Personal Statement
Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work." -- H.L. Hunt immigrated to the United States when I was seventeen from Seoul, South Korea. I came not only with a keen interest in bettering myself but also the desire to observe, study and learn the legal and moral tenets that govern United States society. I wished to become fluent not only in English but also the cultural and legal intricacies dictating Western society and the Western economy.
The transition from Korean society to American was not an easy one. I found myself at times not only in need of the aid of translators from my fellow scholars and peers in the schools I attended. I often found myself in the position of becoming a translator myself, a translator of Korean culture, tradition, and values into the language of American norms to new friends and teachers. Later, I was to go on to work as a teaching assistant in my native language, and these early experiences gave me a compassionate perspective upon the struggles of other students with beginning study of my first language and culture.
Still, my transition from one land and one culture into another's...
I had the good fortune to be raised in a prominent
family of medical professionals in Korea. Our social status gave us a comfortable lifestyle that afforded me the opportunity to further my studies in the United States as an undergraduate. The personal privilege of education my family was able to bestow upon me is one of the many reason I feel a sense of obligation and desire to reciprocate with similar opportunity to the benefit of the Korean community.
During my undergraduate education at the University of
Southern California, I felt driven to be participant in many community service endeavors, including Habitat for Humanity (HFH), a
global organization that sends volunteers to impoverished global communities to build homes. I participated in Habitat for Humanity -- Korea. Suddenly, I was immersed in a social situation where people had never experienced any frivolous comforts. The life for the beneficiaries of HFH was always simply about survival.
After my experience at HFH, I decided concentrate my studies on
International Relations.
Although I always had the goal of going to law school, I decided to study subsequently at a master program in
public policy, rather than to immediately attend law school. I wished to add further depth to my education in the public policy of the international sphere. Thus, for…
