I hope to be accepted to your program because my long-term goal is to work as a clinical forensic psychologist performing psychological evaluations of competency to stand trial and assessments of diminished capacity. My paralegal education and experience working as a family and criminal law paralegal have provided me with the opportunity to gain great familiarity with legal jargon and issues in this area, as well as the opportunity to interact with legal professionals. I have a firm grasp of the rules and regulations of the American judicial system, especially as concerns hearsay evidence. Thus, once I attain the PsyD Degree from your esteemed program, then I would be qualified to serve as a highly credible, expert witness. With a master's degree in clinical psychology, I would not qualify for court designation as an expert witness since this requires a doctoral degree. Without a doctorate degree in Psychology, I would also be unable to administer and interpret diagnostic testing to be used in court. Thus, it is my profound hope to be admitted as a doctoral student to your program. I want very much to study at ____ University because of the location, as well as the exceptional quality of your program. I want to remain close to my family who fully support my decision to pursue a doctoral degree. This would facilitate my being able to give my all to my studies. I was raised in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and currently live in ____, IL. I earned my BA in Psychology at ____ in 2007 with a specialization in biopsychology and a minor in physiological science. Later, I earned my paralegal certificate from Roosevelt University’s post-bachelorette American Bar Approved institution for paralegal studies. I have also completed thirty-eight credits of graduate course work that are transferable towards a graduate degree in Clinical Psychology. I am an accomplished world traveler and have an extensive record of commitment to volunteerism in my community. I had an extremely positive personal experience in counseling. My therapist renewed my confidence and self-esteem, encouraging me to achieve anything that I set my mind to. The impact of this experience and my passion and commitment for making a positive difference in people’s lives has given me determination to succeed in your program, leading to the fulfillment of my purpose in my life. I especially look forward to studying in the areas of psychology and law; psychological assessment; and psychological interventions in forensic settings. Your faculty consists of highly distinguished professors who have made invaluable contributions to literature. Thus, I have no doubt that your program will offer me the highest possible quality of instruction in the fundamental theories and knowledge of forensic psychology and provide me with state-of-the-art training in planning, conducting, and evaluating research. My interests match closely with Dr. ____’s work on juvenile violence. PsyD Clinical Forensic Law Expert Witness Personal Purpose

Having finally won a long personal battle to lose weight and to maintain the loss, I decided to study Clinical Nutrition to assist others dealing with the same issue. During my studies, voluntary activities, and subsequent work, I became increasingly aware of the wide and growing incidence of obesity and the seriousness of its effects on health. Having dealt with the issue on a personal, individual, and local level, it is now my goal to become part of the global solution to this grave and escalating problem through the promotion of healthy diets worldwide. I believe that my undergraduate degree and professional activity to date has provided an excellent base that will enable me to excel within the programme and to develop and hone relevant skills that I have already demonstrated. These include analytical and planning skills, the ability to evaluate, especially statistical, data and an understanding of cross-disciplinary cooperation to achieve common goals. I have considerable experience in giving presentations and producing literature relating to the adoption of healthy lifestyles and diets. I am confident that I possess the ability to communicate effectively both personally and through the medium of persuasive writing at a standard that is required of a professional at the level to which I aspire. My undergraduate GPA score of 4.01/5 reflects my profound passion for the subject of nutrition and my future academic potential. My goal is to pursue a Ph.D. and to undertake consultancy work, teaching, and research. I have been offered a scholarship by my employers to pursue M.Sc. studies in Public Health which is a clear recognition of their confidence in my abilities and potential. Your programme is my first choice for several reasons: the ‘Nutrition Pathway’ and several of the modules within it coincide with my own special interests; the emphasis on research and the reputation of the faculty for impressive research output; the prestigious faculty; the availability of relevant expertise from other departments within the University; the successful career outcomes of its graduates and the breadth of the curriculum. I am also attracted by the idea of working in a lively town which is near the sea, which I love. I feel sure that the programme will provide a challenging but supportive academic environment in which I can thrive. I am particularly aware of the impressive work of Professor XXXX, Dr. XXXX and Dr. XXXX in their various specialties. I hope that it might be possible to assist in a research project relating to the social and cultural determinants of physical and mental health in women and children with Dr. XXXX. I am aware that effective research calls for a specific skill set and certain personal characteristics. I am confident that I have the dogged determination, prominent level analytical and team working skills together with a capacity for original thinking that will enable me to become an effective researcher. While hoping to be part of the global solution to improving public health, I am aware that it is necessary not to become detached from real people with real problems and to avoid seeing people as mere budgetary or statistical units. No matter how exalted a position I might achieve, I intend to constantly seek ‘real world’ exposure to ensure that I retain my focus on the underlying ‘why’ of my studies and work. I am conscious of the fact that cultural awareness and sensitivity is vital in this field of work and that an understanding of the culture and attitudes of those one seeks to serve is fundamental in being an effective specialist. While my studies and career to date have been undertaken in Saudi Arabia, I am widely travelled having visited several countries in the Middle East and, in Europe, Italy, Switzerland and France. I love to travel and hope that my future work will provide the opportunity to visit many countries. I very much look forward to sharing knowledge of my own culture and learning about English culture and others during the programme. I am an outgoing person who gets along easily with other people and am blessed with a well-developed sense of humour. I believe that ‘all work and no play make Jack a dull boy’. I have recently commenced studying French as a pastime because of its beauty and expressiveness. My other interests include digital arts, design, and photography, I also enjoy creative writing and was awarded a prize in this field when a student. I am confident that I possess the academic ability and potential together with the skills and personal characteristics that will enable me to excel rather than merely succeed within the programme. I am confident that I can ‘add value’ to the programme by bringing unique insights from my studies and career to date. I promise the reader that I shall apply myself with exceptional enthusiasm and diligence to the programme and will seek to enhance its prestigious reputation in my future work. Thank you for considering my application. MSC Public Health Nutrition UK Personal Purpose Editor

