-
Subject: Successful Princeton Applicant
Through all of
my accomplishments and disappointments, I have
always been
especially proud of the
dedication and fervor
I
possess for my personal belief
s and values. Unfortunately, it has
often been difficult for me to remain outwardly
firm and confident in a town where most
people think alike and reject exceptions.
Whenever I have expressed my position
as a pro-life advocate,
peers have
badgered
, accused, and
ridiculed me for simply believing in something
that
they
scorn.
Despite all the pressure, I never
waivered from
my belief, yet
I became
frustrated and began to lose
the courage to publicly express my opinion on this
controversial topic. To gain some
insight and reassurance for myself, I attended the
New Jersey Right to Life Convention in
the sp ring of 1995. This experience
uplifted
me and offered
great
inspiration and
enlightenment.
At the convention I
received an
overwhelming amount of
support and encouragement from wonderful people
who
advocate
the very
principles I
believe in.
This convention was so inspiring that the next day
in school I
was able to
relate my experience to one of my biggest
opponents on the subje
ct.
Also, the abundant information available at the
convention enabled me to
defend my position on abortion more
effectively. Attending this convention
accomplished two things. It proved my
commitment to my belief, in that I t
oo
k the initiative
to strengthen and support my opinion, refusing to
give up o
r lose heart.
Unlike many others,
I
was eager and willing to
gain new knowle
dge so I
may successfully promote my belief to others. In
addition, this con
vention
invigorated
my confidence to
stand up for what I believe in and taug
ht me to never lose the
courage of my convictions
**********************
Subject:
Succesful Cornell Applicant
Tell us about opinion have
you had to defend. How has this affected your bel
ief system? I
chuckle to
myself every time
I think about this. I am perceive
d as a
mild-
mannered
, intelligent individual until
I mention that I am invol
ved in riflery. It is interesting to
watch someone’s expression change. It i
s as if I instantaneously
grew a pair of horns and a sharp set of claws. Bel
ieve me this gets worst; I
am a member of the NRA. I try to tell these folks
that I belong to the NRA to
fire my rifle.
with real
bullets?!?
es having horns
and claws, I now possess a tail and leathery
wings. This is
how it began
five years ago. I had
played on a
soccer team
for several years
. As I grew older I began
having difficulty playing soccer because of
shortne
ss of breath. I was
diagnosed as having mild asthma which ended my
soccer ca
reer and
eliminated my participation in most physical
sports.
Shortly afterw
ard,
during a Boy Scout
summer camp, I participated in riflery at their
shoo
ting range. This was
the first time I had ever touched a firearm.
To my amaz
ement
, I won the camp’s
first place award for marks
manship. I
was more than
eager when a
friend of mine asked me if I would like to join a
shooting club
. My parents
were wary when I asked to join the rifle club. My
mother feared
guns, but my
father felt there was no problem with trying this
sport. Grate
fully, he gave
me the opportunity to try rifle marksmanship,
despite secretly
hoping
that I would quit. Both of my parents were afraid
of what people wou
ld think
about their son’s involvement with guns. Like my
parents
a majority
of people
believe that all
firearms are dangerous to our society. All they
remember are the hysterical
news releases of street violence and injured chi
ldren.I am often asked how
many deer I’ve shot. Frankly, I couldnever bring
myself to injure another
living creature and neitherwould most of the
compet
itors I have met.
Yet, I keep finding myself defending the sport
from all of
the
misconceptions that surround it. Most people have
developed a negative
impression of the sport and I have
found that these prejudices are difficult
, if not impossible, to
rectify. Because of this conflict, I have become
an
open minded
individual.
I express my opinions
without reservation
, and I hav
e learned to accept
opinions and viewpoints contrary to my own. I do
not int
end to
alter
what I enjoy because of the
ignorance of friends and acquaintan
ces. If people have a negative view of
me simply because of the sport I am
a
ctive in,
then
they must be so superficial that they cannot see
the person w
ho I really
am. I am no longer apprehensive of being perceived
as a gun toti
ng, trigger
happy fanatic, even though I still
endeavor to
educate my
friend
s and relatives on
the beauty of this sport.
***********************************
Subject: East Asian Studies
It’s not often
tha
t a kid growing up in small-town New
Mexico
strikes up a passion for
Chinese civilization. Nevertheless, my
interest in different cultures
flourished
during
my childhood and adolescence in New
Mexico. The beauty and breathtakingly scenic
landscape of this state is enriched
with the pronounced cultural diversity brought
about by Pueblo, Hopi and Navajo
nations and a large Hispanicpopulation that
represents close to 50% of state. When
I was in kindergarten I attended a bilingual
school in Lemitar, a small town in
southern New Mexico. Most of the children at this
school were Hispanic. This allowed me
at a very early age to experience a language
and culture different from mine. My
father has always had a keen interest in people
from other countries and cultural
backgrounds. As a librarian, my father has always
encouraged me to read not
only Western Philosophy, but Eastern Philosophy as
well.
In
addition,
he inspired me to see life
from a different perspective.
To a large extent
, and by
most definitions, I have always been a non-
traditional and
unconventional student.
I went to a high school with a
curriculum
t
hat was as challenging for me as any
course I have taken in college. This hi
gh school was unique
because we studied everything from the origin of
Western
Civilization to modern-day
Western thought. Another unique feature of this
school was that at the end
of our senior year we had to give an oral
presentation in
front of
a
host of panelists
from St.
John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This
experience helped me develop my ability
to think critically and present a
cogent
thesis.
It
forced me to grow not only as a student, but more
importantly, as an individual.
When I
graduated from high school I rebelled against
traditional education and
decided not
to apply to college. This decision was
to the great dismay of
my
parents,
who had entered college
immediately after high school. With much
resistance, I
enrolled at Santa Fe
Community College. This was just to satisfy my
pa
rents’ wishes,
and I spent
only one semester there. Although I wanted to
study and continue to learn,
I
yearned to
reach
out to
people and find a different mode
of study -- one whic
h
would allow me to understand myself better so that
I could relate better t
o
the world around me. With this goal, I decided to
attend the New Mexico Aca
demy of Massage and Advanced Healing
Arts. The school provided me with a uni
que mind/body balance that
has helped me become a more
well-
rounded person.
I studied
subjects that ranged from Anatomy and Physiology
to Yoga and Tai C
hi. After
graduating, I got a job at the Santa Fe Sport
Medicine Institute a
s a
Physical Therapy Assistant. I used Massage
techniques to help people who
were injured in auto accidents or
sporting events. This type of work allowe
d me to directly help
people -- the people I massaged told me that the
pain
they experienced
prior to
the massage
had
subsided
.
Relieving
the pains of t
hese people
nurtured in me
a sense of
purpose. In addition, it increased my
interest in Eastern Philosophy, making
me want to learn more about Asia.I be
gan to read many classical Chinese
texts to further my knowledge about Chine
se Philosophy. Soon
I
developed a profound interest in
learning how to read
and speak the Chinese language. The
opportunities for studying Chinese were
very limited, however. At
22,I had saved up some money and now decided to go
live in Asia to experience
a Chinese culture first-hand, and to learn how t
o speak Mandarin Chinese.
My desire to go to Asia was spawned by a genuine i
nterest in reconciling
differences I found between Eastern and Western
cultu
res. Similarly, I
wanted to pursue this experience because it would
provide
me with a unique
opportunity to broaden the perspective I had on
the world a
s a whole. This
is how I ended living in Taichung, Taiwan and
visiting mainl
and China.
When I arrived in Taiwan, I remember getting off
the airplane and
hearing
everyone speaking Chinese. Everything I saw and
heard was unfamilia
r to
me. Seeing a different world
made a
huge impact on
me; I can still reca
ll how exotic my
environment was. In Taiwan, I went through an
intensive Chi
nese language
immersion program. Slowly I began to feel more
comfortable liv
ing there,
as I learned to communicate with people in
Chinese. I was invited
to
teach English at a private school for children,
but I told the school th
at
I had no teaching experience. The school informed
me that if I took a sho
rt
teaching training class, I would be ready to
teach. And they even offered
to pay me for the training classes.
However, I refused to be paid for the t
raining. The school was so
impressed by this that after I completed the trai
ning, they appointed me
director of the English Language program. I was
asto
unded by the
generosity and honesty that I received from the
people in Taiwa
was a
truly remarkable experience. In Taiwan, I lived
with a Chinese
family. This
allowed me to assimilate my culture with the
customs and habits
of this
particular Chinese family. We had long
conversations about fundamen
tal aspects of Chinese culture and
philosophy. The family also brought me to
all the Chinese festivals
and celebrations. It was in Taiwan that I realize
d I must return to college
in the United States, and earn a degree in East A
sian Studies. After
spending a year in Taiwan, I returned to the
United Stat
es to complete
my degree. My time Taiwan taught me so much about
myself, and
it gave me the
perspective to see things from both a Western and
Eastern po
int of my
return to the United States, my life has seen some
exci
ting changes. I got
married about a year after I returned from Taiwan.
My wi
fe is originally from
Venezuela, and she has introduced a new host of
cultur
al norms that I am
learning about. During my free time I teach my
mother-in-
law English.
She, of course, insists that I need to attain
fluency in both S
panish
and Chinese. And that is exactly what I am doing.
My wife and I are b
oth
students at Rutgers University, and we share our
ambitions, hopes and ex
pectation of attending graduate school.
Currently I am a senior, majoring in
East Asian Studies with a minor in
Political growing importance
of Asia as a determining factor in
global economy and the increasing intera
ction and commerce of the
U. S. with China, suggests to me that pursing a ca
reer in law would be
pertinent and appealing. My knowledge of Chinese
cultur
e and mastery of the
Chinese language would be a very strong asset, and
it w
ould let me make a
significant contribution to the political,
commercial and
cultural
exchange between the U. S. and Asia.
**************************************
Subject: UMass. Amherst Anthropology
As a double major in
Anthropology and Psychology at the University of
Rhode
Island, I have gained
a strong background in both fields. My background
is e
specially strong in
physical anthropology, my primary field of
interest. Phy
sical
anthropology consumes my life; I do not study it
because I find it som
ewhat
interesting but because I am devoted to it; I want
to make it my life.
In
addition to maintaining a high GPA throughout my
college career, and mak
ing
the Dean
抯
list
several times, I have also worked hard as a
supervisor a
t Brooks
Pharmacy for the past five years. Working my own
way through colleg
e not
only demonstrates my determination to gaining a
high quality education
and
the seriousness with which I treat academics, but
also attests to my le
adership ability, maturity, and
responsibility, both as a supervisor and as
a student at the University
of Rhode Island. My primary goal in applying to
your graduate program is to
prepare myself for a career in forensic anthrop
ology. Interested in
furthering the current body of research and in
improvin
g techniques used
in the identification of human remains, I am very
committe
d to pursuing
forensic anthropology and believe your graduate
program in ant
hropology
will provide me with an excellent foundation in
the area of physic
al and
forensic anthropology. With a Masters and Ph.D., I
will be well prepa
red to
lead a very promising career. While I have no
doubt the program will
push
me to my limits, I am confident that I can face
the rigorous challenges
posed by graduate study and thrive
under the demanding environment that adv
anced studies entail. From
my transcripts, you will see that not only am I a
well-balanced student, I
actually thrive in rigorous, upper level courses,
courses akin to graduate-
level courses. Armed with the confidence that I
can
excel at difficult
courses, I believe I can achieve the highest level
of su
ccess and
satisfaction by taking the most demanding graduate
program availab
le. In
addition to my ability to excel in the classroom,
I have demonstrate
d a
proficiency in all aspects of conducting research.
