Marketing of Public Relation, Personal Statement Example

Majoring in Communication Studies is not only an educational process, but also inspires me with creative ideas, enabling me to transmit my thoughts to the world. It is clear that communication is the essential tool for the exchange of beliefs. Our society is full of values; people receive and deliver messages both consciously and unconsciously. During my childhood, I loved robot models because of their formidable and masculine appearance. As the years passed, I came to realize that purchasing a robot was a representation of one’s masculinity. I became aware of the relation between packaging and communicating, as this relation itself contains a set of ideologies and values. However, some advertisements have a tendency to exaggerate or omit. There was a particularly unforgettable instance for me personally, when I was 15 years of age; I was deeply concerned about my appearance. The male models shown in advertisements were tall and muscular, which strongly built the desire of being like them. Accordingly, I bought diet pills. Soon, I quit the routine, because of its strong side effect:  depression. Taking my unfortunate experience as an example, the diet pills mislead me by minimizing the negative side effects with a tiny font size. From this incident, I started to realize the power of communication. I feel that I have a strong responsibility to make a contribution, however small, to society; I believe that I can realize this aim by becoming involved in public relations and marketing, thereby communicating values or beliefs without misleading consumers and, most importantly, preventing any potentially tragic consequences.

Apart from acquiring academic knowledge through lectures and textbooks, I explored every opportunity to increase my involvement in the communications field on a practical level. In autumn 2012, I was a volunteer at the Red Cross Center. Apart from learning their kindness, I also learned the basic importance of communication, which entails a one-on-one interpersonal relation. Meanwhile, I aimed to participate in various clubs at Diablo Valley College (DVC), which were related to my major. I served in PR Marketing for the most popular cultural club at DVC, the International Student Club (ISC).  My responsibility was to promote the organization. I collaborated with those involved in Public Relation Design (PR design) to design posters or flyers, the results being a combination of their artistic imagination and my ideas. Furthermore, I was a volunteer during International Educational Week (IEW) at DVC in 2011 and 2012, which celebrates the benefits of international education and student exchanges worldwide. My responsibility was to invite all the clubs at DVC to participate. I attended the meetings of various clubs, delivering speeches about the main educational goals of IEW: a shared respect of different cultural values. With my involvement in both the ISC and IEW, I gained a proficiency for giving public speeches; I also acquired an awareness and understanding of different ways of communicating through my interactions with people in the context of a public organization. I again realized the powerful connection between advertising and communication, becoming more familiar with how to advance persuasive although ethical values in the process of creative promotion.

I intend to be a marketing of public relation in order to initiate change in Hong Kong’s advertising industry. As a student majoring in Communication Studies, I have the social responsibility to promote the communication of ethical messages, as opposed to messages that deliberately mislead consumers. By attending the University of California, I feel that my future aspirations may be realized.

My personal quality of persistence is of great significance to me, a quality that I have developed since my high school years in Hong Kong. At the time I was not a particularly good student, yet things eventually changed. In Hong Kong, all students are required to take the standardized examination (HKCEE) in order to pursue further education. However, the Hong Kong educational system announced the examination would be cancelled after the final round of such exams in 2010. Sadly, I was one of the victims: I would only have one opportunity to complete the exam. I began to worry, unable to see a ray of light in my future. During my depression, I spoke with my class teacher, expressing my concerns and frustrations to her. She advised me that it was not too late to begin to study hard, offering to provide me tutorials after school if needed. Soon, I realized there was no other option but to actively study.

With the poorly built learning foundation that I had acquired from the beginning of my high school studies, I immediately went through a series of struggles and challenges. Nevertheless, I became fearless, questioning the teacher constantly when I had problems, not missing the opportunity to ask any reasonable question that popped into my mind. More importantly, as the examination I took would be the last one, which meant that I had no second change, I told myself, “I can’t fail!” I could not let the opportunity of s completing my exams go. Ultimately, I was successful in receiving a satisfactory grade, learning from my schoolbooks as well as from the studying process itself.

Despite not receiving ideal results, I learned the basic principle of success: persistence. One is never to give up. I came to understand that we cannot take anything for granted, meaning that every opportunity must be taken seriously. Consider the aforementioned public examination (HKCEE) as an example: I would have been unable to graduate as well as feeling a strong sense of regret if I had not taken the HKCEE seriously. These experiences taught me that one must never let the opportunity depart on its own accord, but rather to assume the initiative, all the while treasuring the opportunities that are presented.

Looking back, I have changed my attitude completely. Although I experienced feelings of uncertainty in the past, I realized that I could change my life through confidence, faith, and determination. I am not sure what my future holds, but I truly believe the education that your institution offers will spark a positive influence and develop a better me.