Personal Statement My Intended Major

Personal Statement

My intended major is business administration. My volunteer and work experience as well as my education have inspired me and taught me many valuable lessons. Most importantly, I have learned that business needs to do far more than just running operations efficiently to become successfully. I have realized that businesses should also include elements of personal happiness, social responsibility and a dedication to customer satisfaction.

I was a volunteer for Chinatown Teen Post from 1999-2001. This is a non-profit organization focusing on the unique problems Chinese teens confront in their community. As part of my volunteer work, I served as an assent supervisor for Chinatown Teen Post's summer job program for two years. Just like any manager, I had to assign and manage different duties for a group of six members and ensure they performed their jobs properly. But, I also had to deal with problems that Chinese teens often have with cultural assimilation and low self-esteem because they do not feel they meet western ideals. My volunteer work with these teens made me understand that good leadership is about the social responsibility to help other people do as well as they possibly can. Therefore, I focused not only on being a good manager at Chinatown Teen Post, but also being a good mentor to those in need of a role model. The joy I have felt from helping others grow personally and professionally has inspired me to become a successful business manager.

A also attended regular community meetings while volunteering for Chinatown Teen Post. Through these meetings I learned that community involvement is essential for forming shared values. This, in turn, leads to projects and solutions that are the most helpful for the local community. I discovered that the community depends not only on the people who live it in, but also the people who work there to provide perspectives and to offer ideas generated through their own knowledge and work experience. As a result of my community involvement, I know that a good business manager participates in community events to make both the community and the business a success.

My former high school provided me the opportunity to take a business course at Six Flags Magic Mountain. In this course, I learned the value of total quality management for ensuring that an organization consistently meets or exceeds customer requirements. I would later learn how valuable the customer is in my positions as an assent supervisor from 2004 to 2005 and a part-time customer service representative from 2006 to present at Blue Phone Wireless. Blue Phone Wireless is a cell phone store that sells mobile phones and services plans. This business is fiercely competitive and the major way for differentiation and success is keeping the customer happy. When prioritizing maintenance issues and dealing with customers, I always kept customer satisfaction in mind. I am proud of my efforts that have helped Blue Phone Wireless obtain new and keep existing customers and believe my contributions have helped Blue Phone Wireless thrive while many of its competitors are failing.

Given my experiences at Chinatown Teen Post and Blue Phone Wireless, I am very excited about my future prospects in management. Academic skills are valuable for learning business operations, but real-world experience adds missing ingredients needed to fully understand success such as knowing how valuable personal happiness, social responsibility and customer satisfaction really are. I am eager to contribute my wisdom and leadership to the business community after receiving formal business training at the University of California.

I believe that the most important contribution I can bring to the University of California is my great respect for all individuals. Many people assume characteristics and create an image of a person they don't even know. As humans we tend to judge people very quickly based on their sex, race, ethnicity or social class. And, we love to judge people according to their image because it means so much in our society now-a-days. So, we make immediate assumptions based on what a person is wearing or what kind of car they drive.

I know that just because someone is of a different race or ethnicity or from a different culture doesn't mean they are drastically different. As a person of Chinese decent, I have been the victim of unfair stereotypes and I realize that people are similar in more ways than they are different. Although people may have different ideals and views, they have common pastimes, desire happiness and success, and go through many of the same experiences as everyone else. Realizing these similarities, I am able to move beyond the stereotypes that needlessly divide people and treat everyone with the kindness, love and respect that all people deserve.