Research has become a
fundamental part of my college career,
and I hope it will become the primar
y component of my future. As a
sophomore at the University of Rhode Island,
I designed a research
project entitled
Three
Species of Non-Human Primates
-Horowitz in the Psychology Department
at URI. My research proposal gained a
pproval from the Institutional Care and
Use Committee at URI and at the Roge
r William Park and Zoo where the three
species of non-human primates (Gibbon
s, Sakis, and Lemurs) included in my
study are kept. In addition to writing
a successful research proposal, I also
wrote and received a small funds gran
t from the University of Rhode Island
in order to conduct my research. By be
ing intimately involved in every aspect
of research, from proposal and grant
writing to data collection and
analysis, I have learned what it takes to be
a researcher, but more than
that, I have learned how fulfilling and interes
ting research can the
spring of 2005,I will be presenting my results a
t a poster presentation at
the University of Rhode Island, and am planning t
o eventually publish my
findings. Not only has this experience shown me
that
I am capable of
excelling in conducting research, but it has also
allowed m
e to develop a
love for the hands on learning that is so crucial
to successf
ul research. In
my final semester at URI, I will be participating
in an ongo
ing research
project concerning brain function and attention
span under the
direction of
Dr. Dominic Valentino, a professor in the
psychology department
at
URI. This project will undoubtedly further advance
my academic skills an
d
reinforce my passion for al anthropology is more
than just
my primary area
of education; it has also become my hobby and
lifestyle. The
questions
posed and answered via the study of physical
anthropology have fa
scinated me for a very long time and
have stimulated me to ask and seek to a
nswer further questions.
With my mind set on the very specific goal of
prepa
ring myself as
excellently as possible for a future in the field
of forensic
anthropology, I
am fully confident that, with the ability to
pursue my educ
ation at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst, I will not
only be able to
fulfill my
dream, but to contribute substantially to the
university as well
.
***
****************************************
Subject: San Jose State - Environmental
Studies
Since the release
of Rachel Carson
抯
Silent Spring in the
1960
抯
, mankind ha
s expanded its quest to
come to grips with the competing virtues of human
ec
onomic entropy and of
maintaining the integrity and diversity of the
natural
environment. As
awareness of environmental degradation has
increased, so ha
s the
realization of the complexity of interconnected
webs of relationships
among
organisms and the physical and chemical
environment. With this awarene
ss, we have also come to realize that
environmental problems are not easily
fixed by simply focusing on a single
problem with no analysis of other issue
s. This tendency to blindly
solve environmental problems without understandi
ng the full complexity of
the problem was evident in the Environmental Prote
ction
Agency
抯
(EPA)
recent mandate that Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether
(MTBE)
be a required
ingredient in gasoline formulas with the goal of
increasing co
mbustion
efficiency. A fuel oxygenate, MTBE enhances the
octane in gasoline
and
decreases carbon monoxide emission by increasing
burning efficiencies. I
n
its haste to declare MTBE as a required ingredient
in gasoline, the EPA fa
iled to consider a basic chemical
property of MTBE and its long-term effects
upon the environment.
Because MTBE is highly water-soluble, it dissolves
in
water, leading to higher
concentrations of MTBE in many lakes in the Califo
rnia Sierra Nevada
mountains and in many groundwater supplies. Hence,
by add
ressing only one
component of a system separately, the EPA failed
to see the
ramifications of
our apparent solution. This myopic approach to
environment
al remediation
commonly subverts our good intentions to solve
environmental
problems and
demonstrates a lack of understanding of how inter-
related syste
ms work. It
is my goal to aid in our understanding of
environmental pollutio
n on
a global scale by not only researching the fate
and transport of contam
inants, but also by analyzing how our
current philosophies and policies affe
ct these problems. By applying an
interdisciplinary approach to both the spe
cific scientific and
technical aspects of a problem and by thoroughly
analyz
ing social and
cultural factors, I believe I can more effectively
in analyze
the true extent
of our pollution problem and help to determine an
appropria
te preparation
for this work, my undergraduate degree in environ
mental studies has provided
me with a solid foundation in both the sciences
and state and federal
environmental policy. My undergraduate emphasis in
haz
ardous materials has
given me a broad knowledge of the types of
chemical rel
eases common
in both developed and undeveloped countries and
their chemical
and physical
effects upon the environment. Through graduate and
post-graduat
e research, I
hope to further enhance this knowledge by studying
the effects
of chemicals
commonly used in industry cycles on specific
environmental com
partments
such as bay wetlands and partitioning to other
compartments such a
s XXXX.
In my graduate study, I would also like to expand
my undergraduate s
tudy of
environmental law by increasing my knowledge of
the law to the area
of land
use and its relationship to contaminant fate and
transport. In addit
ion to
my academic background, I believe that my work
experience will also p
lay
a key role in helping me find success in my
graduate and post-graduate s
tudies. For the last ten years I have
held a number of management positions
in business. While these positions have
not specifically related to environm
ental work, the experience has provided
me with invaluable insight into how
both large and small companies operate.
The perspective of business manageme
nt is badly needed in the environmental
field where time and again we discov
er that environmental compliance can
best be achieved by understanding busin
ess practices and tailoring
compliance measures so that companies can remain
profitable and be
environmentally responsible. In addition to
understanding
the
perspectives of business management, my work
experience has provided me
with other skills that will contribute
to my success in the graduate progra
m. In 1986,I founded a retail
product/services company, Bay Area Audio, whic
h specialized in commercial
media center design and installation. As the com
pany
抯
president over a six-year period, I was
responsible for managing all
aspects of operations, including
marketing and customer relations. This expe
rience provided me with the
opportunity to conduct market research to cultiv
ate new customers, engage
in media relations, grow profitability while maint
aining budget
accountability, and manage large groups of people.
As a result
of the
marketing campaigns that I developed, revenues
increased from $$100,0
00 in
1986 to over $$2 million in 1991. I believe the
experience in market re
search and media relations will be
particularly helpful in the environmental
field since many
environmental issues involve public 1991,
I sold my interest in Bay
Area Audio to gain experience in the high-technolo
gy sector. Since 1991,I
have held a number of management positions for
compu
ter hardware and
software companies. This experience has been
invaluable in
providing me
the opportunity to be involved in leading edge
Internet softwar
e
technology. As the main purpose of the Internet
and internet-related softw
are is to enhance communications, I
have played a key role in developing pro
ducts that provide people
with one of today
抯
most valuable resources - info
rmation. Working in this
market has also given me the opportunity to manage
large software projects
involving dozens of people. Of particular
relevance
to my pursuit of
post-graduate environmental studies, is my
experience devel
oping
global scale corporate websites for companies such
as Silicon Graphics
,
UltraTech Stepper, and Philips Semiconductors.
These projects involved wor
king closely with the particular
company
抯
environmental, health, and safety
departments to effectively
communicate health and safety information to tho
usands of employees. I
believe that the Internet will be an invaluable
tool
in both the research
and implementation of environmental solutions and
that
my experience in the
computer field will prove invaluable towards this
end.I
n conclusion, I
believe that I have much to offer San Jose
State
抯
graduate
environmental studies
program. To successfully come to grips with
environmen
tal
contamination, we must understand how a specific
problem fits within a l
arger framework from both an ecological
and social perspective. I believe th
at the combination of my educational
background with my work experience will
provide me with the
essential tools to substantially contribute to
workable
and successful
solutions. Given the opportunity to pursue
graduate work in
environmental studies, I will
contribute to effectively bringing new informa
tion to light on
environmental problems and their solutions,
accounting for
all related
cultural, industrial and environmental factors.
Overall, I belie
ve that
San Jose State can help me achieve my goals by
providing the advance
d
tools and knowledge necessary to focus on
environmental problems utilizing
an interdisciplinary approach so as to
have an overall positive net impact
on protecting the environment for
generations to come.
--
***
****************************************
Subject: Columbia Film Studies
East of OmahaI left a
secure job and a lifestyle that would have
catapulted
me into the
upper middle class by age 30. I disappointed my
family and shock
ed my
friends, but the applause from the packed
auditorium vindicated my dec
ision to pursue my passion. At great
expense, I decided to follow my dreams,
to refuse to be
disappointed or discouraged by life. As I
reflected on all
the
difficulties I persevered through in reaching that
point in my life, I f
elt a
hand patting me on my shoulder praising my work. I
was born in Omaha,
Nebraska
on August 28,1972 because my mother slipped on an
onion peel while
shopping
at the local Hinky Dinky Supermarket; the fall
induced her labor an
d out
I popped. In this rather unsophisticated
environment, where on Saturda
y the second largest city is a packed
college football stadium, I somehow de
veloped artistic aspirations, but did
not have the opportunity to make cultu
ral pursuits a major part of my life.
At the age of twelve, my father accept
ed a job with Levi Strauss and moved
the family to Kansas City. At this cruc
ial stage in my
development, I found the arts fascinating,
especially while
studying
literature in junior high. Unlike the other
students who flocked to
the
hundreds of early eighties Spring Break movies, I
developed a discrimin
ating
taste and longed for the quality I would find in a
Stanley Kubrick fil
m. At
night, tackling Crime and Punishment or watching
Dr. Strangelove took
precedence over arcades and football.I
carried my love for literature with m
e when I attended the University of
Kansas. I also studied economics, which
combined my interests in
philosophy, history and mathematics. However,
while
I studied economics
for somewhat practical reasons and never thought
of the
discipline as
compelling enough to devote my entire life to, my
interests i
n film and
music began to mature. Exposed to the
unconventional films of Hal
Hartley, Mike Leigh, and John Sayles
and to the poetic music of Tom Waits a
nd Leonard Cohen, I prized their
works?brilliant storytelling, and this feat
ure inspired my own work
and my eventual pursuit of high c
ollege loans and a desire to be
economically secure, I chose not to pursue m
y dreams immediately out of
college. I fooled myself into thinking my passio
n for filmmaking was just a
hobby and that I would be better off pursuing a
more
搒
erious?career, one with
respect and a high salary. As a result, I too
k a secure, comfortable job
as a financial analyst just two weeks out of col
lege. My family was proud
of me, but I was not proud of myself. I quickly be
came restless and began to
think seriously about film. After much deliberati
on, I knew what I had to
do; I may have known it all along, but I needed
tim
e to work up the
courage, to make myself determined to succeed. I
informed m
y mother and
father of my decision to move to New York and
pursue film, and
I saw
disappointment in their eyes. Despite my
mother
抯
crying
and pleading
and my
father
抯
clear
dissatisfaction, I quit my job, rented a U-Haul,
and h
eaded New York, I
took out a loan and signed up for the New York Fil
m Academy’s
two
-month intensive program. Not
applying any of the risk manage
ment skills I learned as a financial
analyst, I was going for broke, either
I would make it, or I would go down in
flames. The first day I had my hands
on a camera and by the end of the
program, I had written, directed, edited a
nd produced four films.
Both thrilled and humbled by my experience, I got
a
glimpse of exactly how
difficult the craft of filmmaking is. After two
month
s of dedicated hard
work, I had not even scratched the surface of what
encom
passes becoming a
filmmaker, but I had reinforced my love for
filmmaking. At
this point,
I knew I needed additional education to accomplish
my goals; I
needed to truly
push my creative and intellectual limits if I ever
I were to
master the craft
of filmmaking. After seeing the quality,
diversity, and pr
ofessionalism of NYU graduate student
films at a screening last spring, I kn
ew NYU could provide me with exactly
the skills I need.I find the idea of pa
cking 100 strangers in a
dark room to watch a piece of film pass through a
p
rojector to be an
incredibly peculiar idea. But in this peculiarity
of the a
rt lies the
miracle, for humans are willing to suspend
disbelief and be move
d by
a character on a screen. The audience can somehow
feel what that charac
ter
feels and learn from that characte
r’s
experience. More than just this, f
iction also gives the audience the
ability to examine different facets of th
e human condition. Trust,
resentment, affection, flirtation, love, disappoin
tment are issues that every
human must deal with every day of their lives. T
hey are issues that
everyone deals with differently. Fiction allows
one to e
xperiment with
putting people in different situations and seeing
how they re
spond. Writing
and directing my own films is my ultimate
ambition. I know, h
owever,
that I am much further along in my development in
the art of editing
. Siting
in the editing room watching every single frame,
is one of my passi
ons.
Every single frame is important, each could change
an entire film. Like
a mad
scientist, with my hair sticking straight up, I
work frantically with
dozens of sections of film lined up
around me. Still, I know where every si
ngle section is, every
single frame. I spent many hours in the editing
room
piecing together my
last film until I had created something I could be
proud
of. As the lights
turned on and the audience
抯
applause died down, I turned
to see who had put his hand
on my shoulder. It was Jeanyves, my actor sitti
ng next to his admiring and
grinning father. He said,
At that moment, I felt like a
filmmaker. I want to feel that way again.
