Empathetic MS Personal Purpose Speech & Language Journey
- Jul 10, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 27, 2025
My grandmother used to tell me, “You want to be the cause not the effect.” And I have always lived to exercise my will as a servant of my community. Born in Hong Kong and raised in various parts of both China and America, I have multiple ethnicities. A citizen of the world, I have deep appreciation for cultural diversity and multicultural communication. My most salient distinguishing characteristic is the depth of my sense of empathy for society's most vulnerable and under-privileged members, particularly the special needs' children of ethnic minorities. Helping them to overcome their difficulties in communicating with others provides me with more joy than anything else in life.
While I am currently a certified NYS Bilingual School Psychologist M.S. ED., my desire to complete your program is a result of the special, indescribably, most intense love that I have for children trapped in the evil labyrinth of being unable to adequately express themselves I feel called, as a woman, psychologist, and as a human being to do all that I possibly can to remedy this situation. Speech pathology is my destiny, emanating from the innermost core of my identity, my sojourn, quest, social contribution, and my mark in life.
When I was five years old, my parents immigrated to America and left me under the care of my grandmother; I was reunited with them in America at the age of ten. My parents were always working long hours at their low-income jobs, and I found it difficult to communicate effectively with others due to cultural and language barriers. At 14, I started to occupy my time by volunteering in various organizations dedicated to assisting children of all ages and backgrounds; many from immigrant backgrounds like mine.
We are part of a Chinese subgroup referred to as Fujianese, these children face special challenges in terms of discrimination, acculturation, and self-esteem. My own success story is a product of the fact childhood experience served as a springboard for helping me to understand the challenges and obstacles faced by immigrant Asian children and to build deep bonds with them.
I especially want to attend your program at XXXX because New York City is my home. We have a huge population of multilingual children, a majority of which are members of minority and/or low-income populations. I see XXU as especially progressive, the program with the greatest resources and the most keenly developed sense of mission. Finally, I am most favorably impressed with the research of Professor XXXX and would feel especially honored to learn from her.
Empathetic MS Personal Purpose Speech & Language Pathology Journey
Your statement has a powerful emotional core, and that is unquestionably its greatest strength. What comes through most vividly is a sense of vocation rather than mere career interest. You frame your motivation not as an academic preference but as a deeply rooted calling shaped by identity, migration, hardship, and service. That level of sincerity is rare, and it gives the narrative an authenticity that admissions committees tend to remember.
Several elements stand out as particularly compelling:
🌟 A clear, lived commitment to vulnerable children
Your lifelong orientation toward helping marginalized, multilingual, and special‑needs children is not presented as an abstract value—it’s grounded in personal history, volunteer work, and professional experience. The connection between your own early communication struggles and…