I thought I'd share this although I may have told you some of these stories already. This is the personal, very non-technical essay that schools require for admission. Of course the pictures won't be included and I may tweak it a bit, but it's almost done... here we go... ;-p
Being the new kid in class is never easy at any age, but it’s considerably more difficult when you’re eleven years old, in a new country, and trying desperately to learn a new language. You would think teachers were supportive, but instead I was sent to the back corner to read the dictionary almost daily because I was just unable to keep up with the class lectures. This was, of course, not only extremely frustrating for me but rather futile being that the dictionary was all in English and I didn’t understand the definitions anyway. You see, I learned how to speak English somewhere around the age of twelve. Up until then, I was a top student in a private grade school in Santiago, Chile, where I excelled in language arts and history.

Of course I excelled in physical education because I didn’t need to speak English in order to run fast and climb ropes. I won the Most Improved P.E. Student Award in sixth grade and that was the first time I was recognized as being “good” in school in U.S. Although I was rather shy and introverted, I joined the orchestra in middle school and eventually graduated high school with the highest possible honors.

Through a temporary employment agency, I began working for a major pharmaceutical company in 1999. It turned out that I was assisting the Sr. Medical Editor with various administrative tasks and some “light” proofing. A few months later I was hired permanently and became the “Labeling Assistant” and eventually studied my way up to a “Jr. Editor.” I had absolutely no idea I had such an aptitude for language, grammar, and research. I always enjoyed reading and writing and my highest marks where in literature classes, but to make this a career was an entire other situation.

I attended college full-time climbing the corporate ladder rather quickly. I worked eight to five, ran to school six to ten and usually had a Saturday course. On my third year of college I still wasn’t sure what my major was going to be. My father said business was safe and so did my boss and co-workers. My friends said marketing would always be useful and my young sister wondered why I didn’t pursue music – I did love playing the clarinet. And then I sat in a Saturday morning British Literature class where I decided that no amount of accounting and business law would ever touch me as deeply as Clarissa Dalloway did. I decided that no corporate position could satisfy me more than reading a strange Eliot passage only to realize after deep analysis that it’s indeed a timeless masterpiece. I decided that I loved literature and would somehow make a living in the field, but not without second-guessing everything for a bit longer.

I had worked so hard climbing that silly ladder to finally earn the Technical Writer/Editor position that the fact I was still tragically unsatisfied was seriously baffling to me. So I left this great company for a much better paying copy editing job a couple years after graduating college, only to run into the same creative frustrations. I then tried real estate in search of that elusive independence and a drastic change of atmosphere. Needless to say that did not work out well and I fell back on my experience as a contracting event manager to make a living. I did not realize these small events I ran on a very part-time basis as a way to make extra money would serve as a stepping stone to a fairly fulfilling job.

Who knew there was life outside the claustrophobic cubicle and that I could actually do very well for myself as a contractor? I started as a liquor sampling girl and rather quickly landed a Market Manager position for a national adult-beverage company that allowed me to work from home and discover an entire new set of dormant skills. I even got a couple of book editing jobs through friends of friends who recommended me. I had never edited a book, but when you work for yourself, you say yes to everything and then figure out how to do it. The Chicago Manual of Style was already on my bookshelf, so I did it and did it well!

I started a blog online to share some of these growing pains with the world. My theme eventually developed into “follow your bliss” and “carpe diem!” I wrote about taking chances because nothing will be accomplished if you sit at home waiting for your destiny to happen. I wrote about my “vanilla phobia” and how my biggest fear in life was to have an insipid existence in that much dreaded “quiet desperation.” Eventually, after much self-analysis I decided to walk the walk, talk the talk, and follow my own advice. I’m going to renounce my life as I see it and go back to school because that’s how you follow your bliss! You take a gigantic leap of faith with the most austere understanding that there is nothing in the entire world you would rather do.

I’ve already worn the fancy suits and traveled in fancy first class using my corporate card. I’ve already been wined and dined by clients and industry colleagues while discussing the latest trends in the stock market. I’ve already danced the night away in South Beach and had breakfast with sleepy-eyed friends while reminiscing on the good times. I’ve already traveled the country as a brand ambassador for a Scotch whisky brand and had the opportunity to participate in major public speaking engagements. You see, I’ve already done so many things in my life that I know, as certain as the sky in blue, that this burning desire to study literature is not a whim or something that it’s just expected of me. This is not a decision I’m making while crossing my fingers and hoping it’s the correct one. I know it is and I’ve always known – I just needed to experience a few things in order to feel it in my heart.

And here I am writing a personal statement to further my studies in this language that at one point seemed so alien and so unbelievably complex. A language that I learned from scratch – verb by verb and predicate by predicate. A language that I grew to love with all its nonsensical rules and odd sounds. Eventually my ears and my tongue were able to differentiate “color” from “collar,” and “thorough” wasn’t an impossible word to spell any longer. I think graduate school will be similar and eventually I will flourish and succeed because that’s what passion and experience bring to life. I wonder what my fifth grade teacher would say now if she saw me. She might ask me to edit the dictionary instead of using it to deflect her own shortcomings. I, on the other hand, would tell her to rethink her career choice because teaching, researching, learning and loving aren’t about easy cover-ups. They’re about getting to the main idea, reading everything ever written about it, refuting everything already said, and developing a better, cleaner, thought-provoking theory. I’m up for the challenge!


(Pics via weheartit.com)

Personal Statement