Subject: Speech Therapy
While my friends are off
vacationing, I have other plans for the s
omeone who sees life as one
long learning experience, I believe themost sens
ible and exciting way I
could spend my summer would be byattending
Northern
Arizona
University. This would give me the opportunityto
seek my master’s de
gree
and maintain my position as a speech
therapistduring the school
background is as diverse as the state I
call home. I lived for sevenyears i
n the deep south of rural Alabama,
where life was very in A
labama gave me a caring and
appreciative outlook on life whichwould enhance
my personality. Those
formative years, especially when viewedin contrast
wit
h my time in Florida,
have given me well-rounded perspectiveon the
world. I
am a blend of two
opposing lifestyles, and my thoughts, ideas and
actions re
flect this
someone who appreciates geographical diversity,
NAU’s lo
cation appealsto
me immensely. Having lived at sea level in Florida
for a lo
ng time, Ilook
forward to the elevated timberland scenery of
Pines and Aspen
ssurrounding interest in speech
therapy stems from my interest
in people. I am a
y peers andsupervisors both in and out
of the educational environment. Becau
se of mystrong desire to help others as
much as I possibly can, I have looke
d intovarious ways I could better serve
the speech is exemplif
ied
through my diverse volunteer experiences within
thefield. Following grad
uation from high school, I began
volunteering on aweekly basis at Morton Pla
nt Hospital. I observed
group and individualtherapies such as swallowing,
tr
aumatic brain injury and
several othertherapy techniques ranging from
childh
ood through
attending University of South Florida in Tampa,
I volunteered on aweekly
basis with Dr. Carolyn Ford, a professor of Speech
Pathology. Myduties
included creating and maintaining a research
database w
hich
housedpertinent participant information. Through
this experience I beca
me
morefascinated with the many language disorders in
children, and I realiz
edthis was an area I wanted to study
further. While attending USF, I alsoper
formed over 150 hours of
volunteer work at Deer Park Elementary i
nteraction between the
speech pathologist and her students wasimpressive;
it
was then I realized I
would like to work in such a , I work as
a Speech Therapist for the
Pasco County School District atBayonet Point Mid
dle School. My
responsibilities include co-teaching threelanguage
arts class
es for the
Language Learning Delayed. Additionally, Iwork
with the Educable
Mentally
Handicapped population through co-teach
anditinerant therapy. I als
o perform pull-out therapy for voice,
fluency, andarticulation. I am respons
ible for all Individual Education Plans
forSpeech-Language students. I organ
ize and perform seventh grade
mandatoryhearing screenings and referrals, as
well as screening and
evaluating allspeech-language impaired
h NAU’s program, I hope to
apply the creative and innovativestrategies of my
clinical experience to the
public school enting these strateg
ies will be crucial in getting our
students onequal footing, since I believe
that cookie cutter programs
are no longersufficient to address America’s di
verse population. Indeed,
the order israpidly changing. NAU’s emphasis on th
e communicative and
learning needsof a culturally and linguistically
diverse
region would
greatly supplementmy knowledge on how to identify
and implemen
t strategies
to enhance andassist this growing summation, I am
a good match for NAU
because I am a self-motivated, caring person who
wants
to further my
knowledge so that I may enable mystudents to be
the best that
they can be.
****************************
Subject: Sloan Doctoral Program
I have an excellent job
with tremendous advancement opportunities. At my
wel
l-paid job at a
prestigious investment bank on Wall Street, my
computer scie
nce and
analytical skills are recognized and lauded.
Moreover, I enjoy intel
lectual interactions with my Ph.D.
colleagues, have many friends, and am app
reciated by my managers.
Still, I feel a void in my life. While my friends
a
nd colleagues do not
understand my decision to leave my rewarding
career, I
know that I have
no choice if I am to pursue my long-term goal and
my childh
ood dream: to
teach and publish research. While my friends think
I am sacrif
icing certain
career advancement for unnecessary training, I do
not act impu
lsively, and I
am certain that I have made the correct decision.
What they d
o not
understand is that I will derive even greater
satisfaction by pursuing
a
doctoral degree than by earning a higher salary
and advancing in my prese
nt career. By pursuing a doctorate, I
will have the priceless opportunity to
realize my ng gives me a world of
satisfaction and a sense of a
ccomplishment. The more I learn, the
more fulfilled I feel. I do not learn s
olely to apply my knowledge
in a practical setting; instead, it is the quest
for knowledge and the
challenge of learning that motivates me.
Originally,
I took my
current job since I saw it as an invaluable
opportunity to further
my
learning experience. Over the past two years, I
have accumulated a good
knowledge of Finance. I was introduced
to Bayesian Statistics, GARCH process
es, and other topics of time series
analysis. I also learned how to price vo
latility swaps and
categorize different optimization tasks. While I
never in
tended to focus
solely on the practical side of finance, nearly
all of my wo
rk revolves
around it. For example, I have done research that
forecasted ass
ets?expected
returns as well as research on a better way to
execute a trade.
These
research opportunities were all results-oriented.
I rarely have had t
he
opportunity to look at the theoretical aspect of
finance, like deriving c
losed-form solutions to evaluate
financial instruments, which I sometimes fi
nd interesting. Although I
try hard to broaden my knowledge of theoretical f
inance by reading finance
and econometrics books on my leisure time, I am no
t able to test those
theories empirically. I long for an environment
where I
can conduct
research merely for the sake of curiosity. A
doctoral program w
ill
definitely provide me with such an environment and
allow me to continue
my
quest for knowledge unconfined by the boundaries
of desir
e to attend the
Ph.D. program also stems from a realization that
my undergra
duate education
was only a starting point in learning the
necessary finance
skills.
While my Computer Science and Finance degrees
supplied the foundatio
n of
knowledge for each field and my employment
background has allowed me to
understand and utilize technical
aspects of finance, I have not yet learned
the critical skills to
improvise when applying finance theories.
Specializa
tion through the
Ph.D. program is crucial, as I have noticed how my
colleagu
es apply their
specific area of knowledge to the understanding of
discipline
s. For example,
one of my colleagues has used his mathematical
knowledge to
solve a
portfolio optimization problem while others have
done the contrary,
using
their finance expertise to help them understand
mathematical problems.
I
seek this level of knowledge in finance, so that I
can handle many differ
ent
problems that might defy the application of
standard rulesPerhaps most i
mportantly, a Wall Street career is not
in line with my long-term career obj
ective of teaching, conducting
research, and producing research publications
that would add value and
contribute to my field of specialization. I am dri
ven by more than money and
the prestige of an excellent career. I also hope
to contribute to society;
as a professor, I would have the ability to do thi
s. An inspired teacher can
bring out talents, encourage innovation and nurtu
re a new generation of
scientists and philosophers. I always want to
inspire
others in the
teaching process in addition to conveying a
knowledge of the
Sloan, I
intend to concentrate in Finance. Finance is the
expl
anation of rational
human behavior reflected in the financial markets.
The i
dea of maximizing
expected return and minimizing risk is simple but
breathta
kingly powerful in
explaining how assets are valued. I enjoy learning
about
the interaction of
economic variables like inflation or interest
rates, how
the economy
works, and how changes of factors like currency
return or oil pr
ice
affects market movement. One of the aspects of
finance that I find most
interesting is its application of
knowledge from other areas of discipline.
For example, Brownian
motion is used to model and evaluate options while
eig
envalues and
eigenvectors are used to decompose and analyze
covariance matri
ces. These
examples show that finance researchers are able to
take advantage
of the
established knowledge of other fields like
Mathematics and Statistic
s
and apply them to assist in their research. I also
believe that my excelle
nt
quantitative background makes me well suited to
handle finance’s demandin
g
level of mathematical could contribute
tremendously to my achiev
ing my long-term objective. Needless to
say, it has an impressive faculty an
d a strong academic reputation. But I
am most impressed with its quantitativ
e approach to finance. MIT combines its
strength in engineering and economic
s to develop an expertise in finance
that focuses on the quantitative aspect
. In particular, I am
interested in the work of Dr. Andrew Lo, who is a
prom
inent figure in the
area of neural networks and derivative pricing. I
am als
o attracted to MIT’s
small class sizes since it would enable me to work
clos
ely, share
experiences, and exchange ideas with my professors
and peers. One
line of
research I hope to pursue is of the financial
market development of
emerging market countries. I have
always wondered whether established finan
ce theory applies to the
behavior of developing countries or whether there
a
re alternative models to
explain such market behavior. What should be the
ap
propriate strategy to
ensure stable development in these
countries?financial
markets? Can the lack of pension funds
to support the market be the reason
for the huge volatility and low
liquidity of the financial markets in the de
veloping countries? Are
there any common factors driving their market
variat
ions? Through the
Ph.D. program, I hope to find answers to the above
questio
ns and to conduct
extensive research on similar financial market
topics.I be
lieve there is
still much to be explored and studied in finance
academia, an
d I believe
the Sloan doctoral program would provide me with
the knowledge n
ecessary to
understand and apply finance theories, which I
could in turn bri
ng to my
teaching and research career. I am committed and
determined to succ
eeding
at the Ph.D. program, and I am confident I will be
able to contribute
to the
MIT community in my area of interest.
*********************************
Subject: Generic Social Work Essay
I am applying to (Name of
School) for the Masters of Social Work program. My
career goal is to work with
underprivileged adolescents, especially those w
ith a history of behavioral
and emotional problems. I have significant backg
round in this area; in
addition to a full-time position with a
recruitment f
irm, I am a
relief counselor for this target group in a
residential treatmen
t
setting. I want to complement this practical
experience with specialized t
raining in order to best serve these
individuals. My desire for this profess
ion springs from the
troubles of my childhood. In my youth, I was a
ward of
the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts--in essence, a foster child. Both of
my bi
rth parents abused me
physically and emotionally, prompting the courts
to pe
rmanently remove me
from their power. I subsequently moved through a
success
ion of foster homes
and adolescent shelters. My high school years were
there
fore highly
traumatic; I could not have survived them without
the aid of the
counselors
and social workers that were so kind to me. Yet my
problems did
not end at the
emotional level. I constantly battled financial
difficulties
in order to
graduate high school and embark on a college
career. I was essen
tially
paying my way through college on minimum wage--a
monumental task. My
first
two years of college proved quite difficult
because of this. But I per
severed, and achieved an overall G.P.A.
of 3.5 during my final two years at
school. I also dedicated much time to
campus activities, in which I held a n
umber of leadership positions. Today, I
work with an international recruitme
nt firm that allows me to travel
through the United States and Europe. This
has given me a sense of
accomplishment and maturity, yet I feel a deep
void
in my life. I need to
give back to the community that helped me so much.
I k
now what it is like to
be on the
搑
eceiving end?of
social work--I was the on
e
who stayed with foster families after the social
workers had gone home. I
am
thus in a unique position to understand the
conflicts within the hearts o
f troubled adolescents. I comprehend,
for instance, the importance of such i
ssues as trust. And a child in this
setting would be naturally more inclined
to trust someone who has
already experienced
搕
he
system? backg
round, my
ambition, and my resourcefulness are ample
demonstration of the va
luable addition I would be to your
social work program. I share close bonds
of understanding with my
target community, and feel that I can make a
signif
icant difference in
their lives with the aid of a
Master
抯
Degree in
Social
Work from your
institution.
************************************
Subject: Teaching Masters
I want to be a teacher because I
appreciate the great value ofeducation. Thr
oughout high school,
education was never a top priority forme. Only
during t
he past two years,
at college, have I realized theimportance of
education. I
nstead of
letting hard subjects discourage me, as they used
to, I have learn
ed to turn
my frustrations into hard work anddetermination.
As a teenager, m
y social
activities consumed my life. My friendswere not
motivated to do wel
l in
school. Unfortunately, I followed theirlead. My
grades were very low, a
nd
I did not even care. As I grew older and lost
touch with my old friends,
I decided tofocus on my education. I
enrolled in Burlington County College.
There, I chose to associate with people
who worked hard. My peers at Burling
tonhave influenced me to strive to do
the best I can academically. Math has
always been a very difficult subject
for me. I wouldoften get frustrated do
ing problems, and would end up throwing
down thebook and giving up. When I g
ot to college, I realized that math
wouldinevitably be a part of my life and
that I would have to find a
way to getthrough it. The motivating environmen
t at college has enabled me
to relaxand work through the problems. I now fin
d math to be one of my
easiersubjects and I even enjoy its challenging
aspec
ts. My own roller-
coaster ride with school has made me want to be
ateacher.
I have reflected
on the factors that made me fail in my earlyyears
of educa
tion, and I think
one major factor was my teachers. Mydisinterest in
grades
was obvious in high
school, and all my teachersseemed content with it.