XXXX is the only MPH Program to which I am applying since it is where I completed my undergraduate studies and where I feel most at home, as part of an established academic and civic community. I am currently working towards finishing up my studies towards the MD Degree and I am convinced that earning my MPH Degree at the very outset of my career will enable and inspire me to excel as a physician in such a way that I will be able to make my fullest contribution to my community and my profession. I look forward to planning, completing, and excelling in my studies in the Community Services track. My professional dreams include working at a large hospital in the inpatient setting. I think an MPH would add to my ability to serve the hospital in a holistic fashion, including administration, ethics, budgetary, and other aspects of medicine. I want to understand my patients more thoroughly, in the context of the medical issue with which they are wrestling, in the light of their lifestyle, circumstances, and community. I have already taken advanced courses in epidemiology and biostatistics as an undergraduate student at XXXX and these will count towards my MPH courses completed. When I was in high school, my mother developed a retinal detachment and required surgery that inadvertently led to soaring intraocular pressure and excruciating pain. We rushed her to XXXX’s XXXX Eye Institute where we were told that she needed immediate surgery. The complexities of health policy and administration were present and haunting us throughout the ordeal. Nevertheless, the experience stayed with me, and I continue to think often of that time, my mother’s recovery, and the challenges to which myself and so many others are introduced all at once when a medical crisis arrives in the family. I date this period to the time that I first began seriously to think about studying both Medicine and Public Health. Because of the lengthy and terrifying medical condition of my mother, the trauma for me of thinking that I might lose her, resulted in my investing a lot of time over these years satiating the curiosity that dates from that period, reading about the bureaucratic challenges facing so many patients who find themselves in situations not unlike that endured by my mom. I became an EMT as an undergraduate student, which allowed me to hone my clinical skills early on and get started helping the underserved areas of Los Angles. This experience also kick-starts my Spanish skills and gave me enough motivation to achieve competency in medical care. I still struggle in Spanish and hope to improve it during my studies toward the MPH and beyond because of its critical importance for the underserved, many of whom speak little to no English at all, especially here in southern California. My passion for the biomedical sciences also led me to become an ophthalmic clinical assistant at the Jules Stein Eye Institute. I found the epidemiology of ocular disease especially fascinating. The processes of healthcare administration, as I began to learn more about them, also interested me a great deal; but my historical dissatisfaction with this aspect of medicine continued through my undergraduate experience and into Medical School, also at XXXX. As an undergraduate researcher at XXXX’s AIDS Institute, I worked to complete a chimeric antigen receptor lentivirus for T cell and stem cell-based HIV gene therapy. part of a collective effort to achieve a functional cure for HIV infection. I learned how to formulate and test a research hypothesis and how to synthesize knowledge gained from clinical trials and animal experiments; and even how to design new therapies that offer hope for improving those currently employed. I was also very much drawn to the epidemiology of HIV, guidelines for prevention and treatment, social determinants, and health policy surrounding this disease fascinated me and I gave as much as I could to this struggle. This was one of the reasons why I took advanced level classes in biostatistics and epidemiology while still an undergraduate at XXXX. Now a third-year medical student at the XXXX school of Medicine, along with epidemiology, I also rank quality improvement among my favorite subjects taught in our curriculum. Nevertheless, I sense what I want to describe as ‘disconnects’ between the fields of medicine and public health. It is not surprising that medical school must focus on clinical medicine and treatment, leaving what I view as important contributors to patient-health under-emphasized. Still, I find this unfortunate due to the importance of such knowledge for clinicians. Afterall, at the infancy of Public Health Institutions in this country, many attendees were in fact clinicians, underscoring the importance of the link. I cannot help but get all geared up for studying Public Health as a student of medicine at XXXX because I am a frequent witness to various problems of resource integration. It would be a special honor for me to attend the Fielding School of Public Health at XXXX so that I learn to cultivate and practice a critical, community perspective on medical need and access, utilizing the skills that I acquire and refine because of earning the MPH at XXXX. I have extensive experience at the major healthcare centers in the greater Los Angeles Area, including UCLA Health, Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles County Hospitals, VA, and several others. This familiarity will help me to excel in your program as we work side by side in the building and maintaining of cohesive networks of healthcare advocacy. I have already completed CLERKSHIPS in family, ambulatory, and internal medicine, as well as neurology and, currently psychiatry; after this, I will proceed to OB/GYN, Pediatrics, and Surgery. Hoping to complement the MD with the MPH, my focus will always be on the community, infectious disease and fostering preventive health and access to medical care one patient at a time – in LA. Thank you for considering my application. MPH Degree Personal Statement Medical Doctor

