I am a young woman who was born and raised in Morocco, and I have developed a deep and abiding appreciation for architecture, especially Muslim and Arab, for many years, which is why I pursued and completed my undergraduate studies in this field. I was also awarded a scholarship from UNESCO to study one semester at the University of Montreal. Next, after gaining valuable professional experience in Morocco working in my field, I moved to Bahrain and worked there as a project manager. Now, I live in Abu Dhabi and I am very much hoping to enroll in your highly esteemed program. I am especially interested in doing research in the area of sustainable development, especially sustainable transportation and supply chains, electricity generation and transmission networks. I also keenly look forward to doing research in the areas of lean manufacturing and operations, especially energy systems and sustainable construction. I hope to someday launch research projects concerning the economic costs and benefits of implementing sustainable development strategies. I have my heart set on your program and it is the only program to which I am applying since I see your program as the nucleus of activity in Masdar City and playing a major role in building the city. I hope to become part of the way that Masdar City is becoming a global hub for renewable energy and clean technology, and an international centre where companies will continue to converge, helping to make it a city where future technologies will be showcased and researched. In addition to English and Arabic, I also speak read and write excellent French, and I trust that this will also be of great value to me in my professional future, working on internationally funded projects. I feel strongly that my professional experience has provided me with an excellent foundation for study in your program, since I have worked with UNICEF, UNDP, USAID, and UNFPA. I have also volunteered my services as an architect building sustainable schools in the rural areas of Morocco. Thus, I feel that I have a solid background in the field of architecture, along with my formation through UNESCO in landscaping and environment. I have also greatly developed my professional knowledge base and operative skills by working as a project manager in the Middle East. During the course of the past two years, residing in Abu Dhabi, I have been closely following the “economic crisis” that has disconcerted many of the development models of the previous decade, the fall of many of our firm certitudes. I am deeply concerned with the way in which the world today is growing at such a rapid fast pace and the ongoing depletion of our natural resources, making me ever more concerned with the need for implementing sustainable development processes and the clash between economic and environmental concerns. I am very much excited by the fact that today, smarter and greener building techniques are within our reach. I want to learn more about how sustainable construction must involve the entire chain of parties engaged in construction, from the very outset of the construction project, especially the phases of programming and design, the suitability of options and the quality of their implementation. Thus, I want to appraise the total cost approach rather than simply project cost at delivery. I look forward to studying the way that this economic approach incorporates not only traditional investment factors (cost of design, piloting, and construction) but also the costs of operating expenses for maintenance and deconstruction. I want to become proficient at upstreaming energy using natural resources, designing buildings so that they produce more energy than they consume and using building materials with low embodied energy. I also want to learn more about the social and economic realities of sustainable architectural design, the full range of economic, employment and cultural factors that come into play, such as the lifestyle of a nation, the architectural identity a region, and respect for local traditions. I won a contest launched by UNICEF that allowed me to work with them for four years as a student architect for the rehabilitation and construction of rural schools and youth centres, learning how to always respect the need to integrate schools with their immediate environment. We worked with parents and children in order to have a better understanding of the region, creating schools that were very popular with locals. In fact, our success led UNICEF to make a request to my school for my final assignment to use as a study guide for the quality construction of rural schools in southern Morocco. The scholarship that I received from the UNESCO Chair in Landscape and Environmental Design to stud.y in Montreal in 2005 was also of critical importance to the development of my career aspirations. We examined market failures and "externalities" from an economic perspective, including economically efficient pollution control, methods of evaluating environmental damage, and the design of policy instruments to control environmental damage, including regulatory systems, taxes, and trading approaches. I also benefited greatly from our study of land use change, as well as macroeconomic topics such as economic growth, sustainability, and green accounting. Attending the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology represents an opportunity for me to crown all of these experiences through participation in the building of Masdar City, the first city of its kind, with the objectives of investigating the latest technologies for the protection of our environment. I will very proud to be part of a team whose objectives converge towards the same noble direction: sustainable development

I intend to utilize the skills that I will acquire in your MBA program primarily to greatly expand my own company. Your MBA program fits nicely with my career plan at this particular stage of the development of my business since I now have the time to develop much of my energy to study. I look forward with keen anticipation to sharing insights and creative ideas with other entrepreneurs in your program. Being the founder and owner of my own company, it is imperative that I expand my client base in order to build my business and generate higher annual revenue. During the next year, I plan to hire marketing professionals to execute my marketing services while I focus on strategies to gain new business. In the meantime, I will continue to oversee my employees and develop their strengths to be in line with my business concept. After I secure a few more large accounts, my goal is to offer my marketing and consulting services globally. The combination of my advertising management experience with (school A’s MBA) will strengthen my skills in my entrepreneurship role. This objective will deepen my insight and ensure my future professional success. Throughout my background, I have accumulated extensive knowledge of advertising and marketing; however, I will need to strengthen my understanding of essential business functions if I am to achieve my ambitious career goals. The (school A) MBA program matches my career objectives, offering a theme structure that will allow me to acquire and build a stronger foundation of business skills. I would significantly benefit from (school A’s alumni network) and would contribute back in the future. While there are many MBA programs out there, none can compare to (school A’s) reputation, legendary faculty, and strong academic curriculum. I am excited about the potential opportunity of being a student in the (school A) MBA program.

