Hello, I'm Vellycia and I will be applying for GKS Undergraduate this year and this is my personal statement.
Instructions: please write no more than 2 pages on an A4 size format, one-sided only. The essay should include the following things and must be clearly typed or printed in black ink. Please remove the instructions after reading it. >
- Motivations with which you apply for this program
- Family and Education background
- Significant experiences you have had; risks you have taken and achievements you have made, 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.
gks personal statement
"We are what we eat," a quote by German philosopher, Ludwig Feuerbach. It is a simple sentence but enough to describe how important diet is to human's life. Health is a part of human that is very valuable especially in the middle of the situation we are currently facing. In order to improve one's health, it is needed to take a cautious measure of daily life and one of it is by promoting healthy diet.
Gaining unhealthy weight led me to research more about diet and methods of doing it. I still had the wrong perspective about the word 'diet' and thought it as something to do in order to lose weight only when it actually means what one habitually consumes daily. As the result of the wrong perspective, I stumbled extreme methods of diet where I only ate one type of food a day or cut off a lot of calories; though it helped me losing weight but I felt fatigue most of the times even when I did non-energy consuming activities. Therefore, I decided to do more research about the right method of diet, it is not only about cutting off calories for weight loss program but also how to manage a balanced and proper diet. I started to eat clean, balancing my macro- and micronutrients intake and working out as well. The weight on scale is not the only determiner for a healthy weight but also one's body composition, so instead of relying on my weight alone, I also take my Body Mass Index (BMI) as consideration. After adjusting to proper diet companied by workout, I achieved my ideal BMI and fitter body.
The consideration in choosing South Korea as my destination to pursue my study is because I have been immensely interested with the country since the age of 10. The year 2010, the Korean wave had a great impact and it pulled me in as well through K-pop and K-drama. It drove me to learn Korean on my own though it was not easy since Korean has different alphabets, which required me to learn from zero. After a decade going through the self-learning process, I can now watch Korean shows without additional subtitle and read news articles in Korean. However, I dare not say that I can understand a hundred percent but I get around eighty percent of the context. The other reason that encourages me to study Food and Nutrition in South Korean appeared when I researched about my diet. I learnt that in South Korea, the obesity rate is the lowest amongst other Asian countries because of the traditional diet. Koreans tend to consume more vegetables, legumes and fishes compared to red meat, which lowers the prevalence of obesity. Due to limited production of animal and vegetable-based cooking oil, Koreans also eat less fried food, which also lower the risk for cardiovascular diseases and processes food with fermentation, blanching or just simply using medicinal herbs or fermented sauce (장) as seasoning. As far as I notice is that Koreans rarely eat without vegetables or at the very least kimchi is served on the dining table and it is proven that the per capita for vegetables intake in South Korea is the highest compared to other Asian countries. I find it fascinating that Korean's traditional diet is actually a form of clean diet that everyone could try to apply in their diet as well. Hence, I aspire to study more about my desired major from my second favorite country, South Korea.
Aside of my personal experience with diet, I also think that it is important to raise the awareness of balanced and proper diet in the society. It is undeniable that the wrong perspective, which I had within me, still haunts the society too. I think it is my task to educate the people about the importance of a healthy diet. Not only to lose weight in order to fit the world's 'beauty standard' but also how to form a healthier and fitter body. Food is something that we eat twice to thrice a day but we are often nonchalant about what we consume. I may be able to do my own study about nutrition and diet but not everyone has the capability to comprehend the journals or articles existing as they are mostly written with complex scientific term. All these yearnings to create simpler but still informative and enjoyable literatures about diet to read also stimulates me to be a Dietitian.
Growing up in a family environment where my parents always gives my siblings and I a freewill really helps me to find what I really want to study. We are always taught that we may choose and do anything we wished to do as long as we can be responsible with our choice. The freewill does not lead me to reckless but thoughtful decisions for I have to pay for every consequences that follows. It makes me grow as a responsible being and a decision maker, though I made mistake in few decisions that I took, which was inevitable, but through the mistake I could also learn how to be more careful and able to come up with countermeasure for the next time I would decide something. The knowledge to be decisive is parallel with being independent, in my case. I was not spoiled by my parents, which I am thankful for. When I wanted something, I needed to do something to get it, or when I wished to do something, I needed to start on my own. All my parents did was providing the suitable tools and environment then it was up to me, whether or not I would still do it or give up. The first step starts with me, they only provide the best environment for me to grow and of course show the best support.
"Growth means changes. Changes are always uncomfortable. Living thing grows." A quote that has been an anchor in my life. I was a timid and anti-social being, I avoided social gatherings and was very quiet. I lived in my own shell and it was my comfort zone but I realized that it was not right because growth does not happen on its own. The plant needs water, sunshine, fertilizer and even human's carbon dioxide to grow and I was already as good as dead plant for trying to grow alone. Getting out of comfort zone was hard, socializing was tiring but I had a lot of things I wanted to achieve and I knew that I needed people's help too. First step taken was to join my school's Christian-military based organization called Boys' Brigade when I was on my first grade of junior high school. In that organization, the members are divided into squads and obviously, we are obliged to communicate and mingle in order to create teamwork for future activities. It really was not an easy step but I pushed myself off the border I set and it was not that bad after all. Joining the organization for seven years introduced me to a lot of great people and soft skills that I could not learn from school, such as, first aid, camping skill, fire rescue and event planning. I once led my team during drill competition and we won the third place. I also became a worship leader, started to learn how to improve my talents by performing in front of people during events and after going through a Leadership Development Course, I was promoted from a Private to Lance-Corporal Non-Commissioned Officer in my third year. Through the confidence and courage I gained from Boys' Brigade pushed me to join my school's student council on my first year of senior high school. I was assigned under the designing team for I designed my class' logo on the third year of junior high and my main task was to design the school's annual magazine along with one of my senior. Aside from that, I also took charges of some competitions, and I learnt more about leadership and the importance of a teamwork was for a competition to work. On my second year, I decided to quit student council because I wanted to challenge myself to join more competitions for the student council's committee was limited to compete. I thought it was a good chance for me to push myself more to know my own capabilities and I won all the competitions I joined that year. I had to admit that I had a problem in managing my time between preparing for the competitions and academic achievement. Grateful to have a caring homeroom teacher, who reminded me to balance both for it would be meaningless when I failed in one aspect and I reflected on myself. Making to-do list and journal have been a habit since then to manage my time better, and I successfully fixed my grades on the next semester.
All the processes I have been through until today ensure me that I am ready for more challenges ahead of me. I have a strong belief that it is never hurt to try because the result is only a bonus, the real deal is the process that others often overlook but I learnt that process is what it takes to form oneself and when I tried, I am already half way ahead of others. I am confident to be exposed to the academic challenges and strive for achievements and hope my earnest motivation to always try and learn would drive me to the awaited bright future.