I fee
l that if someone had
sat me down andexplained the importance of school,
or
even just attempted to
makelearning more interesting, I might have become
mo
re motivated. As an
elementary school teacher, I hope to make learning
fun f
ormy students. It is
my goal to ease the students’ frustrations as best
Ican
. I would like my
students to see me as not only their teacher, but
assomeon
e they can talk to
and feel comfortable with. My experience at
college has p
roved to me
that I am capable ofdoing well. Not only do I have
the ability t
o succeed,
but I also now havethe confidence. I know how
important education
is in
all aspects of one’slife, and I want to share that
knowledge with oth
ers.
*********************************
subject: Duke Biotechnology
Excited by the idea of becoming a
scientist since I was a small child, my in
terests in pursuing
graduate studies intensified during my
undergraduate edu
cation
and my research experience. Rather than
discouraging me with the trem
endous amount of work and demands for
creativity, my college years motivated
me to earn a Ph.D. and to continue
pursuing a career as a research scientis
t. Although my exact
research goals have yet to be refined, my
interests inc
lude studying
the genetic basis of disease and the genetic
mechanisms that g
overn
various cellular processes, such as the cell
cycle, apoptosis, and tum
or gh I entered college without a clear
research direction,
the
Biotechnology Program at Rochester Institute of
Technology helped develo
p
my interest in the field of Genetics. I found much
of my laboratory traini
ng
at RIT to be extremely rewarding. For example, one
experience that early
on
convinced me to seriously consider genetics was a
project involving the c
onstruction and characterization of a
recombinant plasmid. Since I worked in
dependently for the most part, the
project played a key role in increasing m
y confidence and helping me
to understand various concepts pertaining to gen
etic analysis. It was this
experience that motivated me to seek a position a
s a
teacher
抯
assistant for a course in Microbial and
Viral Genetics. As a T
A, I
learned how demanding the teaching situation is
and how much teaching a
course can contribute to my own this
time, after discovering my
passion for research and the joy of
teaching, I began to seriously contempl
ate graduate schools. To
excel in graduate school, I decided I would not
lim
it my experience to my
formal education at RIT. Instead, I wanted the
opport
unity to explore my
career options to make a well-informed decision as
to th
e area of my future
research. With these goals in mind, I chose to
take adva
ntage of
RIT
抯
Cooperative
Education Program, which meant earning my Bachelo
r
抯
degree in five years instead of four.
In December of 1997,Astra Arcus US
A Pharmaceuticals hired me as a
research assistant in the Electrophysiology
Astra, I learned research
techniques not taught by RIT. For th
e past year, I have been working with a
subset of neuronal glutamate recepto
rs via voltage clamping on Xenopus
oocytes. The research of our lab is geare
d toward the study of
central nervous system diseases. Working with
Astra an
d earning an
education in biotechnology from RIT sparked my
interest in lear
ning more
about the genetic basis of a personal level,
I
抳
e gaine
d quite a bit from my cooperative
experience. Confident in my ability to ada
pt to new environments and
learn techniques that I have never encountered, I
have also learned a great
deal about the nature of private-sector research
and the lifestyle of the
researchers. Familiar with the amount of
dedication
and hard work
essential to project advancement, I am more
focused on my goa
l of
becoming an excellent researcher than I ever have
been. No stranger to
the
frustration and disappointment inherent in
research work, I am spurred o
n by the thrill of discovery. I find a
great deal of enjoyment working in re
search and plan to stay at Astra
through the summer of 2005.I feel that my c
ourse work as a
Biotechnology major at RIT and my research
experience at Ast
ra have
adequately prepared me for graduate study. Eager
to continue my educ
ation
and improve upon my weaknesses, I am particularly
interested in becomi
ng
more familiar with emerging technologies relating
to genetics and in gain
ing
more exposure in working with eukaryotic genomes.
Most importantly, I wa
nt
to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to
design and perform research
according to my interests in genetics
and disease. With these broad interes
ts and specific goals, I am very
attracted to the Graduate Program in Geneti
cs at Duke University. With
great flexibility in choosing a degree, the prog
ram would suit me well. At
Duke, I would welcome the opportunity to explore
my interests in Cell
Biology, Neurobiology, Pharmacology, and Cancer
Biology
. I am also
interested in learning more about possible
involvement with the
Duke
Center for Human Genetics. My motivation to
succeed is reflected in bot
h my academic standing and my
dedication to research. I feel that these attr
ibutes, combined with a
profound interest in the Biological Sciences, will
e
nsure me success as a
graduate student at Duke University.
***************
******************************
Subject:
Stanford Engineering Masters2
Evera since I can remember, I have
heard older people complain about being t
ired of this thing or that
thing. With the increasing complexity of technolo
gy and career skills, they
have to do more and learn more with every passing
day. Until now, technology
has perpetuated itself not by giving the average
person more time to pursue
humane concerns, but by increasing efficiency. P
eople can turn out more
widgets in an hour now than they ever could, but
the
y also work more than
ever learning new things. For example, the average
emp
loyee spends an hour a
day writing and receiving email, but still must
accom
plish everything else
she used to do. There is now more to do in less
time,
and adults are right
to complain that they wished they had more hands
or mor
e time to accomplish
their daily chores. From this simple observation,
I bec
ame interested in
robotics and in Stanford. Early on in my
education, I star
ted
reading and learning about software and hardware
engineering. An Enginee
ring Institute in Madras yielded the
first but almost incredible qualificati
on in hardware engineering.
It has been my objective since then to identify
with an institution that
shares my vision and ambition to lead the global
ma
rch towards environment
induced solutions to day to day living. Stanford
is
this institution, and
now is the time for me to follow my n tha
t this is the ideal time to
pursue college education in computer engineering
, I see technology becoming
increasing pervasive and important and wish to n
ow make the next important
step to helping technology make life easier, rath
er than harder. With my
demonstrated aptitude for computer hardware
engineer
ing, I am
confident that Stanford will hone my skills and
turn me into a wor
ld class
researcher / inventor. With my interests and a
Stanford background
in
computer engineering, I will be able to pursue
research in robotics and r
ealize my career goals. I am certain
that modern-day technology can alleviat
e, rather than add to, the
tasks of the average person. In the foreseeable f
uture, I envision
affordable robots that can do all the tiresome day
to day
chores in our
households and free us to focus on the humane
aspects of life.
With
dedicated input from the curriculum developed at
Stanford, we will inv
ent
robots that can understand the human moods from
tonal variances and for
application in the industrial and
medical world. By employing technology to
save time rather than to
absorb it, people will have more time for love and
relationships and children.
Rather than humans becoming the robots in an inc
reasingly mechanical,
technological world, we will regain our humanity.
Stan
ford is important to
me because I cannot find a better place to work
with wo
rld class faculty;
Stanford will provide me the tools for creating
time-savi
ng advancements.
2. Write about a book/idea that is intellectually
exciting
. ( 175 words)
揟
he 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People
R. Covey is
an interesting and thought provoking book. Covey
identifies thes
e habits as
the qualities of personal vision, personal
leadership, personal
management, interpersonal leadership,
empathic communication, creative coope
ration and balanced self-renewal. Covey
believes that with these qualities,
the reader can also become a highly
effective person.I found the book intell
ectually exciting because
the principles would give us the security to adapt
to change and the wisdom
and power to take advantage of the opportunities t
hat change creates. The
author emphasizes that the principle of
interdepende
nce has a
higher value than independence, and uses
s theories. I found this
approach to problem solving interesting, and
someth
ing I hope to use at
college. By centering our lives on correct
principles a
nd creating a
balanced focus between doing and increasing our
ability to do,
we become
empowered in the task of creating effective,
useful and peaceful
lives
?for ourselves and for our posterity. Since I am
constantly striving t
o
improve my own personal effectiveness, I found
this book intellectually ex
citing and would recommend it to
everyone. 3. Write a letter to your future
room mate telling him about
a persona; l experience revealing something abo
ut you. (150 words) Dear
JohnWhile I don
抰
want to worry you into thinking I
抦
some sort of single-minded engineering
student who never discusses anythi
ng other than engineering,
I
抎
like to tell a
story about the time that I ma
de a useful and inexpensive gadget by
applying some simple classroom knowled
ge. My mother often used to complain
that whenever it rained, all the clothe
s got wet before she could
retrieve them from the cloth line fixed in our ga
rden. To solve this
problem, I made a rain alarm using
water
抯
property
of e
lectrical
conductivity. My project had two metal plates
placed very close to
gether
and was connected to a battery, buzzer, and a
switch. It also had two
transistors forming a high gain direct
amplifier along with two resistors,
a relay and a diode. Whenever the first
drop of rain fell on the sensor plat
es of my gadget, the buzzer would raise
a shrill alarm, and my mother would
hurry to collect the clothes. A hobby
of mine is to apply engineering knowle
dge to solving everyday problems and
helping to put people at ease.
***************************************
Subject: Dentistry School
Ever since childhood I have enjoyed
working with my hands. Whether as an ei
ght year- old gluing
together a model car or an adolescent assembling a
book
shelf in woodworking
class, I thrived on the challenges of precise and
metic
ulous tasks.
Throughout high school I have been intrigued by
the sciences, b
ut it was
not until I read about late-breaking discoveries
and research in t
he field
of genetics that my interests in science
intensified. When I entere
d the University of British Columbia
(UBC), I naturally chose to specialize
in Cell Biology and Genetics. In my
sophomore year at UBC, I first began to
seriously consider
dentistry as a career. At that time, I began to
appreciat
e the important
role that dentistry played in my life. Four years
earlier, I
began an
orthodontic treatment program with Dr. Junni Wang
to correct a sev
ere
crowding problem with my teeth. Both before and
during the treatment, I
was
a most reluctant participant; not many teenagers
look forward to braces
filling their mouth during their last
two years of high school, and I was no
different. However, at every monthly
check-up for three-and-a-half years th
e office staff had nothing but kind
words of encouragement and optimism. Now
after the completion of the
treatment I had reason to smile. Dr. Wang helpe
d turn me from a shy
adolescent who feared smiling into a confident,
outgoin
g young man. His
skills not only brought back my smile, but also my
sense of
confidence in all
aspects of my life. Whereas once I feared drawing
attenti
on to myself and
thus shied away from leadership posts and debates,
now I am
a completely
different person. Hoping to feel as satisfied and
gratified as
Dr. Wang must
have felt in improving not only my smile but my
entire way of
life, I look
forward to improving the oral health of patients
on a daily ba
sis and
participating in dentistry
抯
friendly, team-oriented work environmen
t. After this preliminary
憄
atient-doctor?exposure to
dentistry, I substanti
ally
increased my involvement in the field to determine
if dentistry really
was for
me. My participation with the UBC Pre-Dental
Society allowed me to c
ommunicate with various professionals
in the field. I also investigated oppo
rtunities to volunteer in the
University Dental Clinic or participate in res
earch work. After speaking
to a couple of professors in the UBC Faculty of D
entistry asking them about
research opportunities, I found a topic that inte
rested me. Dr. Putnins, of
the Division of Periodontics, offered me a positi
on in his lab to conduct a
semi-quantitative analysis to determine the level
s of endotoxin in dental
unit water lines. After taking many water samples
f
rom the University Dental
Clinic and quantifying the amounts of endotoxin (l
ipopolysaccahride) in those
samples with an Limulus Abeocyte Lysate test, I
prepared to publish
dentistry
抯
first
account of this type of experiment. I
conducted the study over a 16-week span
(Jan.-Apr.?8), and the research work
counted as 3.0 credits towards my
undergraduate degree. Because the vast ma
jority of my work was self-
directed, I submitted my findings for evaluation
by the faculty in a 32-page
report with 46 references, and I also defended m
y methods before a panel of
professors. Impressed by the findings and result
s, Dr. Putnins will use my
study as a key component of a journal article he
is currently preparing for
the Journal of Dental Research (JDR). The school
also submitted an abstract
of my findings for presentation at the upcoming 7
7th General Session of the
International Association of Dental Research (IDA
R) to be held at Vancouver,
Canada. I am keenly looking forward to this uniq
ue opportunity to have my
work appear before distinguished members of the de
ntal research community. My
positive research experience definitely helped r
einforce my goal of
becoming a dentist. In addition, my employment as
a Can
ada Customs Inspector
has helped me improve my level of social awareness
and
helped me develop
qualities I can usefully apply to dentistry. As a
Customs
Inspector, I had
the opportunity to communicate effectively with
many diffe
rent types of
people in various situations. I have also
developed the abilit
y to
resolve conflicts, defuse difficult situations,
and show empathy even d
uring cases of enforcement. In
addition, my experience with team sports has
provided me with leadership
skills that can not be taught in any textbook. A
s the captain of my hockey
team and the coach of a
children
抯
team, I
have d
eveloped excellent
communication skills and the ability to identify
and work
effectively with
kids. All of these qualities will prove very
important to
my future
career in dentistry. Attracted by the dental
profession
抯
ability
to
positively impact people
抯
lives, just like my orthodontist, and
by the
profession
抯
financially rewarding and stable
lifestyle, I look forward to o
ne day opening my own practice and
becoming a well-respected member of both
the community of dentists
and the community of patients. While my GPA may no
t be as high as some
applicants? my academic record shows a consistent
posit
ive. I know I have
the intelligence, ability, and determination to
achieve s
uccess in
dentistry; I only need the opportunity. My dental
research experie
nce
combined with my academic background, personal
qualities, and leadership
abilities makes me well suited to
accept the challenges in the field of den
tistry. I look forward to
an interview and the chance to discuss my qualific
ations in person.
