Sample Essay

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Describe your most significant personal accomplishment to date, explaining why you view it as such.

In the summer of 1999, while working in Washington, D.C., I was browsing through an obscure journal when I came across a small article about proposed changes to the Republic of Ireland's social security system. Scanning the article, I initially thought that the authors must have been mistaken. The plan that they described would have far-reaching implications for Ireland's economy; nevertheless, it had received scarcely any coverage in the country's media.

Over the next couple of days, I checked official documents and, to my surprise, I found that the article had been accurate. A small group of government officials had created a plan to finance Ireland's future pension liabilities using a government-run fund that would be invested in the stock market. This policy was on the verge of being implemented without any public debate. Drawing on the skills I had gained as a participant in America's Social Security debate, I formulated an economic model to analyze the effects of the plan. Under its provisions, I calculated that the Irish government would end up owning at least 29 percent of all the firms traded on Ireland's stock market. Given the government's history of corruption and financial mismanagement, this proposal could have had disastrous long-term consequences for the country's economic and business climate.

Armed with my economic analysis, I sprang into action to alert Ireland's policymakers and public to the dangers of this proposal. I spent several days on the phone to Ireland, calling everyone that I knew who I felt had influence over the country's economic policy. Eventually, I persuaded the Irish Times, Ireland's most prestigious daily newspaper, to publish an article in which I critiqued the plan.

The publication of this article, bolstered by my conversations with influential policy figures, triggered a public debate on the Irish social security plan. As a result, the government was forced to modify their plan by introducing safeguards that would limit the degree of political influence over the fund's investment decisions. While the government's pension fund still exists, it is now controversial and very likely to be abolished by a future Irish administration.

I view my role in these events as my most significant personal achievement. Despite being 3,500 miles away and possessing few resources beyond my own expertise in economics and powers of persuasion, I took the initiative in shaping Irish public policy in a direction that would help safeguard the country's prosperity. I am proud of having been able to use my education and leadership abilities to give something back to the community in which I grew up.

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