I am a Korean woman who is as well-traveled as I am well-read. Since adolescence, when I lost my grandmother, a non-smoker, to lung cancer, I have focused significant attention on the scourge of air pollution and made it my life’s work. I hope to be selected for the incredibly competitive master's program in Environmental Health at XXXX University due to my extensive preparation across several critically important Asian countries and my great passion for progressive advancement in environmental protection. As a child, I lived in Hong Kong for several years, which did wonders for my English. My interests lie in Southeast Asia, most of which I have gotten to know. I speak French and Mandarin Chinese, which I look forward to using professionally alongside English and my native Korean. In addition to Asia, I dream of someday getting to know French-speaking Africa professionally.
I have also gotten to know the Philippines quite well. I have spent especially significant periods working on behalf of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in Fiji, supporting the WHO’s climate change project. I co-organized the Thematic Working Group-Air Quality meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, and the Health Impact Assessment workshop. My professional experiences thus far leave me convinced that I want to devote my life to combatting air pollution primarily. I seek to fully do this and in the most productive manner possible. This is why I have my heart set on earning the master's degree in environmental health at XXXX University rather than another institution because I am convinced that earning my degree at XXXX will prepare me for making my total contribution to the struggle against air pollution for the balance of my professional life. I want to be an epidemiologist remembered for my devotion to the issue of climate change, controlling air pollution, and the general relationship between environmental factors and the epidemiology of diseases
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My ideal job would be working for the WHO or another research institution with a similar mission. Even though I am still an undergraduate student, I have extensive professional and research experience in Environmental Health. In 2015, I completed a 6-month internship in the Health and Environment Unit of the WHO. I worked for the GIS/Remote Sensing Lab, where I improved my GIS skills enormously. I also completed an internship at the Seoul National Medical School and engaged in research as a lead author. This year, I drafted a WHO Air Pollution Report, communicating with each Ministry of Health and Environment in ten member states of the WHO in underdeveloped Asian countries.
I majored in French in high school and studied Chinese language, culture, and history for six semesters of undergraduate studies, helping me better understand multiculturalism and diversity issues. I am particularly interested in the environmental status of each Asian country, its industry structure, level, and energy consumption patterns, especially relevant to transboundary air pollution issues that must be tackled in the context of global cooperation. My undergraduate focus on climate change and environmental economics helped me foster extensive knowledge of several Asian countries and my own, Korea and China. I attended Suyeong Women's University for a year because a professor there designed Korea’s ‘greenhouse gas emission trading system.' The ability to speak several different Asian languages will help me excel as an environmental epidemiologist fighting viruses and diseases in Asia. When there is a national emergency like a MERS event, every government must keep the WHO informed. With my language skills, I could facilitate those processes and contribute to preventing or at least slowing the outbreak of disease.
Another reason my professional hopes and dreams are focused on XXXX is that my research interests closely follow those of Dr. XXXX, with whom it would be a special honor to study under. I possess extensive knowledge about air quality status and governmental actions related to air pollution, mainly because of my communication with officials in the Korean Ministry of Health via email. I stay in touch with WHO environmental health specialists and stay up to date on events and issues with air pollution, especially concerning Asia.
I thank you for considering my application to Environmental Health at XXXX.
MS Environmental Health Personal Purpose Statement