Letter of Appeal for Graduate Admissions, Graduate Public Health Program, University of XXXX, College of Public Health, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Respected Graduate Admissions Committee: My application for admission to your program was declined and I would like to appeal the decision based on significant new information. I am so very fond of your program and want so much to be accepted that I began with 4 classes, as a non-degree student, in order to establish my capacity to perform as a graduate student in your program. I am pleased to report that while I only received a B in Epidemiology, I received the grad of B+ in both Health Policy and Management and Environmental Health. And, of course, I am particularly pleased with the ‘A’ that I was awarded in Social and Behavioral Public Health. I have now been a member of UXX’s Public Health Association since August of 2008 and I look forward to studying most diligently in your program and humbly request that I now be accepted as a degree student. I do love America, Florida in particular, but it is my affection for my country and continent of origin that drives me forward, and forms the basis of my dedication to the field of Public Health. Having been born and raised in Nigeria, I have not only seen, but also lived firsthand, the realities of a country bereft of the necessary resources to adequately attend to the needs of its people. Of course, much of the misery of the Nigerian people results from the lack of adequate organization and administration of the resources that do exist, especially human resources (not only petroleum). And my homeland has enjoyed a measure of success since returning to democratic rule, with greater respect for human rights and somewhat less corruption and sectarian violence then was the case under military rule. Still, the need for public health professionals remains acute, especially in terms of environmental issues and the large numbers of doctors that leave Nigeria for higher salaries in other places. Furthermore, the way in which Nigerian citizens suffer so profoundly from the effects of severe environmental degradation due to petroleum extraction is well known. I ask that you help me by continuing to provide me with the critical thinking skills and body of knowledge that will empower me to make a difference. Nigeria remains my moral and spiritual cause in life and your program will help me to make the kinds of contributions that I feel strongly that I am capable of making. Of special importance to me are the multidisciplinary and trans-systemic approaches to the study of Public Health that your program embodies, especially the critical study of the serious health effects of environmental pollution; particularly the deadly impact of chemical mixtures and the interactions of chemical exposure with other biological and psychological risk factors. With the appropriate academic foundation and professional experience, I will be able to successfully bridge the gap between American and Africa on my own personal level, building ties of solidarity with my people that will help to transform Nigeria into a place where there is greater hope, based on concrete progress through systemic organizational restructuring. My annual travels to England have also helped to form my cosmopolitan character and international mindset. And it is most appropriate that I continue to learn how to celebrate and make the most of diversity, especially insofar as Nigeria is home to some 250 different ethnic groups. XXU is my sole choice for further education and I would be most proud to count myself amongst her alumni. Your program stood out to me as unique from the very beginning, due to the vast scope of its curriculum and the way in which the program is especially well suited to addressing the challenges of the day that are faced by my people. I profoundly appreciate what I have learned so far at XXU and look forward with keen anticipation to having the privilege to continue my studies. I want to thank you for reconsidering my application to your program.

As a non-native, English speaker in Hong Kong currently in my final year of a competitive 4-year double-degree program in English Studies and English Education, I realize that translation plays a vital role in our acquisition of English as a second or even third language. If languages serve as building blocks, then translation is the critical process of making different sets of building blocks interchangeable. I have fallen in love with my own quest to master the English especially because I have my heart set on a long and distinguished career teaching English in Hong Kong. Earning a Master’s Degree in Translation at your highly esteemed institution will allow me to earn the professional credentials that I need not only to become optimally successful as a teacher, but also to work professionally in translations involving my native Cantonese—my mother tongue. With my over half-a-decade experience of providing private English tuition to Hong Kong children and teenagers, I have come to realise that difficulties in understanding some words, expressions or even the entire texts are the major hindrance for second language learners of English. Although equipping my students the skills to maximize their understanding in English has always been one of my ultimate teaching goals, translation of difficult words or even the entire texts from English to Chinese remains a typical task I have to carry out inevitably in almost each English tuition lesson. This is because my students are learners with low second language proficiency who require first language translation in order to understand the difficult words in second language. Despite my proficiency in English language, I am especially aware of my scant knowledge and practical skills of translation when I have to perform a decent translation between English and Chinese. Thus it is my tutoring experience that gradually shapes my interest in translation. With the rise of China, especially marked by its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its hosting of the Olympic Games in the last decade, a surging number of international conferences and exhibitions holding in China has been witnessed. The rapid economic development and the rising international status of China indeed open up a sea of international business opportunities, which creates a tremendous demand of well-trained translators. In these favourable circumstances, I believe studying this specific program at your highly reputable University will enable me to acquire the professional knowledge and practical skills of language transfer, which offer excellent job perspectives, especially in the field. I am convinced that the theoretical knowledge and the practical skills provided by your translation programme will greatly complement my current studies of English and Education which is based on my love and pleasure to work with languages as well as my desire to be proficient in English for it is one of the international languages that ties different nationalities together. With this translation program - something I have never studied directly before yet highly related to what I have been studying, not only will my intellectual horizons and career opportunities be widely broadened, but I will also be able to further consolidate or even sublime my multilanguage skills by creating a meaningful and efficient linkage between English and my native Chinese languages.