--
***************************************
Subject: Arizona State Health
Administration2
While
growing up, I played softball constantly both for
school and for a su
mmer
traveling team. As a member of the traveling team
for nine years, I enj
oyed
the opportunity of every weekend traveling to a
new place and of meetin
g
people from all over the country. Much more than
just honing my softball s
kills, my membership in a traveling
team helped me grow as a person by chall
enging me to compete
against hundreds of other girls. Because of my
commitme
nt to the game,
softball consumed most of my time since I spent
most of my s
ummers on the
road and not with my friends and family at home.
Despite the s
tress, my
perseverance and passion for the sport kept me
involved. I knew I
had
softball talent, and I did not want to waste it.
All I could hope is tha
t
my hard work and sacrifice would one day pay off.
Finally, that day came.
South Suburban College in Illinois gave
me a full softball scholarship and f
or two years paid for full tuition,
books, and room and board. While there,
I made certain not to waste
the resources being offered me. While putting 40
hours a week into softball,
I also took classes full time to prepare for nu
rsing school and on
weekends I helped coach youth camps. During my
sophomore
year, my coach
and teammates nominated me team captain and gave
me more res
ponsibilities.
I was in charge of developing team goals,
preparing practice
schedules, and developing motivational
strategies for the team. During this
time, my grades began to drop since I
was overloaded with responsibilities.
Not prioritizing my time well, I spent
too little time on my studies compare
d with my time in softball and in youth
camps. Exhausted from my demanding s
chedule, I allowed my personal
aspirations to fall too easily. Meanwhile, my
time in softball began to
become a job to me and lost its fun. I decided I
needed to reprioritize my
life and place more time on academics. I gave up t
he youth camps and spent
more time studying. I learned to balance my time
pr
operly and started to
once again do well in school. While the transition
fro
m home life to school
life was particularly difficult for me, I overcame
the
obstacles I faced and
am a stronger person because of it. Also, I
believe t
hat the
experience I went through will help me rise above
difficult in the f
uture
and help to make me more self-reliant and
interest in t
he health
field began in middle school and continued through
college. During
my freshman
year in college, I began taking courses to prepare
for nursing
school.
However, by the end of my second year in college,
my interests shift
ed away
from nursing, and I sought the advice of my
counselor. I transferred
to
Indianapolis my junior year and began exploring my
options. My backgroun
d in
team leadership led me to consider a career in
management. Growing up,
on
almost every team I played on I served as team
captain and carried the ad
ditional responsibilities that come
with the position. I also much prefer te
am sports to individual
sports, and I began to realize I would like to
work
in a team-based
environment. In my conversations with my
counselor, I first
considered merging health and
management into a career. My abiding interest
in the health field and my
constant position of team leader played a very im
portant part in my
education, and I hoped to make them play an even
more imp
ortant part in my
future. Even though I pursued other interests for
a few ye
ars, I never
swayed from the health field altogether. In
preparation for my
future,
I have developed a strong background in
mathematics and science in a
ddition to my coursework in health.
Unfortunately, I did not come to enjoy t
he challenges of the
intellectual life until my junior year. In that
year, I
decided that I
wanted to expand my knowledge and attend graduate
school. As
I entered my
senior year I switched to a General Studies major
to graduate
a year earlier.
My number one concern in choosing a graduate
school is to s
elect a
program that offers many opportunities for my
career and will prepar
e me
to manage effectively in the health care
environment. I believe ASU off
ers a program that can not only utilize
all the skills and experiences that
I have accumulated until this point but
also grow them to the next level. I
also believe that ASU can provide me
with the knowledge and credentials to s
uccessfully tackle the
challenges in the healthcare field. After
completing
my graduate
work, I plan to seek employment as a hospital
administrator. Whi
le I
understand competition for these positions is keen
and will only grow m
ore
intense in the future, I believe I will be well
equipped to excel as a h
ospital administrator if given the
chance to explore the educational and res
earch opportunities offered
by ASU
抯
School of
Health Administration and Pol
icy. With ASU
憇
MHSA program preparing me for future
challenges, I will succ
essfully work towards my goal of
becoming a hospital administrator. Since I
realize that success is
often rooted in a good education, I know ASU, as
one
of the most respected
schools in the US, can give me the credentials
necess
ary to overcome
barriers in the field. I will then draw on my
natural leader
ship ability
and my strong education in health care to excel in
my position.
Currently, I
work for Champps Americana, a sports restaurant in
Indianapolis
, and I
believe my experience with Champps is preparing me
well for a job in
management. I am the server manager and
have the responsibility of managing
over sixty servers. My responsibilities
include preparing the server schedu
le, development of training programs,
and sales growth through promotions an
d contests. Having learned a great deal
from my coworkers and having expande
d my leadership role outside the
softball field, I believe the skills I have
acquired through my job
will help me succeed in graduate school and as a
he
alth care administrator.
In my final two years at Indiana University, I
asse
rted myself
academically and proved my resolve to succeed.
While working ful
l time
and taking a full load of classes, I earned a 3.4
G.P.A. and received
a
certificate for high academic achievement from the
School of Continuing S
tudies. In short, I believe I have
developed the skills and maturity that I
will need to be successful
in graduate school, and I believe my record and w
ork experience supports
this. All I need now to usefully combine my
personal
qualities and
skills is to continue on the educational path by
learning abo
ut health
administration at ASU. I believe that my
struggles, perseverance,
and commitment to my undergraduate
studies qualify me as an excellent candid
ate for your program. I
thank you for your consideration.
************************************
Subject: Stanford Engineering Masters
During my senior year at
Purdue University, I made a decision that has
impac
ted the entire course
of my education. While my classmates were making
defin
ite decisions about
their career paths, I chose to implement a five-
year pla
n of development
and growth for myself. I designed this plan in
order to exa
mine various
careers that I thought might interest me, as well
as to expand
upon my
abilities at the time. As I was attaining a BS
degree in Electrical
Engineering, I decided to focus
primarily on fieldsrelated to the VLSI (Very
Large-Scale Integrated)
circuits area. My main goals were either to gain
wo
rk experience or to
further my education by pursuing an MS degree in
Electri
cal Engineering
(MSEE). I saw an opportunity to both work and
learn through
employment at
Xilinx Inc. Operating as a product engineer at a
successful, h
igh-tech
semiconductor company has enabled me to utilize my
technical and in
terpersonal skills in new and
challenging ways. The position has also allowe
d me to interact with a
multitude of departments including marketing,
integr
ated circuit (IC)
design, software/CAD development, manufacturing,
reliabili
ty, accounting,
and sales. I thus have gained an array of
experience that ex
tended
beyond the parameters of my own responsibilities.
In the workplace, I
rely
heavily upon the interpersonal techniques I
developed as a counselor i
n a Purdue residence hall, as well as
the organizational skills I had acquir
ed through holding various leadership
positions in cultural and engineering
societies. I have also cultivated an
interest in high-technology marketing t
hat has continued to grow
throughout my career. My experiences with Xilinx
have heightened my hunger
for knowledge in the VLSI field. Two months after
joining the corporation, I
applied to several part-time programs in the vici
nity that would allow me to
acquire an MSEE degree within two to three years
. San Jose State seemed an
ideal choice, for its evening MSEE courses would
allow me to pursue two
independent, full-time positions concurrently. The
Sa
n Jose program has
complimented my Xilinx duties well; both demand
large lev
els of energy and
enthusiasm while guiding me to my ultimate goal a
high deg
ree of education
in VLSI sciences. The resources that I poured into
both end
eavors have reaped
many gains. I have been promoted to a Product-
Yield Engin
eering position
within Xilinx’s Coarse Grain Static Memory (CGSM)
Product En
gineering
division. My extensive coursework plays a key role
in my continued
success at
nt classes in advanced digital and analog VLSI
desi
gn, as well as sub-
micron ULSI technology, have allowed me to
understand mor
e completely
the workings of Xilinx, a fab-less semiconductor
company that a
lso
functions as a software and hardware design,
testing, and marketing cent
er. The gains in knowledge I have made
through the combination of work exper
ience and education have indeed been
exponential. The academic records of m
y senior year at Purdue, coupled with
my MSEE coursework, are ample proof of
my dedication to learning. I feel I
have overcome through hard work and ded
ication the brief
ophomore and the first
semester of my junior years. My performance at
that t
ime is in no way
indicative of my usual achievements; they are
instead the r
esult of
urgent family difficulties that required much
foreign travel and se
rious
attention to resolve. In May, I shall graduate
with an MSEE degree fro
m
San Jose well ahead of my original estimates. This
early graduation with D
ean’s Honors is the result of my firm
belief in the value of diligence, as w
ell as my renewed determination to
strive for perfection in both work and sc
hool. I am now embarking on
another five-year plan, during which I hope to f
ulfill several specific
career goals. For instance, being part of a very
dyn
amic and results-
oriented Yield team at Xilinx calls for continuous
developm
ent of
computational and statistical techniques. The
Yield team is divided t
o
focus on specific process/fabrication issues and
process (manufacturing) o
ptimization. My own position is an
integral part of the optimization group.
Speed and cost issues
continue to press high technology atmospheres
towards
optimization,
probability and stochastic processes and systems,
and rigorous
simulations of
mathematical models. The MS in EES&OR offered at
your univer
sity will grant
me the statistical knowledge that is crucial for
process and
production
optimization in a fab-less environment. In
addition, product eng
ineering requires fundamental research
on mathematical models for linear and
non-linear programming, as well as the
utilization of efficient computer so
ftware. I continuously employ
theknowledge I gained at Purdue in Operations
Research and advanced
mathematics courses. Yet despite the value of
these cl
asses and my high
performance in them, I now require further
education to be
st fulfill
my duties. An MS in the EES&OR field, will give me
knowledge that
is
invaluable to a career in product development,
project management and st
rategic planning. The program will
allow me to improve decision-making skill
s in operations, strategy,
and policy issues. I will strengthen my theory an
d application in countless
areas:continuous, discrete, numerical optimizatio
n; probabilistic and
stochastic processes; dynamic systems and
simulation; e
conomics,
finance, and investment; decision analysis;
dynamicprogramming and
planning under uncertainty; operations
and service; corporate and individua
l strategy; and private and public
policy , the EES&OR program wi
ll not only help me to excel at
Xilinxbut will also further any future caree
r. My commitment to work
and education over the last three years proves
that
I will pursue this MS
with enthusiasm and technical edge that the
MS would provide I will be
working while attending Stan
ford, I shall mingle education with
practical application, and bring to the
table interesting problems
from my experience and past cal c
hallenges encountered through projects
in the EES&OR program will provide mo
tivation and opportunity for
methodological data collection,
processing and presentation issues
presented are integral to my future goals
, and the management
challenges raised will provideinvaluable
experience for
professional
practice. This will in turn build a solid
foundation for a lif
e-long
career that can overcome any problem in decision-
making. In addition,
taking
courses in economics, finance, and investment
analysis will allow mu
ch
growth of knowledge in investment issues in
different industries. The EES
&OR program thus appeals not only to my
engineering, economics, science and
mathematical background, but will
compliment my technical abilities with the
conceptual frameworks
needed to analyze problems in operations,
production,
strategic
planning, and marketing in the realm of
emiconductor/IC/engineeri
ng systems. I feel that I am prepared
to meet the challenges of the curricul
um. My coursework in intermediate
microeconomics and macroeconomics, interna
tional trade, operations
research, linear algebra, and probabilistic
methods
, along with my
extensive calculus background, will allow me to
function wel
l within the
program. My long-term career goals include a move
into marketin
g and product
management. I believe that attaining this MS
degree is the cor
nerstone
to achieving my goals. It will give me the
academic background nece
ssary to succeed in product
development, project management, and strategic p
lanning. It will improve
decision-making skills necessary for optimizing
per
formance. The
integration of two excellent programs in Economics
Systems and
Operations
Research thus suits my current position and ties
in with future
goals
perfectly by improving decision making in
operations, strategy and pol
icy. At present I desire to continue at
Xilinx; attending a program that pro
vides the flexibility and convenience
of the SITN, is therefore imperative.