At 30 years old, I am now at the optimal point in my life to begin a doctoral program, especially in terms of dedication and professional maturity. As an Asian-American, Japanese, and Taiwanese, completely fluent in Japanese and fully conversant in French, I look forward to contributing to the diversity of your program in unique ways. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, raised in Thailand and later New York, as a world traveler throughout my life, I am a global citizen who is most keen to apply her multi-cultural sensitivities to the study of psychology, addressing questions of culture and mental health in the context of an increasingly interconnected world. I have studied abroad in Tokyo, Japan, as well as doing my junior year of college in France. I also lived in Singapore for a full year while working for Pfizer and spent every summer in Hiroshima, Japan while in school, continuing to visit often since my mom's side of the family lives there. I have also spent significant amounts of time in much of the rest of Europe (East and West), Taiwan, most of Japan, Vietnam, India, and the Caribbean. Since childhood, I have been noted for and always struggled to cultivate a profound compassion for my fellowman and women. I see my natural desire to help others as my greatest gift. People often remark that I have talent for helping people with their problems and I have been counseling people my whole life. Thus, I look forward to bringing this lifetime of practice of the arts of listening and empathy to your program where I will learn the intellectual tools of clinical psychology. My interest in psychology was initiated by my desire to help people deal successfully with the many difficulties and challenges presented in life and I strongly believe that this initiative will help me do succeed both at the ____ School of Professional Psychology and beyond, throughout a lifetime of continuing education and dedicated practice. Complementing my diversity and multi-cultural experiences, I believe that my unique capacity to learn to see and understand psychological principals across cultures has been further amplified by my Masters studies at New York's New School for Social Research, where I completed my M.A. Degree in International Studies, building upon my undergraduate education in East Asian Studies with a minor in Philosophy at ____ University. The other great strength of my application is the diversity of my professional experience as both a professional and a volunteer. Currently working with Helping Hands in Hawaii since September, I administer questionnaires to clients for internal use and for the Department of Health, as well as helping nurses with activities to improve wellness and diminish the negative effects of psychotropic medication. Working with ____ as a researcher in the Global Policy Section, I was able to further develop my acute concern for children and awareness of public policy development on their behalf across the planet. With Forefront Leaders in New York, I researched, wrote, and compiled articles for our newsletter and maintained our website supporting human rights and networking with our activist partners in Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Africa. With Pfizer, I had the privilege of working as a Manufacturing Systems Expert Consultant, in Singapore as well as the US, writing standard operation procedures and serving as a systems expert for a yearlong project getting our new manufacturing plant in Singapore up and running, acting as a primary liaison between the Singapore site and our corporate office, ensuring systematic compliance with industry standards, and training regional managers on system platforms. I have also worked in the field of journalism with ____ Industry News in New York and as an activist with the ____Public Interest Research Group, helping to pass laws to make pesticides less dangerous for humans as well as the environment. My multicultural aptitudes have been complemented by spending a great deal of time abroad throughout my childhood and adult life. I spent several years going to school in Bangkok, and as my extended family is split between Japan and Taiwan, I have spent most of my summers going to both countries to visit. During my undergraduate studies, I spent a semester in Tours, France, and one in Tokyo, Japan. I am confident that my international background helps me to relate to people from all cultures and levels of society and I very much look forward to bringing a unique perspective to your program at the ____School of Professional Psychology. I feel strongly that my multi-cultural awareness and capacities will be invaluable to my long-term professional aspirations, helping me to relate to patients of many divergent backgrounds once I begin to practice therapy. The greatest contribution that I might be able to make to society would be to make a positive difference in people's lives, helping them to overcome their challenges and live more harmonious and fulfilling lives. My interest in psychology is a result of my lifelong desire to help people. This is also why I chose to complete a master's degree in international affairs because of my desire to enrich people's lives through the mediation of inter-cultural conflict and the building of effective communication channels between diverse peoples. I have not, however, found the degree of personal satisfaction that I had hoped for in this area; in time, I came to realize that the ongoing development of my empathy required more direct and intense human interaction than I have found in the non-profit sector. I came to realize that I craved one-on-one interactions with people rather than spending my time fulfilling bureaucratic functions as part of an organization. In short, I crave the type of intense and emotionally fulfilling interactions that are characteristic of the relationship between a psychologist and her clients and I turn now to this goal to realize the full fruition of my professional character and development. I am most comfortable with the fact that I remain open as to the specific areas of clinical psychology upon which I would like to develop a specialization and research interest. I am confident that your Psy.D. program will help me to choose the areas that are right for me. I do know that I want to counsel people, and eventually have my own practice, or work in a smaller practice after I put my time in at hospitals and clinics. I would like to eventually use my Japanese at some point in my career, working in Japan counseling expats (of which there are a vast number). And I am certain that my travels and exposure to many cultures will afford me the capacity to develop fruitful avenues of inquiry with respect to cultural interaction, conflict, and adaptation or assimilation hurdles. I look forward to working with many different populations from many different ethnic backgrounds, especially here in the U.S. I intend to pay for my Psy.D. program with money that was left to me by my grandfather; I am fortunate that he left me enough for five years of schooling without having to apply for grants or loans. I also have an excellent family support base nearby since I am originally from the East Coast (New York) and my significant other is from Massachusetts; his family lives in Boston and Scituate. I am looking forward to having the opportunity to also live in Boston as many of my close college friends live there and I have built a strong social network on which I can depend. PSYD Autobiographical Statement Writing and Editing