Leaving Albania at only 13 was a sea change in my lifetime. Now, 11 years later, at the age of 24, I feel convinced that my own immigrant existence, replete with its myriad challenges, was an excellent testing ground and preparation for working as a professional in the criminal justice system. As a celebrant of diversity, and the beauty and wholesomeness of a multi-cultural and multi-lingual society—I feel well equipped by my historical background for working in highly effective ways with all sectors of American society. I have become a thoroughly acculturated Albanian-Bostonian woman and I share New England’s liberal passion for a humane criminal justice, and immigration systems. I have sensed for some time that the fields of Criminal Justice and Public Administration are where I want to make my mark in my professional life, and this has a great deal to do with why I chose Political Science as my undergraduate major. I happily look forward to studying about all areas of criminal justice, especially as it relates to immigration, but I am most interested in the government sector, particularly the areas of Homeland Security and International Relations. I also enjoy learning about different historical forms of government and legal systems. My review of graduate programs in the area that I want to study has left me with the conviction that I am an especially good fit with your program. I am particularly interested in doing research in the area of Homeland Security, the ongoing task of immigration enforcement and reform; and I hope to someday be able to make a contribution to the process of naturalization through the implementation of a more streamlined legalization structure that facilitates the attainment of legal residency and eventual citizenship for qualified undocumented workers. Within a few years of completing your program, it is my hope to find a professional position with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, as a US consular officer, perhaps in a US embassy. Albania, of course, would be ideal, since I speak the language. Thinking along these lines from an early age, I have thrived on the cultivation of language as power and potential, and I am proficient in both Italian and Spanish, reading and writing both quite well (my speaking skills need practice). I volunteered for the Obama Campaign and have helped the Democratic Union several times. Especially salient among my relevant experiences was serving as an intern for U.S. Congressman XXXX. I was also the President of Students for Gary Peters, as well as the Event Coordinator of the Albanian-American Student Organization at XXXX University. I see myself as very strong and capable; I am a hardworking individual and perhaps even an over achiever. I love helping people and sometimes find it hard to say no to people. I have been working since I was 13 years old; thus I know the value of hard work. I spent many months working 13 hour shifts 7 days a week to build up a restaurant business that largely supports my family. We are currently selling the business so that I can again devote myself to full time study. Coming of age in a society that sees itself as sharing one planet, we all become potentially stronger in the pursuit of our dreams. I owe much to my mother for instilling me with the desire to succeed professionally. Throughout of all my accomplishments and disappointments, I have been extremely fortunate to have someone like her at my side to guide and push me on the journey to success. Despite my high level of preparation and my mother’s support, for the first couple of years of my undergraduate experience, I was still uncertain as to which professional direction to follow. During a career orientation session, however, I found myself interested in Law but not especially enthused about the prospect of becoming an attorney. After consulting with guidance counselors, I chose Political Science as my major because I thought that it represented of the leading backgrounds for a lifetime of public service. During my college years, I was able to vastly improve my leadership and interpersonal skills working with a variety of international student organizations as well as political campaigns and organizations; and I had the privilege of fulfilling an internship helping various organizations to work together for progressive change, especially with respect to our environment. My dynamic communication skills and very high level of motivation have led me to become a leader on several student groups and to help them to have an impact on political campaigns and enhanced relations with the general public. A proactive person; I have a passion for perfection and devote myself to constant learning from every experience and continuously working to better understand the complexities of social and bureaucratic organization. As a first-generation immigrant myself, and someone who has been profoundly influenced by this experience, I long to be part of the ongoing struggle for immigration reform along progressive lines. Attending XXXX University will help me achieve my goals of furthering my education so that I will be able to make my maximum contribution to society as a public administration professional. And I thank you for consideration of my application.

