Master of Education in Higher Education Administration, Personal Statement Example

I am applying the Master of Education in Higher Education Administration in Northeastern University because I want to improve my knowledge of education administration. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2013. As a student, I become immersed in my love for teaching. From 2009 to 2013, I served as an online teacher for a Chinese course in addition to an online educator for an ESL course. These experiences helped introduce me to my love for teaching and helped me gain a comprehensive understanding of the skills I would need to best serve my students. Even though I taught online courses during this time, I felt that I was able to connect with my students on a personal level, and I gained a greater knowledge of their educational and personal needs from the time we spent together. As a consequence, I believe that my expertise allowed them to gain a greater appreciation for Chinese and the English language.

During my time as a student in addition to the years following my graduation, I worked as an English teacher for Shenzhen Luohu Foreign Languages School and a K1 Teacher Assistant for Pengxing Kindergarten. These two experienced helped add to my expertise that I had already acquired as an online language teacher. Because I worked for two different schools, I was able to gain an understanding of how different administrative processes relate to the success of academics. Furthermore, my opportunity to work with a kindergarten class was revolutionary for my own mode of thought because for the first time, I had the ability to experience working with younger students. These positions were helpful because they allowed me to gain an appreciation of the various teaching methodologies that are most appropriate for learners of different ages. Even though I learned a lot about teaching techniques and the underlying psychology of teaching in my undergraduate program, I believe that this hands on experience was an import part of allowing me to analyze how this learning operates in the real world setting. Overall, a lot of the techniques we learn to use are not applicable for every individual in the prescribed age group. This allowed me to notice that personalized learning is needed in the classroom, which could be facilitated through both group and independent work. Individual students cannot simply be treated as a member of the pack; since each child learns differently, it is important to utilize differentiation in the classroom to ensure that their unique learning style and needs are met.

My first experience as an education administrator was the Associate with the Manager of Documentation Department position I held in 2011 for the Shinyway Education Shenzhen Branch. This was an important experience for my decision to become an education administrator because it allowed me to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the role that each member of the administrative team served. As a result of this experience, I became more aware of the responsibilities I would need to enact as an administrator and I became committed to my goal to work as an international education administrator following graduation. Since I have a knowledge of the education systems in both the United States and China, I believe that I am uniquely able to achieve this career goal.

I believe that your program will allow me to prepare for my future success in this field. Although I have a large amount of education experience, I want to supplement my current level of knowledge with more administration specific understandings. Furthermore, I wish to use my knowledge of both the American and Chinese education systems to draw connections between the two, and recommend positive practices that occur in either system to practices in the other. Even though both education systems have become relatively stable in the previous years, there are cultural and financial constraints that prevent the complete success for either system. In addition, there are many common themes between the two systems that have indicated success. For example, technological requirements for education programs are becoming increasingly important in both education systems. Overall, gaining a more comprehensive understanding of the similarities and the differences between both systems would help both countries gain an advantage in their education implementation. Therefore, this is an important understanding because it can help foster the learning process of large portions of the world’s population.

I believe that obtaining a Master of Education in Higher Education Administration from Northeastern University will help me achieve these education goals through the rigorous and inclusive coursework available. Furthermore, the program has many professional research mentors available that I believe I could work with closely in order to achieve this process. I know that if I am able to receive training in this program, I will be able to gain a better understanding of the education administration process that will help me achieve my goals. I therefore look forward to hearing from you to further discuss my candidacy.