Hi, the deadline's Jan 7th so I need urgent advice, thanks!
What prepares me most for the GLOCAL program is my academic and personal background. My freshman year of university, I decided I was going to grow both personally and academically throughout the four years ahead of me, and so I took part in several international events and conferences promoting global citizenship and cross-cultural communication. I participated in the Hult Prize, the world's largest student competition for social entrepreneurship. It encourages students from across the world to solve a social issue surrounding topics such as access to water, food, energy, and education. My team won the local round among 40 other teams and got to the regional finals in London. Being a part of this movement was incredible and life changing. In London, I was presented with the opportunity to meet like-minded peers who cared about the competition's cause for that year "Building sustainable, scalable start-up enterprises which restore the rights and dignity of 10 million refugees by 2022". I had mind-opening conversations and got to pitch our business idea in front of a jury made of the world's most successful entrepreneurs. The next year, I applied again for this exciting competition and won the local round, once again, and moved to the semi-final round in San Francisco to pitch our idea. I became a better public speaker, and gained confidence in my business planning skills, and became aware of the existence of a bigger world full of opportunities that expands beyond my school walls. The Hult Prize experience especially piqued my interest in social sciences with its human-oriented nature. The research I conducted to come up with a successful business idea led me to studying about different cultures and nations, their struggles, their successes, and their failures, which prepares me for the anthropological aspect of this program.
I became eager for more international experiences and started identifying as a global citizen wanting to learn more about other cultures and nations. I signed up for The Soliya Connect Program, "An online cross-cultural education program integrated in more than 200 universities across 35 nations, providing a deeper understanding of the perspectives of others on important socio-political issues and crucial 21st Century skills, including critical thinking, communication, and digital media literacy." The virtual program gave us a platform to connect and discuss social issues and come up with solutions with peers from all over the world. This program opened me up to several cultural differences and similarities and shaped my cross-cultural debating and communication skills. Summer 2018, I was selected to travel to Normandy, France to take part in the Tunisian European Forum for Peace. I had the honor to have a discussion with Ban-ki Moon, the former U.N Secretary-General about the Tunisian revolution and the Tunisian youth striving for a better future. I was the only Tunisian member of the marketing and communication team. I wrote a report about my conversation with Moon and promoted the event on Tunisian and European media. This short experience introduced me to the history of Euro-Tunisian relations and pushed me to do more research on the topic. It enhanced my writing and research skills and introduced me to a new workplace and culture where I was the only foreigner.
A few months later, I was selected among 1,200 applicants for the prestigious Thomas Jefferson Scholarship program organized by the U.S. Department of State. The program allows us to choose a field to study for an academic year in a U.S university along with a 6-month professional internship. I studied Journalism and auditioned to become the university's news anchor. I was accepted for the role, which exposed me to a multicultural environment teaching me about acceptance and open-mindedness thus greatly changing me as a person. I completed a Marketing internship in the university's marketing department introducing me to a completely different workplace and culture.
I then left for Paris for a Marketing internship at an emerging -future unicorn- French-Tunisian startup employing 15 different nationalities. The French workplace was completely different from the American one, I discovered a new culture and grew professionally in a different environment.
Post-graduation, I accepted the offer to be a Content and Communication Manager at the same startup, in their Tunis office. Working in a very fast-paced and diverse startup puts you through a variety of challenges. I learned to always multitask and wear different hats, from IT to Marketing to even HR at times. Not only does my professional background prepare me for this program, so does my academic background.
GLOCAL is the right fit for me because of its polyvalent and diverse nature combined with my curiosity to constantly learn and gain new knowledge and skills.
My academic journey is the main driver of my application to this program.
Track B complements my previous studies with its marketing and entrepreneurship focus, allowing me to further dive into the vast world of business. It gives students room for different perspectives and points of view, and a valuable insight into global economies. With my background taking several economics and business classes, I have the solid foundation to thrive and fit right in track B. The courses offered in this program relate greatly to my academic background especially the marketing and entrepreneurship courses. As for the optional and very interesting International Human Resource Management course, it will be a great skill to acquire as I aim to continue working in multinational workplaces in the short-term future. In five years, I aspire to launch my own multinational consulting company thanks to the cross-cultural skills and knowledge I will have gained through this program.
GLOCAL also touches on my personal interests such as entrepreneurship and social sciences. My interest grew so deep that I enrolled in a Native Americans culture class when I studied at The University of South Dakota. It was a wonderful experience getting to study with Native peoples and hearing their ancestors' experience and even their own especially with entrepreneurship and building long-lasting family businesses. This is why I believe my master's thesis will be related to indigenous nations and their relationship with entrepreneurship across time. Having looked at previous dissertation topics, I believe this topic fits well within the program's scope and would bring an added-value and serve as reference for future cohorts.
Furthermore, my special interest in global citizenship and development have influenced my choice to be a GLOCAL applicant: It is a program taught in different campuses, different countries, and overall different environments making me look forward to expanding my international network with new connections and relationships.
This combination of personal, professional, and academic experiences and interests lead me to apply to GLOCAL with the hopes of being accepted into this prestigious program to better shape me on an academic and professional level, but most importantly, on a human level.