I date my interest in social work back to the age of 15. At the time, I had a counselor, XXXX, my mentor. To this day I look to her words for inspiration, her tranquility, patience, and no nonsense approach to life. She had given me books about social work practices, behavior analysis and understanding society. Later in life, when I went to college and took a few psychology classes, I became fascinated with the human mind. At this time I met another woman, also an important role model who would inspire me to pursue a career in social work; to this day I deeply admire Professor XXXX, a strong, articulate woman who also had a soft, compassionate side. Soon, I came to realize that my own compassion was also my forte, and that social work would be my calling. My intense passion for social work also results from the years that I have spent employed in a human service/clinical environment. I began to set my sights on working with people in the mid 1990’s, soon after beginning my first internship as support staff and a counselor at a shelter for battered and abused women. My intense dedication to working with people continued to increase exponentially during my next internship at XXXX's Psychiatric Center. Gradually, I became aware that, as I helped others, I began to find myself, as a woman, a mother, and a professional, capable of finding intense joy in my work. My work with adolescents in 1997 was another inspirational experience, helping me to better understand life stages and the myriad challenges faced during this critical period. At this time, I also began working on discovering, retrieving, enjoying and embracing my own child within. I began to remember critical junctures in my own childhood and adolescence, healing old wounds, becoming increasingly sensitive to and optimistic about the power of counseling to save lives by helping to steer clients away from destructive courses, and point them in healthy, productive, and life-fulfilling directions. Working as a counselor/shift supervisor in a mental health facility, serving as a house manager for individuals with MR/MI, etc., over the years I have become increasingly impressed with the way that being genuinely interested in the mentally ill and showing them kindness and support can do incalculable good, helping them find joy in their lives through association with others. Working as a Habilitation Specialist, my professional self-confidence grew enormously as I assumed a leadership role, planning and running conferences and organizing multi-disciplinary teams. Most recently, I have refined my critical thinking skills working as a Client Care Manager in a MICA shelter, working with clients who suffered from a broad variety of maladies ranging from mental illness, medical and sociological issues to—and often intertwined with—chemical addiction. I became more and more fascinated with the theoretical aspects of social work and the treatment of such a wide range of clients with such diverse challenges. It was at this point that I began to seriously contemplate studying towards the MSW. Finally, I am in a wonderful marriage that also facilitates my return to full time study. As with many other social workers, I believe that I was drawn to the field as a result of having overcome so many of my own personal challenges. My mother abandoned 4 children; I was the youngest, at 4 months old. My father was an illiterate steel worker born of Hungarian and Native American parents and raised in the streets of Hell’s Kitchen. As I understand it, things were often very tough in urban America in the 50’s and 60’s. My father was a street thug, a loving man, but never-the-less a thug. He did the best with the limited resources that he had to take care of a newborn, a 7 year old, and a 9 and 10 year old. Ultimately he made many critical mistakes and we were all in and out of the foster care system throughout our childhood and adolescence, all of us eventually winding up in group homes/facilities. Growing up, I developed many healthy relationships with counselors and I have most fond memories of them. I learned effective communication skills growing up through participation in group discussions. At 16, I became emancipated and obtained my own apartment and a job working 12 hours a day, which led me to drop out of high school. Nevertheless, some of my counselors would claim that I could read at a college level as young as 8 years old. I have always loved to read and do research, and I knew, deep inside, that I could do well in college if given the opportunity. Thus, in 1990, at 19, I obtained my GED and started going to college. Despite having a baby to care for, I did wonderfully my first semester. My second semester was also going very well; until I got the fateful call to inform me that my precious godson had been murdered. I was so upset and devastated. Not only did the 2 year old get killed, but in the same home where my own 2 year old was being cared for while I was in school. In shock, I dropped out to recover. I went back the following semester but found it to be much more of a struggle as a result of my trauma and preoccupation with safety, especially for my baby. I had been wounded as never before; yet I threw myself full speed into my studies. I adored going to college and even volunteered at the tutoring center, assisting other students. There has always been something about helping others that makes me feel complete. Working in urban environments with multicultural populations, diversity is intrinsic to my life. I have always been very open minded, analytical, a student of people and multiculturalism. I have long been seen by those around me as a source of stability and consolation with my friends and colleagues who often come to me for advice since I have always struggled to be objective and empathetic. Nevertheless, the violence that plagues our inner cities continued to haunt me, and I have had to survive more than my share. In February of 1993, the day came that would change my life forever: My older sister and her baby had been found murdered in her apartment. Despite all that I had already lived through, this was by far the most tragic moment of my life. I was in a daze identifying their bodies, watching her go, never to have my big sister/my best friend to talk to again. I went to Professor XXXX and she gave me courage and advice, not sympathy; she told me: “I can’t candy coat it.” It’s going to hurt like hell. It will get easier in time but it will always hurt.” She knew about my past adversities so she knew I was a survivor and she was very supportive. After that, I began my internship at the battered woman’s shelter. Helping someone learn how to escape from an abusive relationship helped me to gain back something that I had lost with my sister. My maturity and self-awareness continued to grow working at XXXX Psychiatric Center, reviewing case studies and working with violent offenders, helping them to acknowledge and divert the voices that caused them to elevate to psychotic breaks. And I made the Dean’s List through my last two years of school. After graduating with a degree in psychology, I moved to Albany and I worked with adolescents on a psych ward in a juvenile facility as well as another facility for gentlemen with Mental illness/retardation. Next, moving back to NYC, I spent 8 years as a Habilitation Specialist in an Adult day program and married my boyfriend of 10 years; we had a baby. I took a break and then worked as a program manager in another day school, and, finally, became a client care manager at an MICA shelter. Once again, I was a supervisor, completing intakes and providing case management and counseling. I have been told on several occasions that I qualify, based on my experience and capacity, to assume the role of Director, in various agencies; I was just lacking one critical qualification: the MSW. XXXX is said to have the best MSW program in my area. I want to go into clinical social work because it is what I know best and where my greatest interest lie, since I have worked in facilities, schools, residential settings, dealing with clients with multiple diagnoses. I want to work with the adult population because, in my experience, they seem to be “the forgotten ones” and I don’t think it is ever too late for an individual to have a healthy, more productive life. I am a strong, dedicated, compassionate professional and a born leader. Yet, I am trainable and thrive on teamwork. I love my life and my field. I am well balanced, have a good marriage, and a great support system. While I never mix the two, I derive profound fulfillment from both. The current social issue in which I am most interested is the intersection between homelessness, chemical addiction, and mental illness, how they overlap, and how they are compounded by a lack of resources, especially a lack of follow up care.