Mature at 23, I am a Sri Lankan woman who immigrated to Melbourne Australia in 1994. I have become mostly Australian since I immigrated as a child; yet I am fascinated by my ethnicity and the immigrant experience. I am convinced that the field of Psychology in Australia has much to offer to the immigrant experience, especially as far as immigrant families often face enormous psychological challenges, language barriers, and adjusting to new cultural norms, difficulties with government bureaucracy, and a tendency to internalize their status as inferior members of society, to name a few. It is here at this intersection of psychology and cultural identity/immigrant issues that I hope to make my major contribution to my chosen field. I am interested in studying a great deal more about the entire range of psychological issues, especially as they are relevant to Australian and Sri Lankan societies. I like to think that Sri Lankans are an especially serious and dedicated people and that by struggling every day to make a valuable contribution to my societies, that I will be able to reflect well on my nation of origin and its people. I completed my B.S. degree in Psychology at XXX University in XXX and I wish to continue my education at XXX University because I am so incredibly happy here, and I feel most comfortable studying in this environment. It is important that I study at a graduate level where I have already learned to feel comfortable since this will provide me with the optimal environment for making the most of my studies. I am especially interested in doing graduate work in Clinical and Behavioral Psychology. I am fascinated by how people's personalities and experiences affect the way they think and react to situations. I am especially drawn to clinical psychology, I think, because I am a compassionate person and I hope to build a long and distinguished career helping others who suffer. I have enjoyed my studies of psychology so far, especially the various disorders in the DSM4 and distinguishing between two or more disorders and the challenges involved in such tasks. I hope to be successful in studying psychology on the graduate level and in the future become a registered Clinical/Behavioral Psychologist working in a hospital with trauma patients or in a clinic. I would very much appreciate the opportunity at some point in my career to work with other Tamil speakers, since I speak and read the language fluently and I see it as part of my valuable heritage. I have many characteristics that make me a suitable candidate for postgraduate study, especially the will and intense interest to make my goals a reality. I have extensive volunteer experience assisting those recovering from mental illness to become more active and productive members of the community. I am very resilient because of my life experiences, especially the death of my father at the age of seven and the difficult move and adjustment to Australia that soon followed. I had to learn a new language, become accustomed to a new culture, and being the eldest child begin working incredibly early on to help my widowed mother. I now look forward to a long and productive life helping others to deal with traumatic life experiences. I want to thank you for your consideration of my application to your program. Personal Statement for Psychology Certificate

Born and raised in Singapore, I am now extremely pleased to participate fully in the American melting pot of cultural diversity. I seek to contribute to our society based on the unique cross-cultural experiences that I have had and my drive to succeed as a mental health specialist who is broadly engaged with clinical issues across a wide spectrum of concerns and challenges. Cultural diversity is especially important to Psychology because the cultural heritage of those who suffer from mental illness is often colored or shaped by cultural mores, pressures, and problems of adjustment to the broader outlines and great freedoms of life in America. Having been intrigued by the study of psychology since I was an adolescent, I decided to major in this area as an undergraduate student. Now, at 27, I have an adequate level of preparation, maturity, and professional experience to make a profound success of graduate school and fully excel. The University of XXXX is my first choice based on extensive research, convincing me that your program is the best fit for my interests, preparation, and potential. I am especially drawn to the international recognition of your program as one of the finest in clinical psychology in the world. I look forward with keen anticipation to an extremely rigorous learning experience in assessment and intervention techniques with a solid grounding in psychopathology research. Research is my greatest passion and working as a research psychologist in a university setting is for me the greatest joy; and I look forward to a lifetime of professional discovery in the academic world. My linguistic abilities are highly developed, being fully fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese as well as English. I am also fluent in Teochew, a unique Chinese dialect, and these abilities will help me in the future with both my research and my teaching, especially insofar as these take place in an international context with international or cross-cultural interests at the forefront. Another cornerstone of my application to your program is my extensive volunteer work with both the Singapore XXX for Mental Health (Club 3R/Oasis Club), and the XXX Association for the Deaf (Public Education group), I am an enormously hard worker who is very determined to give 100% on a professional level to become the most effective professional that I can become. Having always wanted to pursue an academic career, I have placed special emphasis on the development of my research skills ever since I was an undergraduate student, working very hard, and accumulating a great deal of research experience, as a research assistant after my first degree and now in my current position as a research fellow in a major university. The greatest contribution that I might be able to make to society would be to help us to increase our understanding of clinical and personality disorders as part of Asian society and culture, most specifically, in Singapore. Studying and doing research in the United States has left me convinced that Western theories in clinical psychology and personality have enormous potential for being adapted to non-Western societies, and I see this whole question itself as having great merit. Thus, I am primarily concerned with the complex interception between personality and identity-culture, cross culture, assimilation on the one hand, and psychopathology on the other. There is a profound need for Asian psychologists to receive training directly from Western-educated professionals to successfully promote and advance this field throughout Asia. I addition to my elevated levels of motivation and determination, I am also a compassionate woman with a deep and abiding optimism concerning human nature and the possibilities of science. I am well read and well-travelled having visited China, Hong Kong, the UK, in addition to the USA. And I have been to Greece for annual psychology conferences for the past 3 years. These experiences have served to enhance my fascination with culture and psychopathology and I bring an open mind and heart to your program, full of questions and a great zeal for learning. Your program is my first choice because of its profound strength and excellence in the areas of psychopathology and personality research, and the enormous respect that I have for the proven research records of your faculty members. I am also very drawn to the study of children, and I am also intrigued with the possibility of having the opportunity to study them more closely in the future and specialize in this area as well, the Developmental Psychopathology and Clinical Science track. I think that the issue of developmental psychopathology in children is especially well oriented to the study of culture and would fit quite naturally with my study of psychopathology as related to the development of cultural identity. I want to thank you for consideration of my application. PHD Clinical Psychopathology Chinese Personal Purpose

