Personal Essay MPP - evaluate!

[KQNovice]

Question asks me to explain an area of public policy I would change or am inteersted in.

Excuse the typos. its a first draft/

Any help guys?

To fans, players, coaches,referees and anyone else that may be involved, it is referred to as ‘theBeautiful Game’. In the United States, its name is soccer. Everywhere else? Wecall it football. No matter its name, its appeal is universal.

I am a referee infootball and am an active participant in the referee mentor program for closeto a thousand referees in the south of the United Kingdom. I help in mentoringnew referees who often complain about the fact that their minds are unable toprocess all that may be occurring on the field at one time. They may be easilyconfused when the game is being played at a frantic pace; or they may beinsecure and afraid of confrontation when overbearing parents or aggressivecoaches criticise their decisions. As a mentor, these situations are all too familiarto me. Nonetheless, with time, I feel I have developed into a manager on thefield, having the ability to control the flow of a game, mustering confidencewhen making a call and truly enjoying myself. However, despite all thecoaching, encouragement and practice, some referees will remain timid. The samecan be said for the management of public debt in recent years.

The financial crisis of2008 has prompted the hazard of public debt to be a frequent theme ofdiscussion amongst policy makers. Looking across the world and it is fair tocomment that borrowing has spiralled. The economy, or the ‘aggressive coaches’has stagnated due to the recession and many countries who were spending heavilyto combat this crisis can no longer play at this frantic pace. Football andpublic debt. An apt marriage.

The collapses of theeconomy in Greece and Ireland are a very dangerous sign. The continual highlevels and mismanagement may cause a larger economy to fail and potentiallyhave a domino effect. The risk of sovereign defaults is heightened by the synchronisednature of the financial crisis and recession. These have led to an unprecedented surge in governmentborrowing globally which willcontinue even as the recession has ended. High debt burden statesare most exposed to payment difficulties and are the focus of market concerns. These countries also saw asurge in private-sector borrowing during the pre-crisis boom, with much of this debt now turning bad as aresult of the recession, with largebailout bills adding to governments' fiscal problems. Among thesepotential sovereign defaults, I am particularly concerned for emerging marketssuch as Pakistan. If public debt continues to grow relative to national income,it will be much more difficult to attract investments within the country to stabilisethe economic problems caused by growing public debt. As this debt grows, thegovernment, in its attempt to maintain fiscal sustainability, will be forced toincrease taxes. This increased causes a reduction in disposable income and thusless money is spent upon goods and services.

My career goals are intrinsicallylinked with the notion of public debt. My aspiration is to maintain consistentlevels of economic development in emerging market economies such as Pakistan byensuring capital investments are being made. To gain or maintain, as it may be,economic development in such states, investment is critical. Governmentdeficits have a significant impact upon proposed investment within a state, andthe more it grows, the farther capital investments become. Based on the famousKeynesian model, a large public debt and further spending prompts greater movementin the economy but this has proven to be unrealistic in some states.

My perception is thatpublic debt ought to be a long thought-out process, particularly in less developedcountries. Granted, occasionally governments will run deficits to in order tomeet short-term economic or political targets but surely this process is notsuitable for the long term. I would like international organisations such asthe International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to intervene at a muchearlier stage to prevent over-reliance on debt capital and deficit spending.

I would like to see twoprimary aspects to be employed or its use to be encouraged, as it may be, whenconsidering public debt. Firstly, I would encourage a greater degree of foreigndirect investment. Working collaboratively, I would want a state to promotedevelopment of its industries by allowing new capital but restricting capitalinflow in industries where the state is competitive itself. This is important asmany emerging economies will provide no barriers to entry and home grownindustries will not prosper. I believe this reliance on solving problems ‘inhouse’ will provides greater management and more balance in preventing economictroubles. The IMF and World Bank ought to work alongside emerging markets tofinalize a plan that will determine how this state will attract greater investment,monitor its benefits and how the state ought to become stronger on the back ofthis.

Secondly, I wouldlike to see an ability to restructure debt capital. Greece is a prime example.It was not permitted to do so but instead was bailed out, following an almostcollapse of the entire European financial system.

[KQNovice]

Any thoughts anyone?

[Zorah]

I think that the coaching story should be left out. It is really not a smooth transition from coaching to debt repayment.

[KQNovice]

Thanks!

Any more thoughts people? Its a first draft but hoping to get it finished today.

[KQNovice]

Bump!! Anyone more thoughts? Be happy to read anyone else's in exchange

[ched]

Talk a lot less about your personal viewpoints on current public policies. The purpose of grad school is to explore these questions and addressing all of your thoughts and opinions is not the purpose of a personal statement. They want to know that you will finish this program and do a great job in the field. I would ask, how have the qualities of refereeing football apply to public policies, that is leadership, taking initiative, etc? How have YOU demonstrated these qualities and what have you learned from them? What is it about public policy that ignites you? Its clear you enjoy talking about it, but why. What is your motivation behind this degree. Continue to question your motivations for both what you have done in the recent past that has led you up to public policy and why it is that you want to study policy. Discussing a little bit of policy analysis is good, at least to show that you understand what policy analysis means and that you understand it, but talk more about yourself and your aspirations/goals/motivations.

[Mal83]

Yes, leave the football analogies out as well as the first quote...is it a quote? It doesn't set the tone for a productive SOP, my first reaction was...what?? It made me skeptical that you were going to get to the point. I like the sentence in the first full paragraph "Nonetheless with time....truly enjoy myself." I feel like that relates your management of a multifaceted activity nicely to the public health field that also has a lot going on all the time. You've trained yourself to see many things at once and make a decision for moving forward. I think you can leave the rest of that paragraph out though, just tweak that sentence to explain that your a mentor, it's not an easy job, but nonetheless with time....etc. You can replace the rest of that paragraph with a few sentences on how you arrived at the decision to pursue an MPP.

My 2nd paragraph would be to explain how I am qualified to study at the graduate level. What's your BA in? What other work experience do you have in a related field that has prepared you for this? Then you can keep a few sentences on your observations, the ones that relate to what you're most interested in. That's when I would segue into what elements of public health you'd like to see change and how you'd do it. I really feel that your 3rd full paragraph (Greece and Ireland) can be taken out completely, it reads more like an article and doesn't make the point that you are ready for graduate school, admissions committees don't need a summary of current events. Even though you have this topic for the SOP every sentence needs to convince them that what you're interested in doing fits the program and that you're prepared academically and mentally, not just to write an essay about this specific topic but to show that you have an understanding as to what this degree will do for you.

I think the next 3 paragraphs about aspirations are structurally OK, but need some work on flow. You're basically moving into career goals and I feel like that's a good direction to go in. I can't comment on the content because this is not my field, I don't know if there's too much information there or if it's a good amount, so I'll leave that to someone else. The very last small paragraph can either be discarded or expanded upon, but to me it feels awkward as it is. Then you need a way to wrap it all up, tie it all together. You have to hit it home that you are qualified for the program and will use the degree from this school to accomplish your goals and contribute to the field. Don't be afraid to express a little emotion or passion at this point...for one of my SOPs I had to describe the characteristics that I felt would help one succeed in the field (International Development). I said something to the effect that "one must have an adventurous spirit and feel a sense of closeness with even the farthest corners of the world." I mean that's pretty abstract and a tad romantic if I dare say, but it showcases just a little bit of the passion I have for my field and that I love it on the most basic level, I feel like that's someone that an admissions committee might appreciate.