GLOCAL program application essay
What prepares me most for the GLOCAL program is my academic and personal background. My freshman year of university, I decided I was going to grow both personally and academically throughout the four years ahead of me, and so I took part in several international events and conferences promoting global citizenship and cross-cultural communication. I participated in the Hult Prize, the world's largest student competition for social entrepreneurship. It encourages students from across the world to solve a social issue surrounding topics such as access to water, food, energy, and education. My team won the local round among 40 other teams and got to the regional finals in London. Being a part of this movement was incredible and life changing. In London, I was presented with the opportunity to meet like-minded peers who cared about the competition's cause for that year "Building sustainable, scalable start-up enterprises which restore the rights and dignity of 10 million refugees by 2022". I had mind-opening conversations and got to pitch our business idea in front of a jury made of the world's most successful entrepreneurs. The next year, I applied again for this exciting competition and won the local round, once again, and moved to the semi-final round in San Francisco to pitch our idea. I became a better public speaker, and gained confidence in my business planning skills, and became aware of the existence of a bigger world full of opportunities that expands beyond my school walls. The Hult Prize experience especially piqued my interest in social sciences with its human-oriented nature. The research I conducted to come up with a successful business idea led me to studying about different cultures and nations, their struggles, their successes, and their failures, which prepares me for the anthropological aspect of this program.
I became eager for more international experiences and started identifying as a global citizen wanting to learn more about other cultures and nations. I signed up for The Soliya Connect Program, "An online cross-cultural education program integrated in more than 200 universities across 35 nations, providing a deeper understanding of the perspectives of others on important socio-political issues and crucial 21st Century skills, including critical thinking, communication, and digital media literacy." The virtual program gave us a platform to connect and discuss social issues and come up with solutions with peers from all over the world. This program opened me up to several cultural differences and similarities and shaped my cross-cultural debating and communication skills. Summer 2018, I was selected to travel to Normandy, France to take part in the Tunisian European Forum for Peace. I had the honor to have a discussion with Ban-ki Moon, the former U.N Secretary-General about the Tunisian revolution and the Tunisian youth striving for a better future. I was the only Tunisian member of the marketing and communication team. I wrote a report about my conversation with Moon and promoted the event on Tunisian and European media. This short experience introduced me to the history of Euro-Tunisian relations and pushed me to do more research on the topic. It enhanced my writing and research skills and introduced me to a new workplace and culture where I was the only foreigner.
A few months later, I was selected among 1,200 applicants for the prestigious Thomas Jefferson Scholarship program organized by the U.S. Department of State. The program allows us to choose a field to study for an academic year in a U.S university along with a 6-month professional internship. I studied Journalism and auditioned to become the university's news anchor. I was accepted for the role, which exposed me to a multicultural environment teaching me about acceptance and open-mindedness thus greatly changing me as a person. I completed a Marketing internship in the university's marketing department introducing me to a completely different workplace and culture.
I then left for Paris for a Marketing internship at an emerging -future unicorn- French-Tunisian startup employing 15 different nationalities. The French workplace was completely different from the American one, I discovered a new culture and grew professionally in a different environment.
Post-graduation, I accepted the offer to be a Content and Communication Manager at the same startup, in their Tunis office. Working in a very fast-paced and diverse startup puts you through a variety of challenges. I learned to always multitask and wear different hats, from IT to Marketing to even HR at times. Not only does my professional background prepare me for this program, so does my academic background.
GLOCAL is the right fit for me because of its polyvalent and diverse nature combined with my curiosity to constantly learn and gain new knowledge and skills.
My academic journey is the main driver of my application to this program.
Track B complements my previous studies with its marketing and entrepreneurship focus, allowing me to further dive into the vast world of business. It gives students room for different perspectives and points of view, and a valuable insight into global economies. With my background taking several economics and business classes, I have the solid foundation to thrive and fit right in track B. The courses offered in this program relate greatly to my academic background especially the marketing and entrepreneurship courses. As for the optional and very interesting International Human Resource Management course, it will be a great skill to acquire as I aim to continue working in multinational workplaces in the short-term future. In five years, I aspire to launch my own multinational consulting company thanks to the cross-cultural skills and knowledge I will have gained through this program.
GLOCAL also touches on my personal interests such as entrepreneurship and social sciences. My interest grew so deep that I enrolled in a Native Americans culture class when I studied at The University of South Dakota. It was a wonderful experience getting to study with Native peoples and hearing their ancestors' experience and even their own especially with entrepreneurship and building long-lasting family businesses. This is why I believe my master's thesis will be related to indigenous nations and their relationship with entrepreneurship across time. Having looked at previous dissertation topics, I believe this topic fits well within the program's scope and would bring an added-value and serve as reference for future cohorts.
Furthermore, my special interest in global citizenship and development have influenced my choice to be a GLOCAL applicant: It is a program taught in different campuses, different countries, and overall different environments making me look forward to expanding my international network with new connections and relationships.
This combination of personal, professional, and academic experiences and interests lead me to apply to GLOCAL with the hopes of being accepted into this prestigious program to better shape me on an academic and professional level, but most importantly, on a human level.