Conscious of myself as a young Mexican woman, I also think of myself as a global citizen, thriving most of all on multilingual and multicultural communication. Now twenty-two, I have learned the profound value of being a good communicator, practiced, precise, kind, a good listener, and a team player. My first choice for graduate study is at the University XXX in their Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program because I am seeking a world-class doctorate in Clinical Psychology that will optimally prepare me for a long and distinguished career in forensics, or a related avenue of research and development. Above all, it is the criminal mind that draws me to psychology. Gearing up for Law School, your program would provide the optimal intellectual platform for that aspiration as well. I am convinced that the area of criminology is especially well understood within the cognitive/-behavioral tradition and that psychology is fundamental to the development of just laws for the socially deviant, laws that can address our complex criminal realities in increasingly efficacious ways. I am especially looking forward to doing graduate work in the mental health of our at-risk populations, adolescent and adult, incarcerated youth, especially at-risk populations, and the long-term effects of childhood victimization. The bulk of my research so far has been on adolescent females in juvenile hall, yet I very much look forward to a lifetime of professional research concerning underserved or at-risk populations of all age groups. After completing my Ph.D., I plan to explore a career in criminology in addition to going into private practice. My ideal job would be a Psychological Profiler for either the FBI or with a police department. I hope to work in a proactive mode, protecting potential victims from would-be perpetrators. Raised in a bi-lingual family, I have always tilted to the English and recovering or discovering my capacity to be elegant in Spanish has been difficult. Yet, I fully intend to continue to uncover and elaborate the Spanish-speaking part of my identity. I am sensitive to the need to improve in my Spanish, especially writing. So, I have taken to Spanish poetry as therapy and traveled to Mexico to work in orphanages, helping to build homes and spending a long time in a retirement center with elderly residents. Always placing a heavy value on cross-cultural diversity, in LA I volunteered for an organization that helped immigrants from Africa get adjusted to America; and spent a year as a religious studies assistant teacher at my church where I worked directly with children and adolescents from 10-15. I have spent most of the last two years doing research that included going into the Santa Clara detention center and interviewing incarcerated girls. I am extremely hardworking and passionate. Although my GRE scores are not strong, except for the analytical section, I have proven my ability as a student by graduating with honors in both of my majors, even taking as much as twenty-four units a quarter. Often the head of my team for group assignments, I always struggled to make our team as diligent and productive as possible. PHD Clinical Psychology Personal Statement of Purpose

I am an African American woman, born and raised in Georgia and now living in Honolulu, Hawaii. I have studied Sociology and Social Work at XXXX State University. As a child, I became aware of domestic and sexual abuse suffered by relatives and neighbors but lived in a culture where those who were aware of these situations were expected to 'mind their own business', and usually did so. Even as a child, I knew that this was wrong and that someone should be reporting and intervening in these situations. As an adult, I suffered physical abuse myself at the hands of a partner and once I recovered, I decided that I wanted to be one of those who stepped in to help those who were suffering. Hence, Social Work and my determination to earn the MSW degree and start ‘making a real difference’. I regard social work much more as a vocation than merely a career choice. It is my social, moral, and even spiritual expression. I am particularly interested in working in a military environment and it is my long-term goal to be employed as a specialist in military related social work. I have served in the military and am a disabled veteran. I am also the spouse of a serving soldier. Because of this background and experience, I am personally aware of the pressures arising through separation from family, the need to regularly re-adjust to new localities and people, exposure to physical danger, the eventual need to successfully re-integrate into civilian life and the many other unique demands of military life. I can relate directly to the problems suffered by soldiers and their families and will be able to draw upon my own, similar, experiences in assisting them. My own military career was an incredibly positive experience. Among other things, it enhanced my self-respect and self-confidence, and it taught me how to work in a team. I was always regarded as a good ‘team player’ with a readiness to share and to assist. I regard these experiences as being highly relevant to success in this program At one stage in my life, I suffered domestic abuse and subsequently volunteered to work in the Domestic Violence shelter that had provided me with help. Because of my own experiences, I was able to empathize fully with clients and provide living proof that positive outcomes were possible, no matter how bleak the future seemed at that moment. I found boundless joy in helping people who were initially deeply distressed, disorientated, and felt themselves somehow to be blameworthy. This was a pivotal experience in my life. I realized that I was the kind of person who could ‘reach out’ successfully and make a difference in the lives of others. If the clients learned from me, I also learned from them about the very wide variety of reactions to distress and misfortune that occur, the fact that everyone really is unique and requires ‘tailor made’ care and help. I also learned, to my initial surprise, that domestic violence happens to people of every cultural and social background and not merely the poor. I have also worked as a volunteer with an organization that represents the interests of abused and neglected children in court. I have been trained by a non-profit organization called CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) to act as an advocate for such children in the courts. The children concerned have suffered abuse or neglect and the courts seek to