Hence, being at Stanford as an HCP
student alsoattracts me. I believe that S
tanford is the best
environment for me to achieve my goals while
gaining exp
osure to and
experience with a diverse student body and
faculty. It is my be
lief
that one continues to learn throughout one’s life,
and the most effecti
ve
method of learning is through interaction with
rd’s diversit
y offers an
environment for learning, both inside and outside
the classroom.
I hope to
share my varied knowledge with my classmates and
to take from the
m a new
understanding of topics that are foreign to me. I
believe that no ot
her
school provides students with the combination of
education and environme
nt
offered byStanford. Its outstanding academic
reputation, mingled with its
diverse environment and thriving Bay
Area location, creates an opportunity
for growth that is second to none. I
have many ambitions for myself as Iemba
rk on this stage of my
life. I believe that an education from Stanford
will
provide invaluable
experiences and skills that will allow me to
become a suc
cessful and
innovative business leader in the new millennium.
****************************
Subject: Boston University Social
Masters
The rapidly growing
elderly population is becoming a serious social
problem
in many countries.
Some countries have been successful at finding
solutions
for this problem
but others have not. Japan is one of the latter
countries.
Although Japan
has one of the highest life expectancy rates and a
reputation
for good quality
of life for its elderly population, it has been
unsuccessf
ul at addressing
this problem. Compared to other industrialized
countries, J
apan lags
behind in programs for elders who are physically
disabled, bedridd
en or in
need of long term care. The current economic
crisis is exacerbating
this
situation as the government is cutting funding for
elder programs. Thi
s
problem resonates deeply with me, and I hope to
someday work on finding a
solution. It is for this reason that I
am applying to the graduate program i
n social work at Boston University: I
seek the skills and knowledge I need t
o return to Japan and work for a social
work interest in the elde
rly dates back to my childhood. Growing
up with my grandparents greatly infl
uenced my values and personality: they
taught me to be self-motivated and di
sciplined. Their resilience and support
has helped me to persevere even when
confronted with seemingly
insurmountable obstacles. Because of their kindne
ss toward me I have a deep
respect for them and for elderly people in genera
l. This is what motivates
me to become involved in the field of social work.
Traditionally in Japanese
society, the care of one’s parents is
believed
to
be
the children’s duty. After World War II, such
traditions have evolved due
to changes in family structure. No
longer is the eldest child the only one
to inherit his parent’s
property, and two
-income families have
become the no
rm. These
changes have left Japanese people at a loss as to
how to care for
their aging
parents. The current response to this problem
seems to be hospit
alization. Families increasingly
hospitalize their elders who are physically
disabled, bedridden or in
need of long-term care. These individuals are usu
ally transferred to nursing
homes, but because of sparse accommodations and
a one to two year wait
list, they end up staying with family members who
are
often ill equipped to
care for them. As a result, there are a number of
inc
idences of elder abuse
by family members and elder suicide. Also, there
are
many other elderly
people who live alone -- every year, many of them
die wit
h no one, not even
their family members, having knowledge of their
rently there is no social
welfare program in Japan that offers assistance to
these elders and their
families. In the light of these terrible problems,
t
he need for such a
program is obvious. My interest in social work is
to find
ways to develop and
improve the types of services available to the
elderly
in Japan at a
systematic level. I want to be involved in the
organizing, man
aging,
developing, shaping and planning of social
policies related to the el
derly. I believe the social work
program at Boston University will allow me
to do that. By studying
macro social work at Boston University, I will
learn
about established
social systems, assessment and intervention
strategies. I
n addition,
Boston University’s emphasis on urban issues
appeals to me immen
sely.
As I will be returning to work in Osaka, the
second largest city in Ja
pan, graduate work in this area will
better equip me for the challenges I wi
ll be facing. To me, an
urban mission is a commitment to identify and find
s
olutions to issues faced
by urban areas. I believe I am well prepared for
gr
aduate work. During my
undergraduate study, I acquired the necessary
backgro
und knowledge by
taking advanced courses in the areas of psychology
and soci
ology, including
sociological research methods, social theory,
statistics, p
sychological
research, and psychotherapy. Along with these
courses, I had an
internship at the Asian Task Force
Against Domestic Violence, a non-profit
organization. I also
volunteered at Sawayaka-en, a nursing service, and
Asun
aro Children’s Mental
Hospital in Japan. From this internship and my
volunte
er work, I have
gained practical experience which I feel will
contribute to
my academic
and professional success.I expect the graduate
work at Boston Un
iversity
to be demanding, challenging, and ultimately
rewarding. I look forw
ard
to the experience from an intellectual as well as
social point of view -
- I
hope to learn and grow as an individual and a
macro social worker. I hop
e that I will be allowed to do so at
Boston University.
Subject: Boston University Social
The rapidly growing elderly
population is becoming a serious social problem
in many countries. Some
countries have been successful at finding
solutions
for this problem
but others have not. Japan is one of the latter
countries.
Although Japan
has one of the highest life expectancy rates and a
reputation
for good quality
of life for its elderly population, it has been
unsuccessf
ul at addressing
this problem. Compared to other industrialized
countries, J
apan lags
behind in programs for elders who are physically
disabled, bedridd
en or in
need of long term care. The current economic
crisis is exacerbating
this
situation as the government is cutting funding for
elder programs. Thi
s
problem resonates deeply with me, and I hope to
someday work on finding a
solution. It is for this reason that I
am applying to the graduate program i
n social work at Boston University: I
seek the skills and knowledge I need t
o return to Japan and work for a social
work interest in the elde
rly dates back to my childhood. Growing
up with my grandparents greatly infl
uenced my values and personality: they
taught me to be self-motivated and di
sciplined. Their resilience and support
has helped me to persevere even when
confronted with seemingly
insurmountable obstacles. Because of their kindne
ss toward me I have a deep
respect for them and for elderly people in genera
l. This is what motivates
me to become involved in the field of social work.
Traditio
nally in
Japanese society, the care of one’s parents is
believed to
be the
children’s duty. After World War II, such
traditions have evolved due
to changes in family structure. No
longer is the eldest child the only one
to inherit his parent’s
property,
and two-income families have
become the no
rm. These
changes have left Japanese people at a loss as to
how to care for
their aging
parents. The current response to this problem
seems to be hospit
alization. Families increasingly
hospitalize their elders who are physically
disabled, bedridden or in
need of long-term care. These individuals are usu
ally transferred to nursing
homes, but because of sparse accommodations and
a one to two year wait
list, they end up staying with family members who
are
often ill equipped to
care for them. As a result, there are a number of
inc
idences of elder abuse
by family members and elder suicide. Also, there
are
many other elderly
people who live alone -- every year, many of them
die wit
h no one, not even
their family members, having knowledge of their
rently there is no social
welfare program in Japan that offers assistance to
these elders and their
families. In the light of these terrible problems,
t
he need for such a
program is obvious. My interest in social work is
to find
ways to develop and
improve the types of services available to the
elderly
in Japan at a
systematic level. I want to be involved in the
organizing, man
aging,
developing, shaping and planning of social
policies related to the el
derly. I believe the social work
program at Boston University will allow me
to do that. By studying
macro social work at Boston University, I will
learn
about established
social systems, assessment and intervention
strategies. I
n addition,
Boston
University’s emphasis on urban
issues appeals to me immen
sely. As I will be returning to work in
Osaka, the second largest city in Ja
pan, graduate work in this area will
better equip me for the challenges I wi
ll be facing. To me, an
urban mission is a commitment to identify and find
s
olutions to issues faced
by urban areas. I believe I am well prepared for
gr
aduate work. During my
undergraduate study, I acquired the necessary
backgro
und knowledge by
taking advanced courses in the areas of psychology
and soci
ology, including
sociological research methods, social theory,
statistics, p
sychological
research, and psychotherapy. Along with these
courses, I had an
internship at the Asian Task Force
Against Domestic Violence, a non-profit
organization. I also
volunteered at Sawayaka-en, a nursing service, and
Asun
aro Children’s Mental
Hospital in Japan. From this internship and my
volunte
er work, I have
gained practical experience which I feel will
contribute to
my academic
and professional success.I expect the graduate
work at Boston Un
iversity
to be demanding, challenging, and ultimately
rewarding. I look forw
ard
to the experience from an intellectual as well as
social point of view -
*******************************
Subject: Arizona State Health
Administration Essay
While
growing up, I played softball constantly both for
school and for a sum
mer
traveling team. As a member of the traveling team
for nine years, I enjo
yed
the opportunity of every weekend traveling to a
new place and of meeting
people from all over the country. Much
more than just honing my softball sk
ills, my membership in a traveling team
helped me grow as a person by challe
nging me to compete against hundreds of
other girls. Because of my commitmen
t to the game, softball consumed most
of my time since I spent most of my su
mmers on the road and not with my
friends and family at home. Despite the st
ress, my perseverance and
passion for the sport kept me involved. I knew I h
ad softball talent, and I
did not want to waste it. All I could hope is that
my hard work and sacrifice
would one day pay off. Finally, that day came. S
outh Suburban College in
Illinois gave me a full softball scholarship and
fo
r two years paid for
full tuition, books, and room and board. While
there, I
made certain not
to waste the resources being offered me. While
putting 40
hours a week
into softball, I also took classes full time to
prepare for nur
sing school
and on weekends I helped coach youth camps. During
my sophomore
year, my coach
and teammates nominated me team captain and gave
me more resp
onsibilities.
I was in charge of developing team goals,
preparing practice s
chedules, and developing motivational
strategies for the team. During this t
ime, my grades began to drop since I
was overloaded with responsibilities. N
ot prioritizing my time
well, I spent too little time on my studies
compared
with my time in
softball and in youth camps. Exhausted from my
demanding sc
hedule, I
allowed my personal aspirations to fall too
easily. Meanwhile, my
time
in softball began to become a job to me and lost
its fun. I decided I n
eeded to reprioritize my life and place
more time on academics. I gave up th
e youth camps and spent more time
studying. I learned to balance my time pro
perly and started to once
again do well in school. While the transition from
home life to school life
was particularly difficult for me, I overcame the
obstacles I faced and am a
stronger person because of it. Also, I believe th
at the experience I went
through will help me rise above difficult in the
fu
ture and help to make me
more self-reliant and interest in th
e health field began in middle school
and continued through college. During
my freshman year in college, I began
taking courses to prepare for nursing s
chool. However, by the end
of my second year in college, my interests shifte
d away from nursing, and I
sought the advice of my counselor. I transferred
to Indianapolis my junior
year and began exploring my options. My background
in team leadership led me
to consider a career in management. Growing up, o
n almost every team I
played on I served as team captain and carried the
add
itional
responsibilities that come with the position. I
also much prefer tea
m
sports to individual sports, and I began to
realize I would like to work i
n a team-based environment. In my
conversations with my counselor, I first c
onsidered merging health
and management into a career. My abiding interest
i
n the health field and my
constant position of team leader played a very imp
ortant part in my
education, and I hoped to make them play an even
more impo
rtant part in my
future. Even though I pursued other interests for
a few yea
rs, I never
swayed from the health field altogether. In
preparation for my f
uture,
I have developed a strong background in
mathematics and science in ad
dition to my coursework in health.
