During my sophomore year of university, I applied for a competitive essay scholarship from Morgan Stanley Japan. The focus of the essay was on Abenomics, a new policy put forth by, at that time, recently elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The essay took quite a bit of research; I spent hours reading through the Prime Minister's speeches, referencing Japanese Central Bank's releases regarding monetary policy, and reviewing opinion pieces and relevant sound bites published by both Japanese and American media.

After almost a month of researching, reviewing, writing, and editing, I had an essay that I was ready to submit for the competition. I was thrilled to receive word back a few months later that the essay committee had been impressed by my analysis and was excited to award me the scholarship.