Sample Statements of Purpose and Personal Statements

This statement is based on one written by a Thai student with a B.S. who was applying to M.B.A. programs in the U.S. The application presented two questions, to be answered separately. The first question asked about goals and objectives. The second question, presented here, asks for additional information. She was accepted by a good program, and has since graduated.

Question 2:
Please provide any additional information about yourself that is not covered elsewhere in this application that you believe is relevant to the Admission Committee�s evaluation of your application.

Academic Achievements, Awards, and Scholarships:

Throughout my college years, I have been fully committed to my education. For me, learning is not just taking notes from lectures. Extensive interaction with instructors and personal inquiry have been the means to my academic achievement. I graduated with a GPA of 3.43, and was awarded a Certificate of Commendation from the Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy for the highest cumulative score in the insurance major class. Also, by consistently maintaining a high cumulative score during my last two years, I received a tuition scholarship from the Thai Life Assurance Association (TLAA), one of whose aims is to support insurance education. In my first and fourth years, I was also awarded Certificates of Appreciation from the Faculty, due to my dedication to the Chulalongkorn University Academic Exhibition, Thailand�s largest academic exhibition held every three years.

Besides academic awards, I consider my Senior Project as an outstanding achievement. This project gave me an opportunity to integrate the knowledge I had learned, and to be exposed to the practical world by interacting with professionals in the field. My topic was Long Term Care Insurance (LTCI) in Thailand. I selected this topic because it is a relatively new field in Thailand, with tremendous potential for dealing with our current problems, including the demographic shift that is bringing us more of the elderly, social attitude changes in favor of being single, and increasing medical treatment costs. To conduct a feasibility study of LTCI in Thailand, I carefully studied the LTCI industry in several countries, including Germany and the United States. I also worked with local experts to learn about adjustments to the original LTCI policies that would be necessary to make them meet local conditions. My research included a field survey of Thais' attitudes toward these products. Ideally, I hope to help introduce this product to the Thai market in the future.

Although education was my primary focus while I was in Chulalongkorn University, I never overlooked the importance of non-academic activities. I was very active in various student activities, starting my first year, in which I was elected as the head of my class. In my second and third year, I headed a team responsible for promoting the visibility of the Statistics Department among high-school students around the country. I coordinated the organizing of information sessions about our academic program at forty different high schools in Bangkok, and a mailing campaign conveying this information to schools in the provinces. The project was a success, and many more high school students have chosen the program because of this promotion. My initiatives were later adopted as a routine activity of the Student Council, and institutionalized.

In 1996, I was elected President of the Student Council of the Statistics Department. In this post, I and my twenty elected board members were responsible for more than fifteen student activities, ranging from the Academic Exhibition to field trips. During my presidency, I and student leaders from the other sixteen faculties formed a working committee that successfully ran Chulalongkorn University's Academic Exhibition in 1996. I also managed a team that organize "Statistics Night", a biannual gathering where more than five hundred students and alumni of the department met to create a friendship network and exchange information. I enjoyed working with my team, and my fellow students enjoyed working with me; student participation in extra-curricular activities increased significantly toward the end of my term. My presidency reached a touching end, thanks to Thailand�s biggest consortium. The Chareon Pokphand Group (CP), which annually selects two Chulalongkorn students for prominent leadership profiles, granted me the honorable Certificate of Leadership Development after reviewing my service to the student body.

Although I have never worked at any company, my responsibilities on the Student Council have given me experiences similar to those of middle and upper management. A new graduate entering into a company will have a very slim chance of planning its future direction, carrying out financial planning, allocating budgets, managing human resources and conflicts, exercising leadership skills, or tackling structural problems in the organization. I am thankful to my colleagues, who gave me the responsibility and the opportunity to gain these precious experiences.

Given my past achievements, I am highly confident that my qualifications are sufficient to show my ability to successfully pursue your M.B.A. program.

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