Unfortunately, I did not come to enjoy th
e challenges of the
intellectual life until my junior year. In that
year, I
decided that I
wanted to expand my knowledge and attend graduate
school. As
I entered my
senior year I switched to a General Studies major
to graduate a
year earlier.
My number one concern in choosing a graduate
school is to se
lect a
program that offers many opportunities for my
career and will prepare
me
to manage effectively in the health care
environment. I believe ASU offe
rs a program that can not only utilize
all the skills and experiences that I
have accumulated until this point but
also grow them to the next level. I a
lso believe that ASU can provide me
with the knowledge and credentials to su
ccessfully tackle the
challenges in the healthcare field. After
completing m
y graduate
work, I plan to seek employment as a hospital
administrator. Whil
e I
understand competition for these positions is keen
and will only grow mo
re
intense in the future, I believe I will be well
equipped to excel as a ho
spital administrator if given the
chance to explore the educational and rese
arch opportunities offered
by ASU
抯
School of
Health Administration and Poli
cy. With ASU
憇
MHSA program preparing me for future
challenges, I will succe
ssfully work towards my goal of
becoming a hospital administrator. Since I r
ealize that success is
often rooted in a good education, I know ASU, as
one
of the most respected
schools in the US, can give me the credentials
necessa
ry to overcome
barriers in the field. I will then draw on my
natural leaders
hip ability
and my strong education in health care to excel in
my position.C
urrently, I
work for Champps Americana, a sports restaurant in
Indianapolis,
and I believe
my experience with Champps is preparing me well
for a job in
management. I
am the server manager and have the responsibility
of managing
over sixty
servers. My responsibilities include preparing the
server schedul
e,
development of training programs, and sales growth
through promotions and
contests. Having learned a great deal
from my coworkers and having expanded
my leadership role outside the softball
field, I believe the skills I have
acquired through my job will help me
succeed in graduate school and as a hea
lth care administrator. In
my final two years at Indiana University, I asser
ted myself academically and
proved my resolve to succeed. While working full
time and taking a full load
of classes, I earned a 3.4 G.P.A. and received
a certificate for high
academic achievement from the School of Continuing
St
udies. In short, I
believe I have developed the skills and maturity
that I w
ill need to be
successful in graduate school, and I believe my
record and wo
rk experience
supports this. All I need now to usefully combine
my personal
qualities and
skills is to continue on the educational path by
learning abou
t health
administration at ASU. I believe that my
struggles, perseverance, a
nd commitment to my undergraduate
studies qualify me as an excellent candida
te for your program. I
thank you for your consideration.
--
*******************************
Subject: Medical School Applicant2
How will your life
experience thus far add a unique dimension to our
enterin
g medical school
class? What will a medical degree mean to you or
you family
?
r industrial partners at Siemens and
Radionics who were instrumental in the
completion of this research project,
the annual fall meeting of
the Biomedical Engineering Society last month in
October. Although I felt
nervous before my first oral presentation at a
prof
essional conference,
afterwards I felt an overwhelming sense of joy and
acco
mplishment. All the
hard work and late nights in the lab had finally
paid of
my research, I am
involved with the interventional MRI project at
[majo
r hospital] where MR
images are used to guide and monitor minimally
invasive
therapies such as
localized biopsy and thermal ablation of cancerous
tumors
. My research topic
is on the spatial calibration procedure and the
interact
ive scan plane
localization for device tracking in a low-field
open MR image
r. In the
course of my research, I developed a unique and
accurate method of
defining
spatial coordinates inside the imaging volume of
the open MR image
r, which
led to the publication and presentation of two
separate abstracts a
t two
different professional conferences in Sydney,
Australia and Cleveland,
strong scientific research background and my clear
understanding of
the basic
concepts of scientific inquiry and method will
help me become a g
ood
physician. Having learned the technical aspects of
biomedical science fo
r the
last six years, I am anxious to start learning
about the clinical aspe
cts
of biomedical science. To me, a medical degree
does not merely mean that
I
have survived four rigorous years of medical
school and have something ta
ngible to show my family. To me a
medical degree has much more significance.
A medical degree means that
I can make a daily contribution to society by u
tilizing my education to
help others in s even more important to
my academic accomplishments
are my experiences outside the classroom. Being
a minority student, I
understand the importance of diversity. As an
active m
ember of the
Asian-American Student Association at [major
university], I hel
ped to
promote ethnic diversity and cultural awareness on
campus. Our Chines
e
Cultural Committee sponsored the Chinese New Year
event on campus to promo
te
cultural awareness at the school’ s
international fair. Our group f
eatured not only traditional Chinese
food but also a Chinese fashion show an
d a demonstration of
Chinese kung fu. Furthermore, our association
organized
several
volunteering trips to serve food to the homeless
at a local soup ki
tchen in
graduate school at [major university], I continued
wit
h my involvement in
diversity-related issues by serving as a student
represe
ntative on the
Faculty Senate Minority Affairs Committee as a
part of my dut
y as a
senator in the Graduate Student Senate. I was
involved in organizing
a
special event on
students.
The keynote speaker of the event was Dr. Howard
Adams, founder and
director
of the National Institute on Mentoring and a
recipient of the Pres
idential Award for Excellence in
Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mento
ring. I also engaged in a
discussion of diversity content in the curriculum
of Arts and Sciences and
helped with the planning of a student-faculty
round
table discussion of
how diverse students learn. Moreover, our
committee cosp
onsored a
special dialogue on race as part of the
President’s Initiative on
Race entitled
,
I will bring my experience and enthusiasm in
promoting diversity to the Ru
sh community. Moreover, I sincerely
believe my work ethic and considerable r
esearch experience will
help make me an outstanding medical student and
will
enable me to
contribute to the educational experience of other
students at
Rush Medical
School.
************************************
Subject: Generic Business School Essay4
1. Outside of your career,
what accomplishment brings you to most personal s
atisfaction? 2. Discuss the
most significant personal or professional risk y
ou have taken. What was the
outcome? How did this change you as a person? 1.
My first significant
personal accomplishment came when I won first
prize in
a notable musical
competition. Music is an important part of my
life; as a
child, I studied
in a specialized musical school. My teachers were
celebrate
d artists, and
they planned to mold me into a prominent musician.
At the age
of twelve, I won
the aforementioned competition, which granted me
the right
to be a student
in an eminent conservatory. The mental energy
required to s
ucceed in
such an endeavor is great, especially among
children. Strong self-
discipline and control are crucial. As
a youth, I performed on countless sta
ges throughout the country; this
experience enabled me to build a strong ste
adiness and concentration,
even in extreme situations. Through the psycholog
ical drains of performance,
I developed internal resources that have served
me in every aspect of my
life. A second area of personal satisfaction is
com
munity service and the
impact it has had on my life. No one can be truly
suc
cessful unless he is
willing to work for the betterment of others. A
notable
instance of my
involvement is the time I spent in Armenian
hospitals during
the
country’ s time of need. In December of
1988,a devastating earthq
uake struck Armenia, killing 25,000
people and injuring more than 30,000. At
the time, I was a first-
year physics student at Yerevan State University
in
Armenia. The earthquake
pained me deeply, and I instantly volunteered my
se
rvices to one of the
local hospitals. My work at the hospital lasted
for ove
r two months, and
was one of the most rewarding times of my life. I
felt gre
at pleasure at the
recovery of each patient in the hospital. The
experience
changed my
perspective in countless ways, and developed
within me a deep app
reciation for medicine. For the next
three years, I took evening classes at
a nursing school in addition to my
courses at Yerevan State University. Desp
ite the difficulty of
balancing such a heavy workload, I gained an
immeasura
ble asset: the
ability to be of real help to others in emergency
situations.
2. Any
professional or personal risk is an opportunity
for great growth. Eve
n if
the risk does not turn out well, the lessons to be
learned from mistake
s are
more valuable than any textbook. I constantly
analyze situations, tryi
ng
to understand the nature and cause of mistakes in
order to avoid repeatin
g a
similar outcome in the and working in Russia
provides ampl
e grounds for
professional risk, especially in the financial
industry. My mo
st
significant professional risk arose when I
invested the assets of my comp
any’ s funds in Russian fixed
income and equities. Last year, the Russ
ian government defaulted on
its payment of bills. This, along with the Russi
an currency collapse of
over 300%, led to widespread panic on many levels.
T
he financial crisis
triggered immediate political turmoil, with
spillovers i
nto the real
economy. As confidence in the government
deteriorated, business
and
individuals became reluctant to invest or even to
spend money in Russia
. To
understand the magnitude of the crisis, one must
realize that the Russi
an
capital market was one of the most dynamic markets
during the two years t
hat
preceded the collapse. Multitudes of investors,
captivated by the possib
ility of quick increase of assets,
poured hundreds of millions into Russia,
ignoring the risk of
default and devaluation that existed in the
country. Th
e funds I was
managing lost hundreds of millions in assets as a
result of th
e crisis. The
situation was indeed grim, yet it taught me a
valuable lesson
that has
been ingrained in my mind. I learned that a
country cannot prosper
when
it borrows money put does not produce substantial
competitive goods and
services. It must also take an interest
in shareholders’ rights. In t
he future, I will pay marked attention
to government policy and its orientat
ion toward economic reforms. I am
confident that the experience I gained fro
m this seemingly hopeless
situation will have extremely beneficial results o
n my future as an investor.
*****************************************
*
Subject: Anderson UCLA Business School
Essay2
What do you consider
to be your most important personal and
professional acc
omplishments to date? (Please limit to
three.) With no money, no direction,
and no goals, I graduated from high
school in 1987 not knowing if I would ev
er be a man, if I would
ever know what life means. Unable to afford
college
tuition, I worked
odd jobs for a few months before deciding to join
the Unit
ed States Marine
Corps. A scrappy kid who needed structure and
support, I en
tered the
Marines unprepared for the next thirteen weeks of
extraordinary ph
ysical and
mental challenges. Arriving at the recruit-
training depot in Parr
is
Island South Carolina on February 3,1988 not
knowing what to expect, I wa
tched my hair fall off my head, had
vaccinations for every disease ever disc
overed, and learned to live
with sixty other young men in close quarters. Th
e days were long. I would
wake up at 4 a.m. and work nonstop for 18 hours un
til I could collapse on my
bed. Exposed to individuals from many different c
ultural and economic
backgrounds, I learned the value of teamwork and
the wo
rk ethic essential
to leadership. When we first arrived on the
island, my pl
atoon was a
jumbled mess of disobedient, out of shape,
undisciplined boys. A
fter
three months of exhausting training we were molded
into a group of high
ly
motivated, physically fit men. On the proudest day
of my life, I marched
in
the graduation parade to become a United States
being discha
rged from the
United States Marine Corps, I became determined to
attain an e
lectrical
engineering degree from Florida State University.
I wisely investe
d in the
GI Bill early on in my Marine Corps career in
order to go to colleg
e.
Although a substantial amount of money, the GI
Bill only covered my tuiti
on; to pay for food and rent, I took a
full time job with the VA work-study
program. In the beginning I had
difficulty adjusting to working full time wh
ile maintaining a full
coarse load, and I began to feel hindered by my
years
outside the
classroom. However, determined to succeed, I
learned to manage
my time
well, and I established good study habits, which
have continued to t
he
present. In the spring of 1997 I obtained a
Bachelors degree in Electrica
l engineering, a full year ahead of
schedule. I take pride in the fact that
I am the first person in my
family to obtain a college degree. I moved to Lo
s Angeles after graduating
from college and accepted a position at an aerosp
ace company as a design
engineer. Although I had multiple offers, I chose
to
work at my particular
company to further my education. Putting in long
hour
s at work while
devoting most of my personal time to obtaining a
Masters deg
ree in
electrical engineering, I felt like I was in
college again with my fu
ll
time job and academic responsibilities. To keep
some sense of sanity and
maintain good spirits, I decided to
learn how to snowboard. Although at firs
t snowboarding seemed a
most impossible mission given the long drive to
the
resort and my
inexperience with cold weather, I persevered and
by the end of
my first day
could navigate my way down the mountain. I have
since become a
n
accomplished snowboarder, but nothing matches the
exhilaration I felt at t
he
end of that first day when I completed my first
run without h
ave you
decided to enter the Fully Employed MBA program?
