Undergraduate / Georgetown Transfer Essay: Asian American Identity Crisis [2]

Advice of any kind is very appreciated. Also don't feel inclined to hold back out of politeness, give it to me straight if there are parts that are lackluster. Thank you so much! :)

An Asian-American Shameful Identity Crisis

Born into the world as a third generation Korean-American, I was led to believe that I was the bastard child of a supposed ignorant American culture and my "real" foreign culture unknown to me. I do not blame my parents for neglecting to teach me the culture of my people, their mindset was one of adaptability/survival as they tried to make a living in an alien environment; the most successful of their peers were born and raised Americans. It was not till my grandfather came over one fateful winter break day that the need to explore my heritage was suddenly hastened.

"Joo-Ho (my Korean name), we should talk." my grandfather says immediately after walking through the front door. We move to the dining room table where for maybe a minute or so we sat in silence - the buzz from my laptop and my grandfather's heavy breathing weighed the air. My grandfather is generally a merry, joke-cracking goofball who has always been a source of constant affection. His stern expression, which I realized was directed towards me, was entirely novel. What I anticipated to be a casual conversation with my grandpa swiftly turned into a chastisement of my failure as a Korean. He berated my inability to speak the language and my ignorance of the culture. His voice grew and grew as did his trembling. I tried to plead my innocence as a product of my uncontrollable upbringing, but he would not have it.

The last word of the conversation I remember was "shameful".

At last, after an hour of this he left me to my own thoughts. To that point, I've never really had the need to explore my Korean heritage: the majority of my friends and family spoke English and for those that did not, over exaggerated expressions and gestures sufficed. But I understood the urgency of my grandfather's words. Realistically speaking, my grandfather did not have many years left which meant anything my grandfather might want to say to me, any knowledge he would want to impart, would have to be done soon. My mother later told me that my grandfather had expressed to her that "if I died today, one of my main regrets would be not showing Joo-Ho his real jeongchae (identity)". I loved my grandfather dearly, I think it was time that I proved it. That summer I attended a grueling 3 month program at Yonsei university in Seoul, studying,eventually mastering the language, and surrounding myself with my people to find what was supposedly my true identity.

But looking back, I'm starting to realize that trying to find my Korean Seoul (pun absolutely intended) in order to find an inner identity was futile from the start. I was trying to find a separate identity which I could run parallel to my existing American one. However, being bicultural does not mean that you have to own up to one culture and give up on another. I love being American and I love being Korean, but my identity is not exclusive to either. We make too much of diasporic identity crisis. Identity is not a predetermined cultural expectation of how you should live your life nor is it a means of self-categorization, it is a culmination of all past thoughts and experiences up until the present day. Cultural hybridization simply allows me to have a larger pool of ideas and practices now and can pick from each culture what I want to practice and what appeals to me. My jeongchae goes beyond ethnicity and culture, (INSERT WITTY CLOSER)

My primary reason for transferring to Georgetown involves my recent engrossment with the international relations field. As mentioned in my other supplement essay, I have decided to further my interest in IR, however, UMD only offers a concentration in IR within the Government and Politics major. Furthermore, it is very rare for undergraduate students to perform research with government and politics professors at UMD. Being able to perform undergraduate research is very important to me as well as concentrating my studies on topics that genuinely captivate me. Contrastingly Georgetown's Walsh School of Foreign Service is an entire school devoted to international affairs and in addition provides its students myriad opportunities for undergraduate research. In addition as I'm very keen to incorporate both a business perspective alongside of an IR education, the Global Business major offered within SFS is an ideal mix.

Although I was not admitted last year, Georgetown is still my dream school and will remain to be so for the near future. What had started as a blow to my self confidence like my grandparent's stringent words became a source of motivation to strive to become better and eventually realize a goal. I want to be a part of a diverse, fascinating collection of students who understand how blessed they are to be able to attend such an elite school and thereby capitalize on every opportunity possible. I want to surround myself with peers who aspire to change the world in unimaginable ways in the city that not only encourages its constituents to do so but rather expects it. I have wanted and still want to be a Georgetown Hoya.

