What work and non-work experiences, academic interests, and career goals influenced your decision to study hospitality management? How will these contribute to your success at the School of Hotel Administration? Maximum 500 words
I used to think hospitality was just a job where you work in a hotel and provide basic service to the guest. As an international student, I am good at communicating with people all over the world, and I have the characteristics of both eastern and western culture. Seventeen years lived in China and four years living in United States have given me a chance to become a person who is strict but creative; realistic but imaginative; hard-working but able to enjoy my life. I thought that was what a global industry needed. However, during two years of study and life at Michigan State, I have learned what hospitality is, and why I love it.
In my Communication 240 class, I led a group project in which we needed to create a new company. Our group came up with a company called "La Chic" to help upper-class women select their clothes for different occasions. We focused on customer services and marketing strategy. We came up with "Be a Hollywood Star" (where we would shoot a photo of the customer wearing new clothes and walking the red carpet with fantasy lights around), "A Perfect Day" (the client can get her own limo to wait outside while she was shopping) plus a variety of great ideas to offer to the customers to make sure they can get the best service from us. Meanwhile, we still needed to control the budget to make the company profitable. Also, I learned how to analyze a financial statement, how to run a business operation, how to make decisions, how to balance the accounts, and how to work as a group. This experience made me realize the strong true nature of hospitality - It is a business in which you need to understand guests' needs and use your leadership ability to incorporate different departments together to provide these basic needs and go beyond them.
I have been able to apply what I had learned in the classroom to help me outside it. Last year, I became a receptionist in the Resident Service Center on campus where I applied my knowledge of hospitality. I remember it was extremely busy during moving week. Many parents got lost because all the halls look similar. I talked to my supervisor about this situation, and suggested we could get some people to stand outside the resident hall to assist the parents. This helped the service center not get too crowded, and we could help more people. These experiences solidified my interest in hospitality. This is a tough job, and requires time and energy, but that is what I am passionate about- using my leadership ability, communication and management skills to make people feel welcome, create an unforgettable experience, and even impact the way they live. As Ellsworth Starlar said, "Life is service. The one who progresses is the one who gives his fellow men a little more, a little better service."
At Cornell I found the academic environment that would let me fulfill this passion. After graduating from high school, I went to summer-college on your campus. It let me get the first chance to truly get a feel for the academic and student life in Cornell. When I think back about this experience, I would describe it as challenging and educational. It was the first time I experienced how I could present my findings through research and study. Cornell taught me another way to learn rather than listening to the lecture - hands-on learning. It inspired my learning path in the college.
The different countries' flags hanging in the Stalar Hotel at Cornell remind me that the hospitality industry is a global industry. The knowledge and the leadership skills I learned at Michigan State encourage me to pursue advanced study at Cornell. Cornell provides learning opportunities that never cease and hands-on experience with its endless resources that I cannot get anywhere else like Nestle Library and Hotel Ezra Cornell. It is a great place to study hospitality and practice my leadership skills with a group of experienced faculty who are experts in the hospitality field with a superior program, and great networking opportunities.
Nowadays, the hospitality industry is growing rapidly and globally. Americans and Europeans own and operate hotel chains all over the world. There is a gap between eastern and western hotel culture. Many overseas hotels still have only the original company's culture, but not a culture developed on their own. I hope I can bring my unique characteristics that combine both eastern and western culture to the original place that hospitality started, this global industry, and to all my customers around the world.
I used to think hospitality was just a job where you work in a hotel and provide basic service to the guest. As an international student, I am good at communicating with people all over the world, and I have the characteristics of both eastern and western culture. Seventeen years lived in China and four years living in United States have given me a chance to become a person who is strict but creative; realistic but imaginative; hard-working but able to enjoy my life. I thought that was what a global industry needed. However, during two years of study and life at Michigan State, I have learned what hospitality is, and why I love it.
In my Communication 240 class, I led a group project in which we needed to create a new company. Our group came up with a company called "La Chic" to help upper-class women select their clothes for different occasions. We focused on customer services and marketing strategy. We came up with "Be a Hollywood Star" (where we would shoot a photo of the customer wearing new clothes and walking the red carpet with fantasy lights around), "A Perfect Day" (the client can get her own limo to wait outside while she was shopping) plus a variety of great ideas to offer to the customers to make sure they can get the best service from us. Meanwhile, we still needed to control the budget to make the company profitable. Also, I learned how to analyze a financial statement, how to run a business operation, how to make decisions, how to balance the accounts, and how to work as a group. This experience made me realize the strong true nature of hospitality - It is a business in which you need to understand guests' needs and use your leadership ability to incorporate different departments together to provide these basic needs and go beyond them.
I have been able to apply what I had learned in the classroom to help me outside it. Last year, I became a receptionist in the Resident Service Center on campus where I applied my knowledge of hospitality. I remember it was extremely busy during moving week. Many parents got lost because all the halls look similar. I talked to my supervisor about this situation, and suggested we could get some people to stand outside the resident hall to assist the parents. This helped the service center not get too crowded, and we could help more people. These experiences solidified my interest in hospitality. This is a tough job, and requires time and energy, but that is what I am passionate about- using my leadership ability, communication and management skills to make people feel welcome, create an unforgettable experience, and even impact the way they live. As Ellsworth Starlar said, "Life is service. The one who progresses is the one who gives his fellow men a little more, a little better service."
At Cornell I found the academic environment that would let me fulfill this passion. After graduating from high school, I went to summer-college on your campus. It let me get the first chance to truly get a feel for the academic and student life in Cornell. When I think back about this experience, I would describe it as challenging and educational. It was the first time I experienced how I could present my findings through research and study. Cornell taught me another way to learn rather than listening to the lecture - hands-on learning. It inspired my learning path in the college.
The different countries' flags hanging in the Stalar Hotel at Cornell remind me that the hospitality industry is a global industry. The knowledge and the leadership skills I learned at Michigan State encourage me to pursue advanced study at Cornell. Cornell provides learning opportunities that never cease and hands-on experience with its endless resources that I cannot get anywhere else like Nestle Library and Hotel Ezra Cornell. It is a great place to study hospitality and practice my leadership skills with a group of experienced faculty who are experts in the hospitality field with a superior program, and great networking opportunities.
Nowadays, the hospitality industry is growing rapidly and globally. Americans and Europeans own and operate hotel chains all over the world. There is a gap between eastern and western hotel culture. Many overseas hotels still have only the original company's culture, but not a culture developed on their own. I hope I can bring my unique characteristics that combine both eastern and western culture to the original place that hospitality started, this global industry, and to all my customers around the world.
