Untold story; how I got to Economics

Alhamdulillah, I finally got the grades required to get into UCL. In approximately a month’s time, I will be leaving to pursue my studies in Economics there. Am I pretty excited to go? Maybe I am not as excited as I should be. Perhaps this has got to be because it was not an intention of mine to be doing all of this in the first place. Nevertheless I am forever grateful to God for this great blessing of His, and I shall make the best out of it.

Unlike many of my friends, I don’t actually have a proper plan for my future since high school. Back during my days in SAS, when we were asked to start thinking about our future undertakings, I was one of those boys who were left clueless. I know that I could go for it, but the only lingering question playing inside of my head is ‘what is it?’

During my earlier years, like many kids I was told to become a doctor. Guess that’s a cliché nowadays. A career that is essential to support the lives of human beings. Who could blame them though; it is a known fact that with the rapid pace of population growth that the world is at right now, there are not enough doctors to go around attending to all the sick ones. There are just as many deadly diseases out there as there are of us humans to be infected, thus doctors’ shoes are in need of being filled, the jobs are forever there, just as long as humans are not being replaced by robots or face extinction that is.

But becoming a doctor takes too long of a time, besides I don’t want to work in a hospital being on call every single day, not even when I am decently paid for it. Then I went on considering the idea of becoming an engineer. To be truly honest with you guys, this is something that I know I am capable of doing and the prospect of being successful at it is also pretty good. All I need is a good grasp of Math, learn the basics, and the rest is nothing more than mere common logic and practicality issues, not too complex. I sticked to that idea until I left SAS after my SPM. In my head, I was 90% sure that engineering is what I am going to do.

Being unexpected as it is, fate played its role on me. I stumbled upon Bank Negara’s scholarship. I know how tough this scholarship is because I already went to its briefing when I was a form 4. I and a few of others were sent together with the form 5 of 2007 to listen to the briefing in the Bank. From that day onwards, I had thought that this is not for me, so I put it aside, until I ran into the scholarship ad in the papers after my SPM. After some research on the offered courses, I found Economics and Actuarial Science to be very attractive, mainly because it incorporates quite a lot of Math into them, while in Economics the theories and Math are used side by side, this is something which appeals me as I get to both read and apply what I’ve read, analyze it and at the same time all of those has some Math works incorporated into it. So after giving it much though, I went for it just for the sake of ‘why not see what this Economics thing is all about first? Let’s have a go at it and explore.’

There you have it, that’s how I got into Economics in the first place. A very bold move that I’ve ever did in my life. To go for something I never even heard of before, heck none in my family and relatives even know what an economist do for a living. I don’t know if it even pays well, but then again money is not a factor when it comes to deciding something. I strongly believe that money is a reward; something that comes second which can be earned given that you have the prerequisite skills combined with rezeki (fate). My actions seemed crazy, my decisions do make me look like a complete fool who knows not of what he desires jumping around here and there, but the truth is, I was just looking to find that one thing that suits me well, or at least do something I am comfortable or even good at. Stick to the basics, know what you can do, and stick to it.

Lastly, why do I go through all the trouble of writing this down without nobody asking? Simple, one needs to remember where he's been before he knows where he's going to.

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.- Muhammad Ali

I leave the rest to you.......