have them safely and permanently homed. I acted as a friend to the child and as a factfinder reporting directly to the judge. I was required to thoroughly research the child’s background, to speak for the child in court and to assist the court and child towards a swift and appropriate conclusion. This work has been another, and incredibly significant, formative experience in my life and has provided me with great satisfaction, indeed joy. A successful outcome is life-changing for an underprivileged and deserving child. The other successes in my life have been dwarfed by those obtained in doing this work that positively changes the lives of children. The children have acted as examples of resilience, patience, and humor in the face of always difficult, and sometimes extremely distressing, situations that have been inspirational to me. I interacted with Social Workers during this work and have acquired a deeper understanding of their role. It has also demonstrated to me how different providers and organizations interact efficiently to reach early and desirable conclusions. This experience fired a desire to work with families and specifically for the benefit of children and took me to the next step on my journey. During the last two semesters of my Social Work program, I completed two internships and was employed as a Case Manager for the Department of Family and Children Services in XXXX Georgia. The most important aspect of the work related to the assessment of risk to children arising in their home environments. I quickly became aware that the responsible adults were often deeply suspicious and highly defensive because of their fears that our interest was only in removing the child or children. I became practiced in finding the balance between our primary concern for the welfare of the child while reassuring the responsible adults about our role in seeking to identify and offer help in solving the problems and stresses in the family that caused the risk. Successful outcomes have provided me with enormous satisfaction. During my life, I have worked and socialized with people of a wide variety of cultural and social backgrounds. Military service took me to Germany for three years and I have also travelled to Canada and extensively within the US. ‘People are people’ and I find no difficulty in getting along with them no matter how great the apparent gap in our cultural background or life experiences. The definition of Social Work that I think is most accurate is that it is ‘all about people’, that it involves forming positive relationships with clients as an advisor, advocate, counselor or listener with the end of helping them to live their lives more successfully and by helping them to find practical and successful solutions to their problems. I also understand that reaching successful conclusions may involve interaction with families, friends and other relevant organizations and parties. I am also aware of the immense value of a smile when reaching out to others. I am genuinely interested in helping others. My social work experience has taught me to be realistic but optimistic and to persevere even in the face of clients who might be difficult to help. I am very aware of the fact that people in distress do not always put their thoughts into words and that a sensitive appreciation of the importance of non-verbal signals is an important feature of the work. I am emotionally mature and know how to communicate clearly and with personal authority, when it is necessary to do so. I am personally aware of the chaotic thoughts and feelings that result from acute distress and the absolute need for a determined and focused attitude on the part of the person assisting in such situations. I am the sort of person who can provide that determination and focus while exhibiting patience and understanding. I know that situations calling for professional intervention are often extraordinarily complex and that the complexities may not be immediately apparent, that careful and sensitive investigation is required to define underlying problems and identify viable solutions. I have the personal qualities required of an excellent and highly effective Social Worker. I also believe that my voluntary activity, social work experience and military background will enable me to offer incredibly significant and relevant skills and knowledge to the master's program. I look forward to sharing these benefits with my class. Most importantly, I will bring a genuine and passionate desire to help others through social work. I am convinced that the training and knowledge provided by the program will enable me to fulfill my potential to ‘make a difference’. Thank you for considering my application. MSW Social Work Personal Purpose Statement Military

I hope to attain a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in Healthcare from XXXX University because I very much admire the reputation of your university in global health. I have spent my entire life in El Paso, Texas, right across the Rio Grande River from Ciudad Juarez. As a result, primarily of drug trafficking, by many indicators, this is the most violent city in the world. Even though I am of Mexican origin and speak Spanish fluently, in addition to reading and writing, I have not yet gotten to know Mexico well and I look forward to a full immersion in nursing issues with respect to Mexico in particular, in addition to the Developing World in general. At this stage of my life, I want very much to recover the Mexican part of my identity, and to take full advantage of my Spanish, using it professionally in the service of those who are most vulnerable, in my case, across the river in Ciudad Juarez. I am particularly interested in the health of pregnant mothers and working to lower infant mortality rates which are exceedingly high in Ciudad Juarez. I see XXU as the best place for me to study to learn how to best practice global health as a professional administrator working to bridge the many gaps that exist in health care on different sides of the border. After completing my MBA at XXU, I hope to return to the El Paso area fully equipped to launch this new phase of my professional life in Spanish, and in Mexico. Earlier in my career, I volunteered as a parish nurse for a local Lutheran church and assisted in blood drives and health fairs. As my children entered school, I would also volunteer in school, sports, and extracurricular activities. I have worked in various areas of nursing care including Step down neonatal intensive care, AIDS patients, and general, plastic, reconstructive, gynecological, and orthopedic surgery. Presently, I am the Director of Nursing for an Ophthalmic Surgery Center and continue to work part time in a surgical setting at a local hospital. Your Healthcare Administration Program is my first choice for graduate school because for me XXU is synonymous with the study of global health. I want very much to study towards my master's degree not only online, but at the flagship university on the forefront of putting healthcare into global perspective. I am convinced that your program at XXU is the best fit for me to proceed with and to put my twenty-five years of nursing experience to beneficial use giving my all to your program. I intend to excel because I want to learn everything that I can, especially about the nursing care of children in developing countries. I am especially excited about using my MBA from XXU as a bilingual professional. I thank you for considering my application to your distinguished program. MBA Online Healthcare Administration Personal Statement

