For 1,700 years, my country, Armenia, has followed the path of Christianity, brought to us by two of Jesus' apostles Thaddaeus and Bartholomew. The significant role played by the Church in Armenian society reflects the conservative nature of my country, in which women, upon completing high school, are expected to immediately enter domestic life, irrespective of their abilities in school, hopes, or dreams for a different life. Over the course of these past eight years in America, however, my Christian faith is no longer stifling for my education and career, and I look forward to expressing myself as a woman that is also a businessperson. Education and the pursuit of my career in Business Administration are now my priority.
Earning the BBA at ____ University will advance and refine my progressive ethics and values through state-of-the-art education, which will also meet my spiritual needs. I keenly look forward to being immersed in an academic environment like that of ____ that will reinforce every aspect of my learning experience so that I can evaluate business concepts and practices against a backdrop of accountability and ethics, putting my energy into good works that will help people, rather than only lining the pockets of the few. In this age when fraud and underhanded accounting procedures are so prevalent, I hope to contribute to building a new era characterized by more honest and socially responsible business practices.
The non-fiction book, The Bookseller of Kabul, by a Western woman journalist, a Norwegian, Asne Seierstad, is a report by a female journalist who immerses herself in middle-class Afghan culture. The leading character, Rais, is an Afghan man who has fought censorship for many years, providing classic books on Western thought that the Taliban - many of whom were illiterate - repeatedly sought to destroy. What I found most interesting was Rais's traditional treatment of the women in his family. I found many parallels to their lives and that of women in Armenia, who have faced a similar collision of politics, faith, and patriarchal tradition. Armenia and Afghanistan were both dominated by the USSR. When they became at least nominally independent, wrestling with building democracy and the process of Westernization, they continued to cling to a male-dominated past. I applaud the author's courage, bringing many painful realities faced by women to light at significant risk to her safety. While Rais's views of women were disappointing, his courage to fight censorship and bring enlightenment was nevertheless commendable. I want to be like the author, a courageous woman standing up for what she believes in at all costs.
I came to America to develop myself and build a new life, which would have been impossible in my own country. Yet, my personal story has kept a fire burning within me, and I yearn for a sense of justice, simultaneously savoring the lessons I have learned from a harsh past. I am now becoming a global citizen, and I adore American diversity, especially the learning opportunities it provides in the areas of culture, language, and technology. Completing your BBA program will provide me with a world-class theoretical foundation upon which I can continue to build, developing my wisdom and understanding over a lifetime as a business professional.
My father was an international businessperson and often took my mother and me on business trips. We traveled to North America, the Middle East, and the Caribbean and met his associates from England, Germany, and China. This did wonders for the development of my multicultural competency. I have lived and been educated in Armenia, Russia, and the US, and I am now learning to communicate in Spanish as well, my fourth language.
Giving back to my community is a way of expressing my love, which is why I support the work of the Armenian Student Association at Los Angeles Valley College. As a club officer, I have spearheaded fund-raisers to benefit orphans in Armenia. In this golden age of global cooperation, by volunteering, I am attending to issues of international interest in the spirit of equal treatment of all human beings and quality of life. I volunteer because I see it is our collective responsibility to help each other: especially the poor, the sick, and the needy, at all costs.
My plans include an extended academic relationship with ____ University, culminating in a master's degree in marketing. I plan to go on to work in a successful, environmentally friendly company, strengthening it with my creative ideas and fostering innovative collaboration. I envision my work as contributing to positive, sustainable social change. I am incredibly passionate about the need to protect what is left of our pristine environments and rehabilitate what has been destroyed or damaged, to the extent to which we are able.
I thank you for considering my application to your program.
BBA Personal Statement Business Administration