Sample MBA Essay
Personal Background
Everyone was Korean in Seoul. No one
was Korean in Prichard. Motorcycles and mopeds crammed Seoul's roads. Trees and flowers
lined Prichard's streets. In cosmopolitan Seoul, I was a favorite son showered with
attention from a large circle of extended family. In suburban Prichard, knowing no one but
my parents, I was the only Asian child in the neighborhood. Indeed immigrating to the U.S.
from Korea and settling down in a suburb of Mobile as a twelve-year old child dramatically
changed my life. Uprooted from the people I knew and the things I was used to, I felt
lonely, helpless, and uncomfortable in my new surroundings. However, I redirected the
negative feelings into a force of strength that propelled me to excel in academics.
Furthermore, the immigrant experience gave me adaptation skills that helped me as a
foreign exchange student in Japan and as a businessman working with people of different
cultures and backgrounds.
Pampered materially and nurtured emotionally in Seoul, I lived with relatives close by
and a helping hand available whenever I needed it. My school, while stiflingly competitive
and committed to regular doses of corporal punishment, presented a system which I
understood and was familiar with. Although the neighborhood lacked open areas, it was a
close-knit community where children addressed the lady next door as "aunt" and
housewives frequently shared recipes. I was completely at home, ethnically,
linguistically, and in every other respect.
My new life in Prichard contrasted sharply with my old one in Seoul. The neighborhood,
while serene, lacked the extended support network of friends and family I had back home.
School frustrated and demoralized me because I had learned only the first fourteen letters
of the English alphabet and a few basic words before our arrival. After a fourteen-hour
workday in the family restaurant, my exhausted parents were unable to help me. Further
compounding my difficulties, I experienced racial bigotry for the first time in my life.
Ethnic slurs and insults, which I managed to understand with rapidity, made me painfully
aware I was different from others.
In the face of these obstacles, I started to question the purpose behind immigrating to
the U.S. Seeing my parents' exhausted silhouettes seven times a week, I began to
understand the motivation behind the move that forever altered my life: a chance at a
brighter future in the U.S. Because no one could help us, we had to help ourselves. Armed
with this reinvigorating realization, I began to hoist myself out of loneliness,
helplessness, and discomfort.
Since my school did not offer remedial English classes for immigrant students, I began
studying with only the help of an English-Korean dictionary. Although I was focused and
determined, streams of below average grades accompanied my first year in school.
Nonetheless, by expending two to three times the effort of others, I started to notice
signs of improvement. A well-timed vote of confidence came from my seventh-grade reading
instructor, Mr. John Smith. In his class, the highest possible grade — a B — was
given to only one student per school year. Aiming for that coveted prize, I managed to
improve my grades from a D in the first semester to the B in the final
semester. At the year-end award ceremony, Mr. Smith specifically commended my achievement
in front of the student body. While I received many other academic accolades in later
years, no one validated my efforts and boosted my self-confidence more than that short yet
significant praise.
Although it has been fourteen years since I arrived in Prichard, the immigrant
experience has strengthened my character in ways that will be professionally and socially
beneficial for years to come. As an immigrant child, I learned how to transition from one
culture to another. This skill helped me when I had to make that transition again as a
foreign exchange student in Japan. Additionally, having experienced the degradation of
ethnic bigotry, I have learned to be sensitive toward different people and cultures.
Other Sample Essays
|