New England has always been my home, finishing Smith College in 1986, I earned my MBA at Georgetown in 1990 and went on to success in the business world. While I have enjoyed business, it has been my volunteer work which has most fulfilled me and given me my pride and joy: health administration. I like to think that I have outgrown the banking industry on a human level and want to now direct my career towards serving on teams in the business of healing, incorporating more humanity and nobility into my life’s work. As an equestrian, I serve as a volunteer board member of two therapeutic riding centers where we work with people struggling with autism, blindness, cerebral palsy, and many other maladies. My growing interest in healing and healthcare has led me to this application to your distinguished master's degree in healthcare administration program. The skills that I have learned throughout the course of many years in the banking industry will enable me to hit the ground running and excel in your program, especially since they are coupled to my passion for healthcare: issues, concerns, new horizons, etc. XXXX University Executive Master of Health Administration is my first choice for further study for a variety of reasons, my attraction to the structure of your program, mostly online, location, curriculum; it all seems to have been tailored to meet my lifestyle, interests, and responsibilities. In 2014, I was honored by XXXX Magazine in Greenwich, CT for my lifetime endeavors as an equestrian and polo player. I could not be more keenly aware of how privileged I am, have always been, and will quite likely always be. Thus, I now want desperately to make that privilege translate into helping to heal those who are less fortunate, those who are ill, and those members of my community who are suffering. My experience of service as a volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House of NYC has also proved to be determinative in my desire to move from the world of banking to that of health administration. I have watched families struggle mightily to get what their child needs, while others navigate the system seamlessly. I have heard stories of bureaucratic nightmares that some parents faced that brought me to tears; thus, I want to devote the balance of my professional lifetime to fixing, streamlining, improving what I can for as many as I can in my community, especially the vulnerable with few resources. I have years of management experience, team leadership, talent building, managing budgets, re-structuring management systems, enhancing focus on client/user experience, working in dynamic environments, empowering talent. I have built businesses from the ground up and I believe that much of my MBA skill set will help me to make important contributions to health care administration. I want to become a mover and a shaker in health care administration.  I have always immensely enjoyed working with health care lenders in my group, helping hospitals to grow and doctors to expand or improve their practices. I thrive as part of a greater cause, helping to create healthier communities, making a difference, and effecting positive change is what fills me with energy and keeps me going. I feel very strongly, deep down inside, that it is simply wrong for some members of our community to have access to the finest medical care in the world and others none. I want to put my master's degree in health administration at XXXX to work, developing meaningful solutions to complex problems in healthcare, especially the challenges represented by the healthcare needs of the underserved. As a result of my experience at XXXX, I hope to become an innovative health care leader, managing a variety of groups of talented professionals and their institutions, streamlining budgets, and addressing administrative needs in creative ways that increase efficiency, bringing out the best in institutions and people alike. I am highly confident in my ability to do this because, at XXXX, I will learn from the best to be the best and go on to represent XXXX University and its top-notch reputation with great honor and dedication. Thank you for considering my application. Master’s Health Administration Personal Statement of Purpose

Coming from an activist family of humanitarians, studying psychology is a natural choice since I am drawn to the helping professions and deeply inspired by positive thinking and optimism. I hold the psychology program at U___ in special regard as I am a fan of the positive intellectual direction of your department. I am deeply devoted to research, and I am now sufficiently mature at 29 to achieve my optimal performance in your program, contributing to its diversity as a Korean American woman. Born in the US but raised mostly in Korea, I am completely bicultural and bilingual, and this will contribute to the direction of my professional development. My mother runs a foundation for underprivileged children in Korea called Woori-Nuri. Most of the children that we work with have been the victims not only of acute poverty but also domestic and sexual violence. My father is the president of Rehabilitation International-Korea, an organization serving the physically disabled. For me, having been raised by compassionate parents whose lives have long been geared towards the service of those who need us the most, preparing myself for a life of service seems especially appropriate, and psychology is what most appeals to me intellectually, providing me with an avenue to combine the scientific study of human nature with humanitarian initiatives for society. Other than my passion for positive psychology and positive thinking, I have no fixed or rigid professional interests; yet I am also very attracted to your program because of the way that students are free to define their own unique fields of interest or special focus for research. I especially look forward to a rigorous exposure to the vast range of theoretical, historical, and philosophical foundations of psychology, which will prepare me to eventually contribute to the field in some way that speaks to my Korean American identity. My long-term professional goal is to help institutions and agencies assist marginalized or underserved populations. It is my hope that the training that I will receive in your program will help me to be able to employ and disseminate positive psychology at the service of humanitarian organizations and the development of their policy initiatives, doing research concerning and training students in and professionals engaged in the helping professions. In 20XX, my father ran for a senate seat in Korea. For this reason, I had to take a break from my undergraduate studies in the US and go to Korea to assist his campaign. While my father was unsuccessful in a remarkably close race, campaigning on his behalf was one of the most vibrant learning experiences that I have ever have, exposing me to the profound complexity of political intrigue and the interplay of socio-economic variables