I am a Taiwan-American woman who is very in touch with her cultural roots. Countless times over the years, I have encountered situations where my Asian-American friends and colleagues have struggled with cultural and social issues in the workplace, very often having an adverse effect on their performance and level of motivation. While I have also had to struggle to overcome cultural barriers, having focused on these hurdles as my own point of intellectual departure (and arrival), and having dedicated my professional identity to these issues, has contributed to my own capacity for their successful resolution, turning challenge into victory, a potential handicap into a resource, a debilitating experience for many into my own taste of victory. My fascination with the experience of immigrant adjustment in America has led me to apply to your distinguished program so as to continue to prepare myself to study our melting pot; for it is in the area of social-organizational psychology where I hope to make my mark in life.
I am most interested in behavior as a function of the interaction between employees, on the one hand, and the social or industrial organization to which they belong, on the other. I identify myself as a Taiwanese woman, first and foremost, despite the fact that I came to America at the age of 2, because of the fact that I was raised by immigrant Taiwanese parents. In fact, I had little to no exposure to English until the age of 5, when most of my cognitive, analytical, and even social categories were already largely formed. Thus, I am fascinated by the complex ways in which I came to understand our social structures here in New York, having been raised in Queens, through Taiwanese eyes.
My interests in sociology, psychology, and the role of the media in framing our perceptions led me to complete my undergraduate studies at NYU with a double major in psychology and journalism. I hope very much to be accepted to your program because I am convinced that the greatest contribution that I might be able to make to society would be to help people reach their potential - whether that means making a lot of money, maximizing their potential to serve humanity, learning how to communicate as successfully as possible, or simply to get a better job doing something that they enjoy. My own greatest love is helping people to succeed at what most matters to them. To this end I have dedicated myself to multiculturalism. While Taiwan will always be my second home, I am not only well read but also well traveled, having visited China twice, as well as Tokyo, Japan; Paris, France; London, Istanbul, Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, Venice, Verona, and Rome in Italy. Everywhere I go I study, how people think, feel, and what matters most at every place in time.
For the past half decade, I have worked in human resources/training and development in both the fields of both financial services and education, especially diversity and inclusion initiatives. I am now convinced that XXXX’s Social-Organizational Psychology Program is the ideal program for the optimization of my own acumen and expertise. My Taiwanese roots have encouraged me to give back to the community, especially minority groups. Your program will train me to think outside the box, radically improving my vision of an improved workplace where everyone can reach their potential, learning to make the most of our ride on the wave of increasing diversity, creative reform and human acceptance.