Business

Although I value modesty as an integral feature of a balanced, mind, for purposes of this essay I feel compelled to stress and illustrate the unique and precise reasons why I believe that I would be an excellent candidate for admission to the University of Washington.  Unlike other candidates who might merely emphasize what they seek for themselves, I believe that in addition to pursuing my own specific individual goals that I would be able to bring new ideas and a diverse background experience that would benefit other students, my professors, and the classes in which I would enroll.  This is because, as an international student with some experience having already studied in the United States, I have previous academic and cultural experiences in both Honk Kong and Indonesia.  I have therefore a number of diverse experiences in Hong Kongs vibrant trading atmosphere, Indonesias moderate Muslim atmosphere, and most recently in Americas technologically advanced standards of living here in Seattle where I am currently attending community college in North Seattle.  My interests in business and commercial trade have been long-standing interests and I selected and pursued a commerce emphasis during my high school studies.  In addition to pursuing business-related subjects in my formal academic programs of study, I have also consistently sought to supplement my academic studies with practical business experiences in the real world.  To this end, working for my parents company, I gained valuable experience working as an assistant accountant for a company engaged in international business consequently at a comparatively young age I gained much experience dealing with the accounting and financial aspects of both domestic and international business transactions.  This was especially useful as I was able to see how theory learned in the classroom, sometimes rather abstract types of theory, could be applied in the real world.  This is my main reason for applying to the University of Washington more specifically, this program has a faculty which has expertise in international commerce and which is ideally located on the Pacific Rim.  More, the program emphasizes an international business orientation, it seeks to bridge theory and practice, and it acknowledges that business ethics and cultural understandings are quite important in the modern business context.  I believe that my background meshes perfectly and quite harmoniously with these business missions.

In addition, from a personal history perspective, I believe that I would be a valuable addition to the program for several reasons.  As mentioned, I have attended schools in Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the United States here in Seattle.  This has, in turn, necessitated special types of learning and knowledge that contribute to my suitability as a candidate.   I can speak, for example, five languages.  These languages include Cantonese, Chinese, Indonesian, English, and Hokkian.  This allows me, because language incorporates cultural values, to more deeply understand what different people value and how these values are expressed in daily life or even in business contexts.  Some cultures seek consensus as a dominant value whereas others seek advantage.  I believe that I can share these insights with my fellow students and professors that will enliven and provide a richer context to class discussions and analyses.  I am currently finishing my studies at the community college in North Seattle, these studies will conclude in the spring, and I am hoping to enroll at the University of Washington shortly thereafter.

In terms of career goals, I envision both short-term and longer-term career goals.  In the short-term, for instance, my goal is to be an accountant or maybe CPA and help my parents to run the company.  I have grander ambitions, however, in the long term.  The modern world of finance is certainly beset with challenges and opportunities.  To be sure, the are financial imbalances throughout the world and many of these balances have been attributed to the substantive nature of novel financial instruments and some have been attributed to human abuses rather than the inherent fallibility of certain finance instruments and financial principles.  These debates, and the underlying financial bases of these debates, relate specifically to my main research interests.  Specifically, I have been most keenly intrigued by how the evolving and frequently contradictory principles of corporate governance affect finance and how the principles of finance might be better coordinated and clarified through a more cohesive and predictable type of global corporate governance paradigm.  Corporate governance is such an important feature of finance, both in terms of public policy and in terms of substantive and procedural financial issues, because it can provide a more secure and predictable framework within which finance professionals may make decisions and weigh risks more confidently.  Though a sometimes neglected aspect of finance, the public policy and corporate policy issues are quite interesting to me and these are areas of study I would like to pursue in addition to the more specific finance topics and courses.

Finally, on a personal business ethics note, I would like to add that todays interdisciplinary world, in which once unsolvable riddles are being approached and solved in unique ways, illustrates in a superficial manner what educational institutions like the University of Washington have known in a more holistic sense for years more specifically, it is the integration of different types of knowledge that makes communities and the world a more comprehensible and ethical planet to inhabit.  I would bring a firm and well-informed ethical background to the business administration program.