in human interactions. For the first time, I had broad exposure to many people from the lower socio-economic levels of Korean society and this afforded me with the invaluable opportunity not only to appreciate my own heritage, but to better understand how entrenched often insurmountable the obstacles are to the achievement of a full human fulfillment. I am now able to appreciate the need much better for humanitarian programs that help to fill voids in the social sphere that are simply not met by governments. After graduating from college, I started doing volunteer work and founded an organization named Polaris along with seven friends. Polaris is a non-profit charity organization that seeks to provide support for underprivileged children by delivering appropriate care and attention. As a result of contacting several organizations for children, the Save the Children Foundation of Korea informed us that they needed tutors for abandoned and abused children staying in the Joyful Group home. In this way I began to teach these children math and English and once a week all Polaris members would take them on a picnic or to a baseball game or musical. This experience helped to reflect upon the important needs of neglected children and how to best go about addressing those needs in ways that will be lasting and provide solid foundations for development into adults. My interests soon led me to earn a master's degree in social work at XXX where I became most passionate about the need for hope and empowerment to achieve success and find happiness. During my clinical experience, I learned a great deal about society from my clients; one lady, for example, a domestic violence survivor, undocumented immigrant, and mother of four children who worked as a housekeeper and sought solace in marijuana, struggling to help her overcome her depression was indeed a mammoth challenge. Victims of physical violence, most of whom suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome have been my most powerful mentors to date, not only helping me to appreciate the depth of human agony, but also the courage of hope and the resiliency and possibility of love. Seeing many of these women succeed, finding employment and leaving the women's shelter brought great hope and joy to me as well. These experiences have left me with a lasting commitment to the concept of empowerment, something which I hope to build upon in your program. Returning to Korea, I was privileged to be offered an instructor position at Soong-Shil University by the professor who was also the dean of the School of Social Work and served as my advisor. I began teaching English in the context of life skills and social issues and was able to work in basic theories and principles of psychology into course materials by, for example, assigning students to design recreational games that incorporate theories of perception and explaining personality disorders by using characters from popular TV shows. After I got married, I worked as a social worker at ____ Family Welfare Center, providing me with hands on experience in addressing family needs, dealing with handicapped adults, struggling against learned helplessness, and developing a greater appreciation for the importance of understanding and empathy for alleviating depression. When I came back to the US to finish my degree, I did an independent study with Dean ____ about Developmental Life Course Theory and I came across positive psychology; it was exactly what I was searching for: a perfect approach to the empowerment of people who feel hopeless. Through my social work experience, I have come to realize that without learning the tools and developing sufficient intellectual maturity for doing professional research, I would soon face a wall. I need to learn how to think critically and systematically, collecting data and evaluating evidence, and testing hypotheses so that I can someday publish about empowerment in the most effective way possible, thereby making the meaningful contribution that I crave in this area. My application to your program is bolstered by several invaluable professional experiences such as working with the University C-Stars Project studying immigrant parents and children and their acculturation challenges, as well as working at a Korean resource center, researching the prevalence of dementia and depression among older Korean immigrants. These experiences have helped me to better appreciate how research and practice should go hand in hand. Your program is the optimal program for me to learn how to fulfill my central professional dream of disseminating positive psychology to organizations working on behalf of the disadvantaged, underserved, and most vulnerable members of our society. I deeply appreciate your consideration of my application. PHD Psychology Statement Helping Underserved Children

Earning my BS in Biology with a minor in Psychology at XXXX University has had significant repercussions in my life that I never foresaw, events that have placed my feet irrevocably on the path of Psychology and particularly Marriage and Family Counseling. Indeed, my academic foundation in Psychology not only aided me in my own life, but also, saved my parent's marriage. While my friends have always turned to me with their problems, commenting on my ability to help them see things more clearly, and bring a sense of calm to their assorted difficulties, seeing them work through their problems and get results is a source of immense personal and even spiritual satisfaction for me. XXXX's graduate Counseling Psychology program is more than a logical choice for me, it is a natural choice given my sensibilities, abilities, and passion for helping others. Earning my MA in Counseling Psychology will enable me to make my ambitions, goals, and dreams a reality. In terms of my academic goals, there are many factors to consider, and many situations to be prepared for in the clinical setting. Psychologists encounter patients that are from widely diverse backgrounds and cultures, and they need to be prepared for this. Coming from an Iranian family, I was raised with one view of the world, but have also traveled to ten countries spread across four continents with my worldviews in constant evolution. I have immersed myself in American culture, walking more than a mile in the shoes of the immigrant, struggled with acculturation, ignorance, and am an amalgam of my dual experiences, having observed, and appreciated the myriad cultures that abound in this incredibly diverse nation. I bring with me to the graduate program a solid academic foundation coupled with practical experiences within an Iranian orphanage and my ongoing sponsorship of a child foundation organization. In this age of ever-increasing divorce rates in the US, where broken homes are becoming statistically the norm, it is my aim to bring about sustainable change within communities, increasing people's awareness of the seriousness and commitment of a successful marriage, equipping families and couples with positive living resources. It is my enthusiasm, dedication and critical thinking skills that have gotten me this far, and have led me to this moment, eager to succeed in the graduate program. Thank you for your time and consideration. MA Personal Purpose Counseling Psychology Editing