It is perhaps ironic that I wish to devote my life to marriage and family therapy, since I have been living alone for the past 10 years, my most formative period, with all of my family back in my native Japan. But I know exactly why it is. It comes from my reflection upon where I have come from, my own struggle and that of my family. I have traveled to many places, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, New Caledonia, and England, developing a profound respect for cultural diversity, traveling, maturing, and learning so many things, most importantly the way that family life differs according to cultural context. What I find most fascinating of all is the study of the core similarities that indeed exist within all families irrespective of culture, separating out those factors from other factors which clearly are a product of culture. What I most like about America is precisely its cultural diversity. And I hope to build a family therapy practice that caters precisely to the needs of those families that make up this rich cultural heritage. Of course, I will always be a woman and I will always be Asian, and in terms of writing, research, and publishing in the future, it will probably be the Asian woman and family that will be the subject where I most distinguish myself. The Joy Luck Club is, of course, one of my favorite movies. I chose to complete my B.S. Degree in Human Services with a special focus on mental health because psychology has always been my favorite subject in school. And I am convinced that it is a good idea to specialize in what you are most interested in. In addition to cultural diversity, the sub-areas that I most enjoy learning about are immigrant issues and adolescent development, especially communication issues between immigrant parents and their second generation children. This is probably because, as a first generation immigrant who is very much looking forward to being a mother, these issues will be prominent in my own life. And I have many Asian friends who face profound challenges in this area. In terms of one particular research topic, I think I would most like to become an expert in the area of why it is that Asian parents are typically so obsessed with their children's education and the way that this has an impact on the children's emotional and mental conditions. In my country, Japan, young people who are rejected from the college of their choice sometimes commit suicide. This is not at all uncommon, and is suggestive of the issues with which I look forward to wrestling. My long-term goal, after gaining valuable years of experience as a therapist, will be to attain my PsyD Degree. This is not so much because I want to teach in America, but, rather, that I want to go back to Japan some day to devote the balance of my life to the development and improvement of marriage and family counseling programs in Japanese Universities. In particular, I am concerned with the high levels of child abuse in Japan and the failure of the government to address the issue. Perhaps one way to encapsulate all of this is to say that my central goal in life is know myself. Thus, I constantly ponder my own sojourn, being bullied by other girls in elementary and junior high school schools, the bitter quarrels between my parents over my father’s business. We didn’t have a school counselor in those days. I spent much of my time daydreaming in my room to escape from the real world. I reflect upon my parents’ divorce while I was in High School, his leaving us. I wonder why I handled this better than my mother—at least initially—why her and my grandparents devoted so much time to complaining about him after he was gone, rather than just moving on. Since I was very little, I was told that I really look a lot like my father. Perhaps this added to my sense of guilt, that his problems where mine as well, his defects, etc. We Japanese are not big criers. So when I found myself weeping in front of my High School friends I was not at all comfortable; I became depressed, pessimistic. One day, I read in a book that studying psychology was very popular in the USA and that going to see a psychologist and getting treatment is very common. I wanted to escape from my family at the same time that I wanted to continue to think about them and learn more about our dysfunction. So, after graduating from high school, I worked full time to save money so I could move to the USA and start studying psychology. When I transferred to XXXX University, I made a Japanese friend who was a graduate student in the Counseling/MFT Program. She taught me a lot. And I decided to change my major from Psychology to Human Services so I could study more about mental health and counseling, more about mentally ill people in society and less about rats in the laboratory. I also began working with children at counseling centers. One little Asian baby made a particular impression, his eyes so big, round, clear, unknowing. He was 4 months old and had been abused by his parents. Craving the nurture of a mother, he grabbed my arms and buried his little head in my chest. My fate was sealed. I thank you for considering my application to your program.

