understand derivatives pricing, I persuaded the registrar to let me take math
courses that were outside my major; and to be able to enhance risk infrastructure in
the future, I took programming courses and polished my skills in academic projects.
I was overjoyed to find that a career in risk management incorporates my
passions for math and programming. As for math, my Miami University’s professor
once commented that I was “the most talented student she ever had” and even
suggested that I change my major. As for programming, I enjoy the puzzle: to think
about something deeply and thoroughly, to create a world with my own hands, and to
smooth away all the imperfections. In class, my programs were used by my TAs as
scoring standards.
As for the long run, I hope I can be a part of the ongoing refinement of risk
infrastructures. I am also inspired by the vision of creating a new history by
introducing proper products and techniques into China, which would promote the
market’s maturation here. From a career goal perspective, I would like to work my
way up to a management position in a bank’s risk management department in China,
leveraging my knowledge of the market and professional skills.
I want to join this program to develop in-depth understanding of the derivatives
and learn more about risk management techniques. Though I have taken a course in
C++ and used a lot of Java in projects, I understand that many former students are
from engineering background which makes me comparatively weak in programming,
so l would love to learn and practice its application in the field.
Why the University of Michigan’s Program
The biggest draws for me to join this program are:
1) It is providing more core courses and a wider range of electives to build up
ones’ skills, with a reasonably longer length of 1.5 years than many other MFEs. It is
quite special for this program to have International Finance and Managing
International Portfolios as core courses, which definitely fit my interest in currency
hedging – the topic of my upcoming senior thesis. Also, I would love to delve into the
field of risk management by attending relevant electives, which are typically not
provided by shorter programs.
2) It focuses on more than just financial engineering with the flexibility to choose
MBA courses, which provides comprehensive knowledge of the market. My career
goal is a risk analyst, to whom understanding of the market is equally important with
the understanding of risk controlling tools. Thus, this program’s set-up promises a
tremendously helpful starting point before entering my career.
Also, my friend who transferred to U-M recommended it enthusiastically about its
friendly culture towards international students. I am sure that I would be enjoying the
culture like her does.
These are my answers for “why financial engineering” and “why this program”.
Thank you very much for your consideration of my application.
Personal Statement (500 word limit)
How have your background and life experiences, including cultural, geographical, financial, educational or other
opportunities or challenges, motivated your decision to pursue a graduate degree at the University of Michigan?
For example, if you grew up in a community where educational, cultural, or other opportunities were either
especially plentiful or especially lacking, you might discuss the impact this had on your development and interests.
This should be a discussion of the journey that has led to your decision to seek a graduate degree.
Please do not repeat your Academic Statement of Purpose.
Note: Who will read this statement? ?
All the parts of your application, including this statement, will be read by members of the Admissions
Committee in the graduate program. The Admissions Committee always includes program faculty, but some
committees also include program staff and advanced graduate students.
Personal Statement
Xinyi (Amber) Cai
(U-M ID)
Program: Master of Science in Financial Engineering
My journey towards this program started from the age of ten, when I began to
develop my interest in the financial industry. And here is how it goes:
Step 1: Against the Protesters – My Faith in the Industry
Tears blurred my vision when reading the IPO announcement of a company four
months ago. Throughout my teenage years, I witnessed my father helping to start this
business from scratch. Watching her going public was like watching a little girl
blossomed into a powerful woman, so famous that people know her nationwide. More
importantly, her growth, through cooperation with lenders and investors who
continuously brought in resources, influenced me to develop an early interest in the
financial industry.
I respect and love the industry which promotes the wealth of the society. In
recent years, when I interned in a venture capital project and a top private equity fund
in China, I saw the industry cultivating great ideas into great firms and further
established my faith in it.
Step 2: the Guidance towards Risk Management
Two internships and an idealistic aim, have guided me towards the field: when I
was in ICBC (the largest commercial bank in China), China’s lately-started and
slowly-improving risk management systems seized my attention; when auditing the
client bank’s credit reviews in PricewaterhouseCoopers, the bank’s highly-subjective
credit rating was disturbing for me as well. I was motivated to learn more about the
field that deals the problem, and later found my interest in it.
These are the two internships, what about the aim? After experiencing the 2008
crisis, I am personally dedicated to the aim of maximizing people’s wealth in ups and
downs of the market. Being one of the victims, my aunt’s wealth vanished and had to
borrow from my parents to keep her business alive. Better risk management, however,
would have spotted the danger earlier and protected people with financial tools. In
light of the current market conditions, though I am not the trader highlighted on the
BBC who “goes to bed every night dreaming of a recession”, I agree that people
should get prepared and risk management is needed.
