Statement of Purpose

I am applying for the joint degree program Master of Science in Foreign Service/Master of Business Administration (MSFS/MBA).

I very much appreciate your program’s combination of the required MSFS workshop with MSFS and MBA electives, because in some ways, operating a government is similar to operating a company; they must share common knowledge and skills in the field of administration. At the same time, the background in advanced international affairs will surely be useful when dealing with business issues as every decision you make for the company requires a cautious consideration of the foreign policy and global situation.

   Professor Bennett, who teaches courses on the American foreign policy process, international relations theory, and qualitative research methods, is the co-author, with Alexander L. George, of “Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences”, which won the Giovanni Sartori Prize for the best book on qualitative methods in 2005. I was really impressed by their work when I read it a few months ago. By reminding us that the central challenge of political science is understanding why political outcomes occur, they perform a great service to a discipline that in recent years has grown unhealthily obsessed with hypothesis testing alone. Professor Bennett has served as an advisor on foreign policy issues for several Democratic Presidential candidates since 1984. I admire him so much that I relish the thought of taking his classes, especially in the field of qualitative research methods, which I mastered in Fudan University.

   I am qualified and prepared for this program in the following ways.

Firstly, as I have a bachelor’s degree in international politics, I have a basic background of international relationships and international affairs, as you can see in my resume I was in the top 10% in my major study.

Secondly, I always have the passion to take the leading role in projects and I have the ability to manage people as well as my time which I think is essential for both MSFS and MBA. As the league secretary of my class, I organized trips to museums and parks. I designed interesting games and forms to catch my classmates’ interests and help ourselves to learn the history of China in a realistic and entertaining manner. In our college student union, I was the vice-minister of the human resource department and was responsible for establishing the evaluation system of each department. Leading a group of 13 members, I managed to do a complete evaluation of all 910 members in the student union at the end of a semester.

In a conference on China-ASEAN Relations and the Building of the Maritime Silk Road in my home university, volunteers were urgently needed, so I signed up. I hardly had any time to prepare for the background knowledge about ASEAN, but by listening to the conference leaders and (making notes,) by communicating with the professors during their free time, I was able to write a review of the presented papers in the conference within three days.

I am young, I have the energy and ability to learn anything well as long as I have a strong desire. I believe in myself. I believe that I can also do well in  Business Administration as well.

Thirdly, I am familiar with the American culture and teaching methods in US colleges as I studied in America for half a year when I was in my junior year of undergraduate study. During my summer holiday in 2016, I went to Yale University for a 6-week long ELI program. I studied English with many international classmates there and improved my language skills. After that, I went to Berkeley for the fall semester and took 12 credits. I love the free and dynamic teaching way in the US and I am accustomed to it.

Lastly I dream to do international business and possibly open my own transnational corporation when I graduate. This desire may have some relationship with my family because my father is an international businessman and I was exposed to international trade at an early age. But it’s more related to my motivation that I hope to do something to change the world. Thanks to my many voluntary experiences which are listed in my resume, I realized that there are many people in this world who need more help and more efforts have to be made to add to the equity of our society. International trade is great and magical as it can benefit both countries at the same time. It is for the common good of all mankind. As I said in the first part of my statement, I love the combination of MSFS and MBA, because this program will help me reach my life goal.

In conclusion, this program is the right one for me, and I am the student you are looking for. Just give me a chance and I will prove myself by my efforts and intelligence.