MA Political Science Personal Purpose Statement Colombian

My first choice for graduate school is your especially distinguished master's program in Political Science at the University of XXXX.  I have recently returned home to Florida after 10 years in the US Navy, seen much of the world, and feel that I would be most creative as a graduate student near my family. I have a new little sister who is 5 years old that I am getting to know well for the first time, since I have been away her entire life except for brief visits. Now a US citizen, I am originally from Colombia, coming to the USA at the age of eleven.  I spoke almost no English upon my arrival; thus, I had to face up to a profound challenge early on and this helped to strengthen my resolve, perseverance, and elevated level of motivation.

I visit Colombia every year and like to think of myself as something of a Colombian expert in training. As both a Colombian, a member of the US Armed Forces, and an avid student of political conflict, I have long studied the civil war in Colombia with a profound sense of fascination driven by my concern for the very high levels of violence to which my people have been subjected for more than a half century. I have also closely followed the long and drawn out - but, finally, successful - peace process. I hope to continue to do so as a graduate student in your program, writing term papers on conflict in Colombia, as well as a host of other subjects that are related to this central interest. At the University of XXXX, I hope to better understand my land of origin and the challenges that it continues to face by learning as much as I can about political science and its relevance for our troubled times.

I will choose to pursue a career somewhere in the justice system.

I treasure diversity and have strong feelings about equality, particularly with respect to employment at the federal level and the Armed Forces in particular. I am deeply troubled by the way in which minorities are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. While I understand the complexity of the underlying issues and the entrenched nature of the challenges involved, I still aspire to become part of a search for a sustainable solution to this great challenge. Now twenty-eight, my 10 years in the Navy enabled me to become fully American, a citizen, and a devoted public servant, with respect to both the US and my native Colombia. Half of the sailors with whom I served had been born somewhere other than in the USA and I enjoyed this diversity enormously, learning about unfamiliar cultures, peoples, and languages daily. Earning my associate's degree in Sociology in May of 2013 and a bachelor's in political science in December of last year, 2016, I am eager to return to study and look forward to doing so full time.  I want to learn as much as I can about international politics and international conflict.

At some point, I look forward to serving an organization that helps the disenfranchised, the at-risk. I could be a natural to help young Latino men avoid the criminal justice system, and/or helping those already caught up in the system to survive the experience. I look forward to continuing to return to Colombia on an annual basis and to furthering my engagement with social justice and peace building issues in my native land. In Colombia, the justice system is clearly divided along class lines, and I look forward to paying special attention to social class and economic factors as they tend to play themselves out in a variety of conflictive parts of the world. Drug trafficking, kidnappings, and terrorism also top my list as intellectual interests. I could end up returning to law enforcement or even the US Armed Forces. For the moment, I look forward to playing with my little sister and studying full time for the next 2 years at the University of XXXX. I look forward to the time to devote myself to finding out who I am and locating myself in a complex web of issues and opportunities wherein I hope to someday make my maximum contribution to society, the United States, Colombia, and the world.

Thank you for considering my application.