Other: Exchange Semester’s Influence
Compared with domestic programs, cross-cultural experience is what attracts me
to join a graduate program overseas. During my exchange semester in Miami
University, I have always loved to be a part of cultural diversity – I was the only
Chinese student in the Miami University’s choir, and had a lot of interaction with
people of different backgrounds in class projects. Joining this program would prepare
me not only for a career but also for multi-cultural working environment.
Also, my good friend in Miami University who transferred to U-M months ago, as I
have mentioned, brought me positive feedback of the university. These all become
part of the reason why I want to seek a place here.
This is my journey towards a graduate program in financial engineering.
Together with reasons mentioned in the statement of purpose, it is how your program
becomes an apparent choice for me to reach my dream career.
另外 Amber，你在 PS 里少说 why Umich 是可以的；但这毕竟是 pursue graduate
degree，所以意味着你可能要突出这样一个学位（或者这一年半里哪些知识技能和经
验的积累）对于你的帮助究竟是神马？
Additional Information
Use this space to provide additional school or employment information or any other information that you consider
important to your application that was not provided on previous pages.
Please limit your response to no more than 60 lines of text. Any text entered beyond 60 lines will not be
transmitted to the school. Please do not scroll or use special formatting.
Tip for manually entered text
You are encouraged to compose your essay in a Word document and then copy-and-paste it into the essay field.
Additional Information
Xinyi (Amber) Cai
(U-M ID)
Program: Master of Science in Financial Engineering
I would like to share two challenges in my pursuit of a financial engineering
program and my career goal.
1. The challenge of taking two calculus courses in one semester:
When I decided to pursue a graduate degree in financial engineering, I was in the
third week of my junior year, during the exchange semester in Miami University.
Hoping to finish all the basic math courses as soon as possible, I applied to add
Calculus III to my curriculum, resulting in taking Calculus II & III at the same time. To
convince the professor that I could catch up with the Calculus III class, I managed to
take a weekend to learn its first-two-week lessons, and got the only full score in the
following exam. My professor then approved my late signing up for the class,
introducing me to the chair of the department as “the most talented student” she ever
had.
I enjoyed my calculus-focused semester. Both my professors had been giving me
positive remarks and kind support which became part of my confidence in completing
the courses. Also, my potential in mathematics is well-testified by my excellent
performance (A+ for both).
2. The challenge of signing up for more math courses than allowed:
After I came back from the US, one of my challenges was to persuade my
university’s registrar into permitting me to take advanced math courses that were
outside my major. The registrar usually had rigid control over students’ curriculum
and stuck to his principles – actually no students had ever done this before. But since
my situation was quite unique, I convinced myself to have confidence in selling the
idea: I had completed a calculus course in advance during my exchange semester (in
addition to the required courses), so maybe I could swap the credit of calculus for
other courses I wanted to attend.
To add power to persuasion, I first contacted a department chair who probably
remembered me as a good student. I tried hard to convince her of my potential in
math and the courses’ indispensability for me. Finally, she approved my proposal and
agreed to contact the registrar. Though the registrar agreed to check my case, they
didn’t respond for two weeks. I followed up and further explained my situation to the
head of the registrar’s office, who was quite impressed by my perseverance and clear
life goals. He later replied that considering the department chair’s attitude and my
effort, he could establish a precedent. Soon, I became the first student who
succeeded in such “credit swaps”.
回复 30# 的帖子
其实 Umich 的这篇 PS 还蛮像 Personal History 的。所以除了目前你写出来的这些事情，还有什么 personal 的
motivation 让你想要去 UMich 读书吗？
你目前这版会比较侧重为啥要 pursue graduate degree，为啥对 risk management 感兴趣，但是不太涉及为啥你要
去 Michigan 读这 graduate degree，可以稍微提一下。
另外，就目前写作的顺序来看，提到 2008 经济危机的那段位置比较奇怪，而且你完全突出 personal 的经历产生的
影响，不需要去描述整个经济危机的影响
不以物喜 不以己悲
其实你问的“交换和申请有什么关系”这个问题实在不应该由我来回答，我的思考反而会限制你的思维。权当抛砖
引玉吧：
1 你有交换经历，且在交换的时候数学的天赋得到了展现和老师的赞许，完全可以在文书中提一下嘛
2 交换的时候有木有对你的语言能力有啥帮助？可以让学校进一步放心你可以完全适应全英文环境的学习和生活？
3 你有木有开阔视野？看到更多 risk management 的发展机会或发展情况？
至于目前的实习，主要是部分学校在面试的时候很喜欢问“你最近在做什么”，所以如果有进展，或者对你某方面
的知识技能有帮助，要马上 update！
不以物喜 不以己悲