GKS Personal Statement
- Motivations with which you apply for this program
- Educational background
- Significant experiences you have had; persons or events that have had a significant influence on you
- Extracurricular activities such as club activities, community service activities or work experiences
- If applicable, describe awards you have received, publications you have made, or skills you have acquired, etc.
I still remember during my elementary school time, I always asked my mom to bring me to the bookstore. The other kids may ask their parents to take them to touristy places, yet, bookstores hold more value to indulging the little Nadya and her mind rather than going places. Once I found interesting books, I would just lose track of time and stay in the bookstore for the whole day. Every year at the end of the school semester, I would already have an extensive list of books to be finished. That's how much I have loved literature since an early age. After thousands of hours dwelling myself on various literature both nonfiction and fiction, I've come to the realization of how powerful words can be. Imagine, from words alone, it can shape minds and move hearts. "Words have the power to make things happen". That is what Frederick Buechner believes that I keep going back to. With that much adoration of literature, it only makes sense to me to pursue my bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature at Universitas Sebelas Maret. Studying English Language and Literature draw me deeper to not only learn about literature work but also other subjects, such as Public Relations. In this area, words would furthermore prove the ability to make practical impacts that deliver messages and influence people in taking decisions through the words. It can also change people's perception through the Public Relations campaign. Not only that, a continuation of publication and reception of language will also eventually build up people's mindset. Those exposures to Public Relations made up my mind to be a professional PR specialist so I can take advantage of the thing I love the most into a valuable tool not only for myself but also for the public interest.
Besides being enlightened about Public Relations from the curriculum, I also realized the impact of Public Relations in my non-academic activities during my undergraduate course period. As a part of Universitas Sebelas Maret's marching band group, I helped the team win 2nd place in the international competition in Thailand 2017. In this competition, our team consisted of 100 people where miscommunication and miscoordination easily occur. I realized the team needs effective communication and efficient coordination so as the coach assistant, I picked my words and position carefully when talking to other team members to help convey the vision and message from the coach and team leader. Besides, participating in international competition was not an easy fight for us. We have to handle the sponsor ourselves and there was a lot of pressure to not let it all go to waste. However, with the media exposure both conventional (flyer and brochure) and digital (Instagram), we can gain awareness from targeted sponsors among national marching accessories brands. Thankfully by the departure, the amount of funding we gathered was enough to participate in the competition with more than enough preparation. Joining this club helped me in improving a lot of my skills, not limited to music but also in my communication skills, team working and creativity. With these certain skills, I continue to excel in interpersonal relations both academic and non-academic. At one point, I was acknowledged as one of the candidates to represent my department for a fully-funded exchange program at the University of Malaya. Not only adding international experience for the students, but this program also set the cultural exchange between Indonesia-Malaysia in order to strengthen relationships for the two countries.
Moreover, to grow a solid network off-campus and build strong interpersonal skills, I joined various volunteer activities from communities focusing on the growth of unprivileged children to a community focusing on enterprises and growing small businesses. Being a team player across different fields helped me open up to new knowledge and learnt how to finish different problems in different areas. Here, I was also polishing the skills I have established before, especially my interpersonal skills where I need to communicate with a lot of diverse people with different backgrounds and ages (kids and adults). Diction is something I have to consider carefully to deliver my message well. Besides, I also did some gigs as event planner for a few local or national projects. One of my biggest projects as an event planner was BEKRAF 2019 in Solo. BEKRAF is an annual event of the Creative Economy Agency of Indonesia to help promote Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Indonesia Culture. Public Relations have an important role in this event. The detailed information about this event was shared across digital media and the collaboration with local and national media was conducted to reach more audiences. Flawlessly, it reached more than 90,000 visitors in 3 days which exceeded the expectation. It also helped thousands of SMEs join this event to introduce their business to the customers. Even though my schedule seems full with these extracurricular activities, I keep my academic goal clear to finish my study on time and keep a high performance which resulted in me having a GPA of 3.51/4.00 upon graduation. I wouldn't be able to get this degree if it was not for my parents. They gave their best in supporting my tuition even after their business went down. Despite all their limitations, they always see education as the top priority as it can change people's lives or even the world.
After graduation, I started my career in the Public Relations field as the first step to run towards my long-term goal. I work as a freelance content writer in the beauty industry. My written works are published on social media and blogs to raise my client's brand awareness and public exposure. My works also help the brand to reach its target user by influencing the readers. I am also juggling in a social community to help educate children during pandemic times. I'm glad that I can bring a positive impact to the community and reach thousands of audiences with my skill as a Public Relations & Partnership Specialist in content creation and negotiation. Since our organization is relatively young, it needed extra effort to be trusted by donators and partnerships. However, with all the effort, our organization succeeded in distributing more than 300 education modules to several areas in Indonesia. Working as a content writer and PR specialist, I gained knowledge in communication and skill to be a better writer. With those experiences & knowledge in the Public Relations area, I realize I still need deeper knowledge in Consumer Behavior, Strategic Communication, Crisis Management, PR Planning, and International and Global Public Relations for my goal to be a Professional Public Relations Specialist. That's why I am convinced to pursue a master's degree in Public Relations at Korea University, Sogang University, or Keimyung University. These three universities offer Public Relations and Advertising Program under Media and Mass Communication Department with courses that interest in Public Relations especially Public Relations Planning and International Public Relations as these courses will enable me to understand the effective strategies in different countries with dissimilar cultures.
Other countries may offer similar PR master's degrees but I have my eyes on South Korea. One time during college, I did some research on the effectiveness of a few tourism marketing texts from different countries that are written for the government website as promotional of their countries. I am astonished by how effective the text from Korea is in attracting the audience using the language style, diction, and storytelling method. I did an in-depth test for the words used in the articles. The result concluded that the Korean text is more effective to attract the audience by the words of choice. The output of my research was also supported by the fact that the number of foreign visitors to South Korea is increasing every year. This indicates that Korea can implement the theory of Public Relations into practical projects and successfully built an impressive global image contributed by how it is represented by the Public Relations team in charge. On top of that, South Korea is the world leader in internet connectivity with nearly 95% of the population now having high-speed access. That way the transmission of information within society is among the fastest in the world so stakeholders such as companies or organizations must be cautious in spreading information to the public from ads, content, etc. With that label, many foreign investments rapidly take part in the communication and information growth in South Korea. With all those chances, I can say that the need for PR specialists will increase at the same speed as well. Therefore, South Korea is a perfect place for me to learn about the development of Public Relation in the digital era.
In short, continuing my master's degree in Korea will be a great asset to achieve my dream to be a Professional Public Relations Specialist and influence the world through my content. Global Korea Scholarship will be very helpful financially while I am studying there without burdening my parents. Besides, I believe after getting the master's degree in South Korea, on top of the Korean Language skill I would have after finishing the one-year program as part of GKS, I can be a communicator between Korea-Indonesia. As the popularity of Korean products is flourishing, from K-Pop to Korean skincare, there's a slight chance of the birth of Anti-Korea ideology in the local society. Therefore, I believe a Public Relations specialist position is a key to make the image acceptable among the targeted audience, covering the method of publication, in-depth words of choice based on the rooted background of the language, and other small details. With me as a Public Relations specialist that understands both sides well, I am confident it will bring greater goods to both parties.