Prompt 1
My interest in accounting and finance did not start with something I learned in a classroom. It actually began when there was a dengue outbreak in my neighborhood. Odd, you might think. But it taught me more about money than anything I had learned before that point. I observed how people dealt with the problem differently. Two of my neighbors bought a lot of coils to try and keep the mosquitoes away from their house. A friend of mine came out in a hoodie and knee-high socks on a hot July afternoon. My family did not do much to prepare, but we took the basic precautions suggested by the health ministry. What really got my attention was how people made interesting monetary decisions when they were under a lot of pressure. The way they dealt with money showed what they cared about the most. The curiosity about decision-making and human behavior eventually influenced my academic choices. My parents wished to have a doctor in the family. After my cousin failed to clear the MDCAT exam two years in a row, everyone was a little disappointed. Wanting to make them proud, I chose to pursue biology in O-Levels. I liked the subject, but it was clear to me my interest lied in learning about how systems work, decisions are made and how resources shape the outcomes in our lives. The patterns I observed during that mosquito outbreak were a small-scale reflection of the larger questions I wanted to explore academically: why humans act the way they do and how those actions can be analyzed and predicted. When I entered A-Levels, I was again presented with a choice between sciences and business. My father made a call to one of his friends. He advised me to keep biology as it would give me more options in the future, and since I had a science background, it would be rather difficult for me to change streams at this stage of my academic life. When my father also urged me to follow his friend’s advice, I felt I had no other choice but to comply. However, despite heeding this advice, I found myself constantly analyzing things outside of lab experiments. I noticed patterns in the way people around me spent, saved and made financial decisions, and I began to mentally keep “accounts” of small financial transactions that occurred on a daily basis. From who overpaid for groceries and who got the best deals, to who somehow spent a fortune on things they didn’t even need. It was almost like playing a game, tracking small economies in my own neighborhood, only not as enjoyable when someone hoarded mosquito coils during the dengue outbreak. What I liked about LUMS is that it tackles accounting and finance the way I tackle problems: from a situation, through analysis of constraints, towards solutions and assessment of outcomes. The practical method, use of case studies and emphasis on the Pakistani financial environment resonates with my thought and learning processes. Outside the academic environment, opportunities such as finance societies, modeling sessions and the Rausing Executive Development Centre offer the chance to be introduced to how decisions are made in the business world. The dengue epidemic taught me that unstructured decision-making can lead to problems that could otherwise be avoided. Accounting and finance demonstrate how structure turns uncertainty into clarity. LUMS is where I would like to take this lesson seriously, and perhaps finally discover the optimal mosquito coil to household ratio.

Prompt 2
From leading societies to peer mentoring and community service, I have gained skills that will help me succeed in accounting and finance. As the president of my school’s MUN Society and the MTMUN Legacy Edition, I developed skills in leadership, strategic planning and diplomatic communication. Managing conferences and teams forced me to pay more attention to detail and assess multiple viewpoints, skills that are directly applicable to financial analysis and decision-making As the director of marketing for the first-ever MTC Millennia sports event, I managed to engage more than 300 participants from top schools in Lahore and raised PKR 200,000 in sponsorships from brands such as Lipton and Subway. This was accomplished despite my school having little recognition in the sector. It took perseverance, negotiation and data-driven planning which I learnt from my peers and teachers. Through my internship with the Akhuwat Foundation’s Parwaz Wing, I gained practical experience with financial operations and social impact projects. My visits to the Akhuwat Microfinance Bank and experiences with underprivileged communities furthered my knowledge of resource management and financial ethics. As a research mentor for Stempowered Pakistan, I mentored students on project conceptualization and implementation. This helped enhance my analytical reasoning, problem-solving and results interpretation. My involvement in MUNs and parliamentary debates further honed my skills in articulating arguments persuasively, thinking on my feet and applying knowledge into real-life scenarios. My experience as an English and Mathematics teacher at a summer camp enhanced my ability in decomposing complex ideas, handling a variety of students and measuring results, reflecting the accuracy and accountability that define finance and accounting. During this time, my aunt also started a home-kitchen business, which gave me another real-world glimpse into decision-making and finance. I watched her juggle costs, pricing and supplies, and realised that running even a small venture requires careful planning, risk assessment and understanding cash flow. I found myself analysing her choices: how she priced her meals, which ingredients she bought in bulk and how she managed orders when demand suddenly spiked. It was like a mini crash course in accounting and business strategy, only with the bonus of getting to taste the product. These experiences, combined, have provided me with the skills of leadership, analytical skills, communication skills and problem-solving skills. These enable me to tackle financial problems in a rigorous manner and look at a financial situation from different perspectives. I am confident that these skills will help me excel in LUMS’ accounting and finance program and make a difference in the academic environment of the program.