Graduate School Admission, Personal Statement Example

I wish to pursue my Doctor of Philosophy in Management Research through the Said Business School so that I might continue my research and critical investigations of strategic management and decision making at the governmental level.  I obtained my Master of Sciences in Nutrition  from the University of Maryland in 2008 with a GPA of 3.4.  My thesis, “The Prevalence and Selected Determinants of Overweight and Obesity among Children and Adolescents in the City of Al-Ain, UAE,” sought to determine how socioeconomic factors contribute to the overall health of children in the United Arab Emirates.  After completing my Masters degree, I accepted a position with the UAE government to work in strategic studies.  Through this work I have been able to implement nutritional plans for impoverished children, while conducting research to better understand how to prevent children from becoming underweight or overweight.  My work with the UAE government has demonstrated that true change cannot occur in the UAE without restructuring the manner in which the government creates, organizes, and funds social programs.  To this end, I believe that I will be better equipped to implement positive governmental change with a degree that emphasizes policy development, planning, and the allocation of resources.  The Research Management strand of this program will allow me to continue my quantitative and qualitative investigations of the limitations within the current governmental structure of the UAE as it pertains to the socioeconomic conditions faced by those who rely on government assistance for support.

Although I was accepted into the PhD program at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland, I decided that it would be more advantageous for my own research aims to take a broader approach to public health.  The Oxford Management Research program will enable me to take an interdisciplinary approach to my project by combining my interests in Public Health, Nutrition, Public Policy, and Sociology.  The issue of nutrition in children is not limited to the UAE, indeed, it is a pressing concern that has implications for all nations, regardless of their level of development.  My research project will focus on the development of criteria when selecting decision-making strategies to deal with large-scale social and humanitarian issues such as the allocation of resources for the underprivileged.  Building on the work of McGuigan, Moyer, and Harris (Managerial Economics, 2008) and Qudrat-Ullah, Spector, and Davidsen (Complex Decision Making: Theory and Practice, 2010), I will develop a comprehensive approach to using theoretical management practices and holistic strategic management frameworks to create plans and policies that will be viable at the governmental level.  My deductive research approach will seek to determine whether technology and globalization require a shift in the theoretical approaches traditionally used in strategic management as it applies to developing appropriate criteria for decision making.  Although my primary interest is in how decision-making functions in a governmental environment, this work is applicable to business and social models at both the small and large scale.

After the completion of my DPhil, I intend to continue my work with the government in the UAE to help ensure the creation of a comprehensive framework for the provision of services to children and families.  The governmental structure of the UAE is complex; as a federation of seven monarchies, the political organization involves a federal, presidential, and elective monarchy headed by the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates.  Economic development in the UAE has been swift, resulting in a great deal of social uncertainty that needs to be addressed.  I am confident that by continuing my education I will become a more effective researcher and gain a better understanding of the steps necessary to bring about positive social change at the governmental level.