I am on a fully paid scholarship program from my government, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to study Psychology abroad. I want to earn my masters degree in clinical psychology so that I can then return to my country and being working in my field. First I will work for a hospital for at least a couple of years so as to gain invaluable experience working with a broad variety of mental health issues. My long term goal is to someday open my own psychiatrist clinic and to treat all of those suffering people who seek out my services, irrespective of their ability to pay. I thrive on my service to others and feel very strongly that mental health services should be made available to all those who need those services even if they are poor and cannot pay the fee. I believe that after attaining a world class education in my field from a highly distinguished program such as yours, that I will indeed be successfully in my endeavors because I am a very hard worker, very highly motivated, and I want very much to serve my people. For me, becoming successful is all about helping people, not generating profits. My central goal for my professional future is to help people to be become better human beings and more productive members of society, one individual at a time. In this way, I also seek to contribute to the well being and ongoing development of my society, helping the society to overcome its problems and issues and contributing to the way that this will result in better quality of life for everyone. I am looking forward to learning a great deal concerning the broad range of human behavior, ways of thinking and reacting to one another. Your program will provide me with the appropriate academic background, methodology, and enable my understanding of theoretical frameworks to prepare me for success in my field. My greatest dream would be to someday open or at least administer a state-of-the art psychiatric hospital that would serve the specific psychological needs of women. As a woman, I am concerned with the ways that Saudi women suffer in silence, oppressed by the men of my country generally speaking, they often find it difficult to find someone to talk to about their psychological pain. I would like to dedicate my professional life to changing this and to recognize and respond to the way in which the male dominated character of Saudi society often results in hardship for many women and causes them to undergo profound psychological suffering. I dream of someday giving public lectures all over my country on the subject of women’s mental health, so that all of us together might have the opportunity to brainstorm concerning strategies as to how women can be better appreciated, especially professionally, and brought into greater levels of participation in society. Finally, I would like to capitalize on the way that my nation is often seen as a leader of the Muslim world by encouraging discussions beyond our borders, and throughout the Muslim world, discussions that would place greater importance on the psychological needs of women in the Muslim world and the challenges that exist for our societies in helping to find specific ways to identify and respond to the psychological problems of women that are unique to the social and religious structures of our societies.

Born and raised until the age of 15 in Ethiopia, I am a young man who will always have Africa in his heart, despite the fact that I have now lived for 17 years in the USA. Eventually, I want to return to Ethiopia and work towards African economic development thorough greater participation in the integration into the global economy. I am well prepared linguistically for this challenge since, although I have lived and dreamed in English now for many years, I speak Arabic as well and have continued to improve through study and social contacts—in addition to being fluent in Amharic (Ethiopian) and Tigrina (Eritrean) languages. I see language as one of the key motors of economic development and finance as its foundation. I have traveled throughout Australia, in addition to India, the United Arab Emirates, much of Europe, and nearby Sudan—in addition to my home country. Of the many places that I have had the opportunity to visit, perhaps the country that I most admire is Australia, Melbourne in particular. I find the Australian people to be a profound inspiration, with their zest for life and dedication to economic progress. This is why the University of XXXX is my first choice for graduate school, along with my appreciation for the extremely high quality of the University in general and the Department of Finance in particular. I am most impressed with Dr. XXXX’s comment that, in your department, “students and scholars work together to address important financial issues that face us today and in the future.” It is my hope that, if I am accepted, I will be able to contribute towards making Africa part of the lively and fruitful discussions taking place in your program about international economic development, especially the importance of Africa as part of the global economy. I would be particularly delighted to study under Dr. XXXX as well who is very dedicated to international issues in the areas of finance and market efficiency, especially the role of the financial analyst. In our increasingly globalized, economically interconnected world, financial markets play an especially critical role in the economic growth of Sub-Saharan African countries. The central problem that we have is that we lack the basic financial infrastructure needed for economic development. I ask you to accept me into your program on behalf of Africa, providing me with the world class intellectual tool kit that I need in order to play an important role in helping Ethiopia and her neighbors to build the necessary financial infrastructure to develop more rapidly, in sustainable ways, through the establishment of financial markets. I firmly believe that obtaining an advanced degree in Finance combined with 3-5 years of capital markets experience would allow me to realize my dream of becoming instrumental in the advancement of my beloved Africa. My long term goal is to help Ethiopia and her neighbors to develop their own stock exchanges as I see this as an especially critical aspect of long term economic development in the region. This is why I have done volunteer work with the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange, helping to better educate its workforce with respect to basic principles of exchange trading. As an undergraduate student, I worked two jobs to help my family, well over full time, while going to school, and my grades subsequently suffered a great deal. As a result of a lot of hard work, however, I now feel confident that I am in a position where I would be able to dedicate myself full time to my studies. I deeply appreciate your consideration of my application to your program.

A teacher has a place of privilege in the life of a child, that of being the third parent. This is a responsibility I do not take lightly; my decision to enroll in the Masters program in Early Childhood Studies at XXXX University is as a result of my belief that it is the best program to equip me with the skills, expertise and academic knowledge base I require to become a skilled educator. Born, raised and educated in Tehran, Iran and presently living in Canada, I have a global worldview about educating children that stems from lessons gleaned from two starkly different countries and cultures. Having graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1997 from Azad University, Tehran-Iran, confirmed by the University of Toronto and after working as an engineer and a nutritional consultant, I decided to pursue my core passion of teaching. In the last decade, working as a volunteer initially and subsequently as a tutor, I discovered that I have both the personality attributes and the life skills to relate well to children, especially those in their formative years. As a result my research area of interest involves the role of education early in the development of the child. Further, I have spent the past year as an assistant teacher in a public school where I have become comfortable in the classroom environment with children from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. My decision to pursue this specific Masters program in early childhood studies was based on the fact that I would have the opportunity to interact with colleagues who share a passion for teaching younger children, be exposed to academic staff with years of experience in the field and most importantly, be equipped with the practical skills I need to excel as a teacher in this field. With experience gained as a private tutor in Maths and Physics and as a volunteer in a children’s orphanage, I believe I am an excellent candidate for the Masters program at Ryerson University. I am dedicated, hardworking and passionately committed to achieving my long-term goal of becoming a teacher. Being bilingual in Persian and English gives me the unique ability to relate to children from different backgrounds. The years spent as an engineer have also left me with a wealth of leadership experience which is invaluable in this educational environment, especially in the role of mentoring. Having a family has prepared me to have the patience and endurance that is needed to persevere in helping children achieve their full potential. I believe that teachers learn as they teach and the best teach by example. By being kind, generous, respectful and empathic to children and their parents, I know that I can make a valuable contribution not just to their academic knowledge but to their development as people. I trust that you afford me this opportunity to study at your institution.