Why is it the appro
priate
time for you to begin? With the drive,
determination, and discipline
to both work at my career and attend an
MBA program, I am excited to pursue
a high quality MBA at UCLA. Interested
in acquiring the skill set and techni
cal knowledge necessary to become a hi-
tech consultant, the UCLA program wil
l prove central to my future an
engineering major in college, I d
eveloped excellent analytical skills
and improved my problem-solving ability
, but I never had the
opportunity to take courses exploring business
strateg
y, finance, or
market forces. To realize my career goal, I
clearly must enha
nce my
abilities in these as well as other areas of
business. I believe that
the management core at Anderson will
provide me with the necessary knowledg
e to enhance and develop my
capabilities. Also, in order to become a success
ful consultant, it is
imperative that I gain a more thorough education
in fo
reign markets,
business technology, and competition. As a hi-tech
consultant
in the twenty-
first century, the ability to understand business
on a global
scale will be
highly prized. The International Field Study at
Anderson woul
d suit my
needs well by allowing students to learn about
business by working
with
foreign er, I look forward to interacting with the
hig
hly qualified, diverse
students of the Anderson FEMBA program. With only
132
students forming
numerous study groups, the program ensures the
intimacy ne
cessary to
learn from each other’s varying perspectives and
backgrounds. I k
now I
could both contribute and grow in this unique
environment where all st
udents are fully employed. From my time
as an officer in US Marine Corps and
as an employee at a high-tech aerospace
company, I have both developed stro
ng team abilities and have seen the
value and synergies of combining people
with different backgrounds,
knowledge, and experience levels. The dynamics c
reated by these teams help
produce the most innovative and creative ideas, w
hether in the Marines or an
Anderson classroom. While I will never regret jo
ining the Marine Corps, the
five years I spent serving my country led me off
the beaten path for
achieving my career goals. Although I developed a
stron
g work ethic and a
goal-oriented nature, I have not followed the
standard pa
th. The FEMBA
program will be the great equalizer, ensuring
future employers
that I
have both the personal qualities and rigorous
academic training nece
ssary for success. By working full time
and working on my masters degree in
engineering from the University of
Southern California, I have shown that I
have what it takes to
manage my work schedule while attending a
prestigious
institution.
Now, I seek only the opportunity to prove this
again by being a
dmitted to
the Fully Employed MBA program. AT UCLA, I will
start my way down
the path
that will lead me to career success and
fulfillment as a hi-tech c
onsultant.
**********************************
Subject: Generic Law School Essay2
Many college students know
exactly what field to enter after graduation and
have been preparing for
that field over the course of their entire college
c
areer. However, I had
difficulty discovering a career field rewarding
enough
to devote my entire
life to, a career field worthy of education. While
I ha
d always considered
pursuing the law and majored in public policy as
an unde
rgraduate, I was
never passionate about it. I didn’t have clear
goals, and i
t seemed to me
as if my degree and my circumstances were pushing
me into stu
dying the law;
I needed to rediscover why I fell in love with the
law in the
first place. As
a college senior, I took the LSAT because all of
my classma
tes were taking
it. I did not prepare, and I really did not want
to attend l
aw school after
college; thankfully, my low LSAT score guaranteed
this. I ne
eded to
understand more about life before I could give
myself to a career. A
fter
being in school for about two decades, I felt
completely out of touch w
ith reality and did not think I would
ever find career direction by attendin
g more schooling. With these thoughts
in mind, I determined I needed real-wo
rld experience to help me find the
direction I so desperately sought. I acce
pted an investor relations
position in New York that tested both my intellig
ence and my work ethic. The
first few months moved at a hectic pace as I att
empted to acquire knowledge
of my new pursuit and to control the responsibil
ities assigned to me.
However, I quickly adjusted and maintained a
schedule
of seventy-hour
workweeks. Because of my hard work and growing
expertise, my
colleagues
began to acknowledge me as an important member of
the organizati
on and my
opinion became respected and sought out. This
respect provided me
with a
great deal of confidence, and I began to realize
that I had unlimited
potential. I had finally regained the
attitude necessary for success, and m
y recent LSAT score is a testament of
this I may not ha
ve taken
the direct route to law school, I took the course
that suited me we
ll. I
needed to find goals that would drive me through
all-nighters and exam
periods. Over the course of the past
few years, I have transformed from an
inexperienced college graduate to a
respected professional. My departure fro
m classroom study has
helped me grow into a more confident, independent
indi
vidual who has
developed the ability to set goals and focus on
the path to a
chieving
them. I believe I am now prepared to make the most
of my future edu
cational
experiences, and I hope for the opportunity to do
this at ______.
***************
*************************
Subject: Anderson Business
School Essay3
Please give a
brief evaluation of yourself as a leader By
serving as a nonco
mmissioned officer in the United States
Marine Corps, I learned and develope
d valuable leadership skills that would
prove crucial to my success as a lea
der and to my ability to gain the
respect of my subordinates. The Marine Cor
ps places great emphasis on
leadership characteristics, believing that great
leaders are not born, they
are properly trained. I submitted to grueling tr
aining on my way to
becoming an officer in the Marines, and believe
this tra
ining gives me the
foundation of strong leadership skills that I will
need i
n every day
corporate ship in the Marine Corps is more complic
ated than the simple
management of employees. I learned this lesson the
hard
way, being thrust into
a management position as my unit was being shipped
o
ver seas during the
Persian Gulf War. As a newly promoted Corporal, I
was gi
ven the job of night
crew supervisor in charge of 15 other marines. In
the M
arine Corps, leaders
are not only held accountable for the work getting
done
but also for the
performance and conduct of their marines. At the
age of 21
,I had the
responsibility not only to carry out my orders but
also to safegu
ard the
personal lives and protect the general welfare of
my men. This being
my
second time over seas, I understood many of the
difficulties that a youn
g
marine can have on their first extended trip away
from their family. I enj
oyed helping my marines over come their
problems, and learned that the benef
its were well worth the time that I
invested. I discovered that employees wh
o have the support of their
management tend to be more focused on the tasks
at hand, gaining levels of
trust and loyalty that can only benefit the organ
ization. Related to this
issue of gaining trust and loyalty through
manageme
nt supportiveness
is that the Marine Corps requires creative means
to motiva
te subordinates.
It can be very difficult at times to be in charge
of indivi
duals, yet have
no direct control over their salaries or
advancement in the
organization. The government decides
military salaries, and promotions are c
ontrolled by boards with
the primary means of measurement being time in
serv
ice. For this reason,
I learned to manage through mutual respect. I
believe
it is much more
important to gain the trust and confidence of your
employees
than to use
direct compensation to motivate them. Throughout
my Marine Corp
s career and
beyond I developed many strong leadership skills,
but most of a
ll I learned
that to be effective as a manager one must remain
focused on th
e human
aspect of leadership. By concentrating too much on
the goal and not
on the
people needed to meet it, leaders risk alienating
their employees and
thus
failure in achieving the goal itself. By
leveraging the lessons and qu
alities I gained while serving as an
officer in the Marine Corps, I hope to
meaningfully contribute to the academic
environment at the Anderson School o
f Business.
***********************************
Subject: Generic Business School Essay3
Describe two events in your
life to date that demonstrate your ability to do
well in business
(300-500words)My ability to excel in business
rests firmly
upon two of my
major talents:creative adaptability and
leadership. These qua
lities are essential to anyendeavor,
but are most useful in solving the prob
lems that must rise in
anybusiness setting. Success relies upon the
ability
to turn
potentialfailures into years ago, I took a Comme
rce course that required
group teams were competing, and
mine was determined to stand out among
decided to use PowerPoint, an
imation, and sound to enhance our
project, and held endless meetings to disc
uss strategy and design.
All wasproceeding smoothly until the morning of
the
presentation, when a
groupmember discovered that our disk had a virus
and c
ould not be used. We
werein shock, for losing the disk limited us to
the mos
t simple
presentationmethods. Our grade would surely
suffer. I decided to ta
ke
bold measures, and suggested we change our
presentation to the style of a
skit. Althoughno one agreed with me, we
had no real alternative. I spent th
e rest of theday preparing the skit,
drawing upon my high school drama exper
ience forcreative flair.
When we met for a last-minute rehearsal, my team
me
mberswere wary of the
project, but I encouraged them to put aside their
doub
tsand focus on the
task. My efforts were rewarded; we received a
respectable
grade, and the
professor commended us for our inventiveness.
Thisexperience
taught me
that creativity and flexibility are essential to
anyendeavor—
; and
that one should always have a back-up plan.I have
also worked to devel
op
firm leadership skills. While enrolled in anESL
program in Canada, I join
ed the Culture Club as Special Event
Director.I managed a group of six in or
ganizing various functions.
As I was the mostadvanced ESL student among the
group, I assumed myself to
be the mostcapable. I quickly learned my mistake.
In preparing our first
function, Iwas strict with my team members and
often
rejected their ideas
in favor ofmy own. I performed most of their tasks
mys
elf, allowing them to
assist meonly in minor details. As a result, the
funct
ion was not
successful. Fewpeople attended, and we had
problems with decorat
ions
and presentation. Thesetback disheartened me, and
I spoke of it to the
Club’s
supervisor. Sheresponded that she had trust in my
ability to succeed
in the
future. Thatcomment filled me with surprise, for I
realized I had nev
er
trusted my ownteam members. Although they were
weak English speakers, the
y had manyvaluable talents. I
immediately changed my policy, allowing team m
embers tochoose the tasks
they desired and complete them on their own. Meeti
ngsevolved into group
brainstorming sessions, which yielded many good
ideas.
Most importantly,
the atmosphere among us improved dramatically. We
werehapp
ier and eager to
devote time to the program. I learned what
trueleadership i
s, and
this experience will undoubtedly be of use to me
in anybusiness situa
tion.
--
*********************************
Subject: NYU
Stern Business School Essay
Think about the decisions you have made
that led to your current position. P
ast: What choices have you made that
led to your current position present: w
hy is a stern mba necessary
at this point in your life? future: what is your
desired position upon
graduation from the Stern school I have always
desire
d a career that
requires innovation, educated risk, and foresight.
I learned
to respect these
qualities from my father, a Lebanese immigrant who
worked
for years to create
his own business. Through his example, I have seen
first
hand the advantages
and challenges of self-employment--the rewards to
be gai
ned and the total
commitment required. My goal is to create a
business based
on my own
ideas and efforts, and have made decisions aimed
at bringing this
dream into
graduating from college, I accepted a position as
the manager of an
established German restaurant in San Francisco. I
had bee
n the evening
manager there for nearly two years while attending
college, an
d knew that the
restaurant was struggling. For several years, high
overhead
costs and poor
marketing had brought revenue to a minimum. I saw
the positio
n as an
intriguing challenge; I knew I could dramatically
increase the resta
urant’ s profitability.
Immediately after accepting the position in Ju
ly of 1995,I addressed the
most significant problem: high overhead from over
staffing, food waste, and
unnecessary purchases of supplies. I lowered each
of these expenses while
maintaining the restaurant’ s quality and
effi
ciency. My next target
was marketing. Inexpensive advertisement in local
new
spapers, attractive
signage, and Internet postings brought in many new
custo
mers. In the
meantime, I took control of the accounting,
eliminating the nee
d for
independent help. The increased revenue and
decreased spending had an
immediate effect. At the end of
1996,the restaurant reported a profit for th
e first time in six years.
I remained with the business until it was sold in
1997,monitoring these
changes in order to provide lasting
ugh the position made me realize that
the restaurant business did not appeal
to me, those two years reaffirmed my
desire to operate my own business. I h
ad not abandoned my education during
that time; while working at the restaur
ant, I had taken real
estate courses in the evening and passed the
Californi
a State Broker
exam in 1996. My brother and I launched our own
property mana
gement
company in April of 1996,and it quickly grew. We
currently have seven
commercial properties under management.
Our responsibilities include leasin
g, accounting, and property
maintenance. In 1997,I began working as a broker
with a commercial real
estate company, largely to gain the knowledge of
ret
ail to improve the
leasing and sales division of my company. I am
currently
employed in a
sales position with a private business bank in San
Francisco.
I was hired to
bring business into the bank, which rarely
advertises, prefer
ring to
attract business primarily from referrals. My
responsibilities inclu
de
interacting with potential clients, selling loans
and deposits, and accou
nt
maintenance. This job has given me better
understanding of sales and fina
nce, which is crucial to the success of
any business. Although my ultimate g
oal is to grow our property management
company into a full time business, th
ese positions in other industries have
been invaluable learning aids. Proper
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