Berkeley College, Personal Statement Example

My parents moved from Columbia in hopes of providing better future to their children. My immigrant parents still speak very little English and unlike my mother, my father didn’t even finish high school. But my parents did have the wisdom to realize the importance of education in building a great future in America, hence, their desire for me to get college degree.

Life rarely goes as planned. While I did start my college career at Berkeley College (Berkeley), intending to major in International Business, my academic path was disrupted by pregnancy. Once it was clear I am going to become a mother, I decided to switch to an associate program in Fashion Marketing. By the time, I completed my associate degree, I was already a mother to an 8-month old child. Even though I expected to pursue my undergraduate degree, being a mother had significantly changed my circumstances. The financial needs forced me to work full-time while also raising a child. But when Berkeley College encouraged me to resume my college career by forgiving my student loans, the opportunity was too good to pass on. The financial assistance inspired me to return to school and I, finally, obtained my undergraduate degree and in doing so, also fulfilled my parents’ dreams. The accomplishment also holds special value for me because I did so while also raising two children.

But it was not the end of my academic career at Berkeley. Now that Berkeley has started graduate programs, it has instilled in me a desire to further advance my academic career. As I look back at my life, my life’s choices have mostly been shaped by either my circumstances or by other’s expectations of me. I changed my major to Fashion Marketing in the best interests of my first child. Similarly, I was also inspired to complete my undergraduate degree to fulfill my parents’ dream. But for the first time in my life, I want to do something just for myself. I want to obtain graduate degree because I believe I am capable of it. I want to further push myself and discover my unrealized potential. Even though a graduate degree may help improve my financial prospects which would benefit my children, it would also enable me to pursue plans I have put on hold for a long time including travelling.

Berkeley has a very special place in my heart. Even though I am proud of myself for returning to college and obtaining my undergraduate degree, the financial assistance package from Berkeley was the trigger that put everything in motion. Now that Berkeley is ushering into a new era, I want to be one of the first individuals to obtain a graduate degree from Berkeley.

Graduate degree is also important to me because we live in an increasingly competitive world that is being shaped by the forces of globalization. It is appropriate to say we now live in a knowledge economy where having a formal college education, especially, a graduate degree provides one with significant competitive edge in the job market. I also hope my life will inspire my children that it is never too late to pursue one’s dreams. I also want to send a strong signal to my children that nothing is more important than education, especially, when it comes to our future.

I hope to inspire more people to choose Berkeley for their academic aspirations. My success will also be a tribute to Berkeley which has a rich tradition of investing in its students no matter what their background or financial circumstances may be.