What began as an outlet for my nurturing, compassionate nature and reaction to my disappointment with pure research, nursing and the assorted challenges that nurse anesthesia would and indeed did bring has proven what I feel I have always known. My heart, acumen and sensibilities are exactly where they have always been, with physics, mathematics, and statistics. While nurse anesthesia utilizes all of these areas, data analysis, assessment, planning, analytic and advanced problem solving, and brings about positive outcomes for patients, the work does not bring me the same levels of personal and professional satisfaction. I have simply been away from my true calling, and honestly have no regrets for my exploration into nursing and nurse anesthesia, as it has proven a great deal to me. Indeed, the academic and professional background coupled with superior communication skills that I now possess will be highly applicable and make me more dynamic and well rounded in terms of my ability to make constructive contributions to the field of Financial Engineering. There are many parallels between the professional interactions I have been involved with in multidisciplinary medical teams and those in professional financial areas. Moreover, nurse anesthesia requires an intense direct-client relationship, not unlike professional client-provider relationships in financial firms. In the most practical terms, nurse anesthesia immersed me in advanced analytical problem solving situations, work which forced me to think on my feet, quickly and produce accurate, literally error-free results oftentimes immediately. Superior leadership skills are a requisite for any nurse anesthesiologist. This ability to lead also brings with it the requirement to understand what needs to be done, coordinate effectively, to practice - confidently - critical judgment as a part of daily practice. Leadership speaks of inspiring a spirit of teamwork, the bringing together of the skills and strengths of your team for the optimum care of the patient and I feel I have an excellent grasp of the leadership task. I completely embrace the fact that there is more than one leadership method, that there is ample room for improvement in my own style and what better place to learn such lessons than in the classroom, where the consequences of “failure” do not translate into millions of dollars lost. It is in the classroom where our missteps can be turned into learning experiences, and in study time, we can reflect on our interactions, integrating them into our own distinctive path. In addition to professional communication skills, I have learned the best paths for serving my patients, my clients, and how to prioritize tasks within a high pressure, deadline oriented environment. The level of confidence in my ability, skills and knowledge I have developed and proven in literally life-death situations will translate perfectly to my work in Financial Engineering. Furthermore, nursing and Financial Engineering will bring me what I have always wanted from my career, which is lifetime learning. In nursing, we had to not only learn how to work equally well in team situations or autonomously, interchangeably, but also to learn new skills, techniques and technologies, oftentimes “on the fly”, as they say, and implement our new knowledge quickly, consistently and, frankly, constantly. There is a distinct and growing need for qualified and quality Financial Engineers, people who are literally the vanguard for bringing about sustainable economic change, and leading us out of recession into recovery and to a brighter future. Post-graduation, and upon building my exposure in the field, as a Financial Engineer, I envision reducing financial risks and increasing rates of return for investors, and the various stakeholders. We have learned a great deal from the global recession and I am eager to be a part of the restoration effort. I bring with me to the graduate Financial Engineering program and the student body a solid and highly decorated academic foundation in Physics earned in China’s most prestigious university. Proof of my ability to excel in the Financial Engineering program is evident from my having earned numerous academic accolades, scholarships as well as consistently perfect GPAs at the graduate level. What is more, I am highly accomplished in advanced mathematics and in the use of information technology for a variety of purposes. Observational skills are the principal way the nurse anesthetist gathers valuable information. Being able to articulate what is observed is of equal importance as well. This is where the ability to analyze your work, be it in terms of successful practice or failure, coincides with observational skills. With the ability to analyze your work, your job performance, comes learning, higher understanding and development. Coming from Beijing, I had a worldview that was quite different from my American peers. I do not mention this simply to increase the diversity of the student body. Since coming to America, living, working and being educated in the American system, I have developed an ability to interact effectively with not only my fellow Americans, but since having experienced life as an immigrant, I feel particularly sensitive to the needs of many minorities; combined with this is my ability to speak two languages fluently. There is a need to reach out to our diverse clients, to understand and appreciate our differences, be it cultural or socioeconomic, an appreciation of the rich tapestry of life that we are all a part of on earth. A financial professional needs to be able to interact effectively with people of differing cultures, ethnicities, nationalities and creeds. This is critically important given the multinational nature of the global business world. The graduate Financial Engineering program will allow me to further refine my existing foundation in creating representative scenarios for describing situations that are likely to be met by Financial Engineers. Furthermore, the program will enable me to develop specific abilities to analyze, acknowledging the proper practices, specific knowledge, scope of work, definitions, skills, judgment, and attitude requirements of the effective Financial Engineer as well as clearly differentiate and utilize appropriately such methods of analysis as situational and functional analysis. I look forward to my future in Financial Engineering, and feel as if I am returning home. The path has truly enriched my development and abilities and I am eager to share my unique views, ways of analyzing situations and give of myself to the student body and academic program. Thank you for your time and consideration.

