Finished, even within the word limit. For the first application. Last minute typos? Grammar checks? Can't add more than two words :) Note that School names avoided for blog only.
1. Please elaborate upon your professional goals and how has your prior employment / volunteer experience helped to prepare you to meet these goals? Your response should be no more than 400 words.
2. Describe what you consider to be your most significant past or present contribution to a community. Your response should be no more than 400 words.
3. Please provide any additional information about yourself that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee. Your response should be no more than 200 words.
1. Please elaborate upon your professional goals and how has your prior employment/volunteer experience helped to prepare you to meet these goals? Your response should be no more than 400 words.
(target school's tips, emphases mine. Did I hit them all?
-seeking to ensure that applicants provide information on the motivation behind applying here as well as personal qualifications/experience that shed light upon why a policy degree is relevant to an applicant’s future.
-how you hope to make a contribution to the policy community – specific details are encouraged. While some information from your personal/professional history can be referenced to frame your response, the answer to question #1 *** SHOULD NOT *** be dominated by describing your PAST. When information about your past is included, it should have a descriptive purpose.
-Effective statements expound on future goals and illustrate how the applicant believes concepts learned here can be applied in the formulation of effective policy.
-Listing a broad policy objective without context is also a common mistake. Whatever you hope to do, you should integrate the who, what, where, how, and why elements into your statement.
-Address questions such as: Who do you wish to impact? Is there a specific region, city, country, locality you are passionate about? check. What population do you hope to serve? check. What concerns you about the future and how do you hope to address policy questions to make a difference?
-What skills will we help you to develop? Is there a sector that is most appealing to you? (Non-profit, multilateral, for profit, public). Do you hope to go in a new direction and why? Specificity is important. )
After years of traveling and working onboard luxury cruises, I decided that the international lifestyle was no longer enough.
Much as I love theatre life, I want to make a more tangible contribution. Throughout my world travels, I witnessed environmental crises requiring urgent action and observed how different societies tackle environmental issues. My ambitious quest makes the most effective use of my energy and talents. Improving the local community isn't enough; I want to transform the environmental policies of the world's most challenging country: China.
My American education, Chinese-American upbringing, augmented by last year's study in Taiwan, give me a competitive edge in tackling the world's environmental issues through China, where tiny reforms are magnified billion-fold. China is making huge investments into clean energy technology in response to this decade's dramatic environmental decline. They are receptive to educated professionals who can assist them in their goals in an diplomatic manner that prevent locals from "losing face". This is where I see the most positive change taking place in the next twenty years.
China-oriented non-profits here in the US would be my ideal post-graduation assignment. I have observed NGOs such as Juice leveraging their finite resources to effect real change at the ground level. I feel smaller organizations are more flexible and focused compared to larger government bodies, and where an individual like me can make the greatest difference.
After quizzing locals in Shanghai this summer on what they felt were environmental issues, I discovered a recurring need: creating awareness of why and how changes need to be implemented. In my graduate school career, I plan to absorb everything I can about an exhaustive variety of environmental challenges and solutions from around the globe, including the sciences behind both. Additionally, my East Asian regional specialization will educate me further on contemporary Chinese political culture. My aim is to use these tools to engage in an effective dialogue with local Chinese leaders toward tangible benefits.
I am drawn to the practical, professional nature of the S curriculum. I am excited about the opportunity to make an actual difference even during my education at C, through its impressive array of extracurricular organizations, lectures, and causes. I strongly believe that I will be an asset to the School of P and a credit to C in my future endeavors.
2. Describe what you consider to be your most significant past or present contribution to a community. Your response should be no more than 400 words.
Questions 2 and 3 are meant to be interpreted by each applicant. Community can mean different things to different people and we want your interpretation. And as far as question #3, each applicant can go in any direction they wish. I will provide one piece of advice.
We would rather have you focus on your goals, aspirations, desires, etc. while answering your essay questions as opposed to writing about other things (such as a sickness that impacted your grades) in the essay section. Keep your focus in the essay questions on your passion, drive, goals, motivation, and how you believe that we will help you to impact the policy community.
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My aim is to inspire ordinary people to make changes that, when multiplied together, become a significant contribution. By living green, I've influenced others by showing that such sacrifices aren't impossible obstacles. While volunteering on organic farms in Queensland, Australia, I saw first-hand challenges faced by small, self-sustaining farms. We ate off the land, consuming primarily what could be produced or traded: milk, wheat, honey, etc. Kitchen waste was routinely composted-- it was difficult and costly to transport waste away.
Since we children of suburbia know little about where food actually comes from, wasting food doesn't seem a big deal. I believe city kids could benefit from education correcting this disconnect. After working on the farms, I now make a point of finishing off leftovers. When convenience-driven family question my habits, I simply explain how hard I had worked for each item on my plate and how I'm mindful of the effort it takes to put it out to
market. My consistent refusal to eat out encouraged several co-workers to bring packed lunches from home and join me. My backyard kitchen garden and worm composting in Melbourne inspired friends to do the same, I even gave them seedlings in egg cartons to start them off. My pet cause is to encourage everyone to reduce landfill by keeping worm bins; I expanded this campaign into a Chinese speech delivered at my language school last year. The speech was edited into an article I emailed to family, posted on my blog, and submitted to Taiwanese newspapers. Once I had addressed their concerns of convenience and odor, several people expressed interest.
Which brings me to a primary reason the environmental policy track appeals to me, compared to a straight sustainability graduate program. Everyone intends to be green, but when faced with a choice of convenience, price and sustainability, the Earth often loses out. It is important for environmental goals have to have a grounding in reality, idealism with practicality. With my diverse background as a resourceful ship theater technician and former sales representative of NYL, my insights on human motivation are well matched with my desire to bring about environmental change at both a policy and social level. I'd like to leverage my influence on my small community and expand it city-wide, even country-wide, using my education from C to make a tangible difference in the world.
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3. Please provide any additional information about yourself that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee. Your response should be no more than 200 words..
Okay, blog-land, any opinions on what is most important, what I left out? You read the novel. Otherwise, to be filled with things I can't bear to cut.
Brainstorm /notes to include in essays?
intl enviro policy- china
cruise ship - how does this help?
other countries- exposed to lots of dif ideas and ways of doing things
oz, Melbourne Sydney -
woofing
Taiwan - not just living differently
- but also learning the language
segue china shanghai experience, enthused, chatty
? New York Life?
Important= WHY C
lack of green experience rebuttal?
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