I love and appreciate the many friends and unforgettable experiences I've made since attending the University of Maryland, but by attending Georgetown, I'll be challenged both intellectually and socially to grow and ultimately become the very best version of myself. As Benjamin Franklin said, "without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning." (I apologize for the cliche end-of-essay quote but it seemed exceptionally apropos) Thank you for your consideration. Cheers to the future.

Undergraduate / Procrastination is a terrible, terrible technique for self induced anxiety. Would not recommend. [4]

Procrastination is a terrible, terrible technique for self induced anxiety. Would not recommend.

Advice of any kind is very appreciated. Also don't feel inclined to hold back out of politeness, give it to me straight if there are parts that are lackluster. Thank you so much! :)

Describe the development of your interest in international affairs and how you believe that pursuing your studies in the Edmund A.Walsh School of Foreign Service would serve your future goals.

It was said a few years ago that if the human race is wiped out in the next 50 years it will not be because of disease or an asteroid hitting the earth, but because of foreign policy and international relations. In a world where thousands of nuclear weapons exist and more countries are trying to acquire them, where suicide terrorist strikes come without warning and thousands die each day from poverty caused by the way the international system operates, we need to know about and understand international relations.

My interest in government and policy started from an early age. If you were to by chance look up past SGA office holders at Bond Mill Elementary school, you would see that I was the first to ever win office three years in a row (treasurer, VP, and eventually President). And although the golden years of my political record have long past, I have always tried to be actively involved with my high school and now college student government.

It was not until only recently that my interest in government and policy bled into international affairs. Last semester I took an arbitrary government class exploring the history and dynamics of Chinese-American relations in order to fulfill a requirement. What I didn't anticipate was falling in love with the subject.

The Sino-American relationship is unlike anything else in world history. I was enthralled by the clandestine Nixon/Kissinger talks with Chairman Mao; the furtive, and sometimes unethical, approaches both sides used to gain leverage over one another; the glaring problems the two countries face such as a rising push towards democratization and the increasingly frightful interdependence of the two economies - it soon became my favorite class, so much so that I have developed a novel interest in working towards a career in international affairs and by pursuing my studies at SFS, I believe I would have the best opportunity to do so.

Although the Walsh School of Foreign Service requires much of its students, it also offers countless resources and opportunities to ensure success in the IR field. The school's language requirement for one expects its student to be able "to carry on a conversation on contemporary affairs involving international affairs" by graduation. And though this seems demanding, the prospect of learning a new language, the people I will be able to meet, and the doors that will open for me as a result is electrifying, thus, I plan to enroll in the intensive language program in either China or France. In addition, many SFS students perform undergraduate research with Georgetown professors who are prominent leaders in their respective fields. To work alongside Prof. Victor Cha on eastern diplomacy or Prof. Steven Radlet on globalization economics would be nothing short of extraordinary.

While at Georgetown, I plan to enroll in the recently established Global Business major. The major's description on the website states that "the aim of the major is to produce a new breed of graduates who are fluent in the global languages of business, politics, economics, and culture." To become such a multi faceted student is a goal I hope to achieve by graduation. In a world where the private sector has become increasingly more influential in the public sphere, and economic incentives trump even the strongest of political ideals, it would be advantageous to gain a business perspective alongside my IR education.

My high-school English teacher once told a story about two younger fish that perpetually stared at one another. An elder fish swims by and mentions the ocean, to which the two fish reply: "What is the ocean?" It would be a damn shame if like the younger fish I limited myself to my comfortable American naiveté. Learning how the world works through international relations is, as one professor said, "understanding by educating empathy." There is an entire ocean out there filled with countless incredible cultures and stories that I intend to learn and explore as much of it as I can while at Georgetown.