In terms of my research plans, I am particularly interested in educational development for children, particularly girls’ primary or basic education in developing countries. Additionally, I want to examine how the development of girls’ education can impact communities, regions and even nations as a whole. Geographically, I will be focusing on India, China, and Sub-Saharan Africa. My approach would be two-pronged: firstly, determining the positive aspects and ability of research to be conducted regarding teacher development in the developing area, what the costs are and how effective such efforts would be. To determine the sustainability index of such a program, systemic empirical research would need to be conducted, and then an educated analysis of the proposed and “hoped for” impact on future educational policy. Secondly, even before research is conducted, I would first design and implement guidelines for formal and informal interviews to be implemented at the village or district level, interviewing initially people who are well-versed in the social and cultural aspects of a given area, as well as the structure of the existing school system, if there is one. Once this is done, I would conduct talks with parents, teachers and the girls themselves, individually and in groups, explaining the importance of education at higher levels. Furthermore, I would identify what the pay-offs are in the group’s or area’s ideals for not educating their girls. As with any business or philanthropic venture, a feasibility report would need to be scripted in some fashion, incorporating the following: costs of transporting students to school(s); books; uniforms (if regionally expected); identifying the anticipated costs to families to send girls to school (i.e. loss of income due to lost labor); identifying what girl’s domestic expectations and roles are; community expectations or beliefs about schools and or education in general; determining social and or cultural expectations of girls’ roles, perceived abilities, and whether it is perceived advantageous or not for girls to be educated in that region; determining accessibility to schools, overcrowding or simply distances to school(s); identifying alternatives for girls such as apprenticeships, training programs; identifying, considering or catering to special circumstances such as HIV/AIDS status, pregnant girls, girls that are engaged, or girls with children. My reasoning is more than just having exhausted every path of opportunity and challenge at my current academic level. As a campus recruiter, I often traveled to India and China’s top schools, recruiting exceptional, top students, and yet, invariably students from very wealthy families. More than once, en route back to my hotel, I saw children begging for money or sleeping on the street. I questioned the unfairness, why the privileged few could reach the highest tiers of education while children, simply because of where they were born, are culturally and/or sociologically barred from education beyond the absolute basics, if they ever receive education at all. My urgency is fueled by these realities and my strongest beliefs that all children deserve the opportunity to receive a decent, basic, free education. Schools not only provide children with textbook facts, but soft skills that lay the foundation for teamwork, leadership, morality and integrity, the building blocks of contributing citizens. From all I have seen, researched and heard from people I respect in the field, your MA program offers a breadth, autonomy and relevance of curriculum no other school can offer, unprecedented access to resources, stalwart faculty and dynamic international student body. The work of the Ford Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund have truly impressed me and, post-graduation, I plan on increasing my professional exposure within a non-profit, NGO or similar organization that focuses on educational development in emerging nations. Upon developing my practical abilities, body of experiences, acumen and professional contacts, I am intent upon setting up schools in emerging nations, offering girls the opportunity to succeed personally and professionally and setting a sustainable model or body of research that can be used or mirrored in other nations by similarly inclined groups. XXXX offers me the chance to develop my relevant skill set, confidence and exposure to faculty who are not just theoretical thinkers, but professionals who are active in their fields. While I have traveled and crossed so many shores around the world, I am most interested in the shores I have yet to reach, the ones of my dreams. Through the expert guidance of XXXX faculty, ideal curriculum, and experiences of accomplished international student body, I can bring my raw passion for my work to focus, to bring about practical solutions to the most pressing real world problems of our contemporary lives. I would like to take this opportunity to explain that what I lack in academic background, I more than make up for in practical and professional work experiences, work that has taken me around the world and in contact with people of numerous nations. Working for Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs is solid evidence of my maturity, seriousness, ability to build and sustain professional relationships with colleagues and management everywhere, and real world experiences in two dozen countries across five of the world’s continents that will aid me invaluably in the graduate classroom, and enhance the experience of other students. Moreover, my extensive, decorated volunteerism is proof of my commitment and passion for philanthropic work. Indeed, my volunteerism in the US and Africa, mentoring orphans, charitable fundraising, teaching English to children physically and mentally disabled children in Kenya, feeding the homeless in New York, women’s educational and professional rights in developing nations, all has given me extensive insights into the very organizations I aim to offer my services to post-graduation. I feel that my experiences provide me with the focus for my own professional goals, and ambitions, as well as an appreciation for the assorted international issues of emerging nations.