Transfer Personal Statement

¶ … decision required me to honestly question my passions, talents, and eventual career goals, settling on a major was no easy task. A persistent interest in sociology helped me to eventually narrow my choice of academic concentration. Sociology classes engaged me in ways most other subjects did not; I found myself applying what I would learn in the classroom to my personal life and to my worldview. For example, studying sociology theories prompted me to investigate the basics of human group interactions that I normally would have taken for granted.

I began to more finely hone my academic interests within the rubric of sociology: I was most interested in interpersonal and group communications. Eventually I realized that my main area of academic interest was in the complex and multi-faceted field of communications and I decided to pursue this as a major. A view communications as being totally relevant to daily life on both a small and a large scale. All relationships are based on the ability for people to communicate with each other.

Whether with total strangers or close relatives, each person devises ways to communicate based on ethnic, linguistic, and cultural factors. I find these communications imperatives fascinating; I especially appreciate how a greater understanding of human communications can help ease racial or cultural conflicts. Once I fully realized what my major would be, I decided to search the campus of Foothill College for resources.

Everything fell into place, as it seemed that I succeeded at each pursuit I would undertake, including participating in the Foothill Ambassador program; serving in the student government as Media and Communications Coordinator, and as President of the Korean Club. In addition I was privileged to work as a volunteer in my own community of Cupertino, an experience that rewarded me on many different levels.

My job as a hostess also helped me by giving me a way to practice my people skills in the real world and led me to appreciate the importance of studying human communications. I have been blessed to work directly with people of different backgrounds, ideologies, and worldviews. Life experiences such as these acknowledge that textbooks only provide a portion of an education, especially one in a field that by definition is centered on people. 2.

As part of my service to the student government this year I attended a workshop called The Colors of Leadership. I expected very little: in fact, I imagined puerile games and lectures, new age jargon leading to yawns and groans. At first my fears and suspicions seemed warranted, as the leader instructed us to choose a color from the spectrum that we felt represented our personality.

I didn't truly see how colors had anything to do with the qualities of a good leader, so without giving it too much thought, I selected orange. I was partly drawn instinctively to the hue but also because orange supposedly symbolized an active and adventurous disposition. My mind opened quickly as I warmed up to the workshop, as I realized that the color schema was a symbolic and pertinent means to develop the multitudinous qualities of leadership. One aspect of the Colors of Leadership teachings particularly affected me.

I listened intently as our presenter noted that each of the colors we discussed was essential for a complete concept of leadership. In other words, my orange traits of adventurousness and active enthusiasm needed to be balanced by blue and green traits like cooperativeness, compassion, and patience. Using colors to represent a cluster of leadership qualities helped me to distance myself from self-criticism while encouraging me to honestly face my faults. The workshop taught the importance of developing strengths and strengthening weaknesses.

Far from being cheesy, the workshop ended up utterly surprising me, surpassing my expectations.