By: Graduate School Candidate4   

Subject:   Arizona State Health Administration2

While growing up, I played softball constantly both for school and for a summer traveling team. As a member of the traveling team for nine years, I enjoyed the opportunity of every weekend traveling to a new place and of meeting people from all over the country. Much more than just honing my softball skills, my membership in a traveling team helped me grow as a person by challenging me to compete against hundreds of other girls. Because of my commitment to the game, softball consumed most of my time since I spent most of my summers on the road and not with my friends and family at home. Despite the stress, my perseverance¹ and passion for the sport kept me involved. I knew I had softball talent, and I did not want to waste it. All I could hope is that my hard work and sacrifice would one day pay off.

Finally, that day came. South Suburban² College in Illinois gave me a full softball scholarship and for two years paid for full tuition, books, and room and board. While there, I made certain not to waste the resources being offered me. While putting 40 hours a week into softball, I also took classes full time to prepare for nursing school and on weekends I helped coach youth camps. During my sophomore³ year, my coach and teammates nominated me team captain and gave me more responsibilities. I was in charge of developing team goals, preparing practice schedules, and developing motivational strategies for the team. During this time, my grades began to drop since I was overloaded⁴ with responsibilities. Not prioritizing my time well, I spent too little time on my studies compared with my time in softball and in youth camps. Exhausted⁵ from my demanding schedule, I allowed my personal aspirations⁶ to fall too easily.

Meanwhile, my time in softball began to become a job to me and lost its fun. I decided⁷ I needed to reprioritize my life and place more time on academics. I gave up the youth camps and spent more time studying. I learned to balance my time properly and started to once again do well in school. While the transition from home life to school life was particularly difficult for me, I overcame the obstacles I faced and am a stronger person because of it. Also, I believe that the experience I went through will help me rise above difficult in the future and help to make me more self-reliant and responsible.

My interest in the health field began in middle school and continued through college. During my freshman⁸ year in college, I began taking courses to prepare for nursing school. However, by the end of my second year in college, my interests shifted away from nursing, and I sought the advice of my counselor⁹. I transferred to Indianapolis my junior year and began exploring my options. My background in team leadership led me to consider a career in management. Growing up, on almost every team I played on I served as team captain and carried the additional responsibilities that come with the position. I also much prefer team sports to individual sports, and I began to realize I would like to work in a team-based environment. In my conversations with my counselor, I first considered merging¹⁰ health and management into a career. My abiding¹¹ interest in the health field and my constant position of team leader played a very important part in my education, and I hoped to make them play an even more important part in my future. Even though I pursued other interests for a few years, I never swayed from the health field altogether.

In preparation for my future, I have developed a strong background in mathematics and science in addition to my coursework in health. Unfortunately, I did not come to enjoy the challenges of the intellectual life until my junior year. In that year, I decided that I wanted to expand my knowledge and attend graduate school. As I entered my senior year I switched to a General Studies major to graduate a year earlier.

My number one concern in choosing a graduate school is to select a program that offers many opportunities for my career and will prepare me to manage effectively in the health care environment. I believe ASU offers a program that can not only utilize¹² all the skills and experiences that I have accumulated until this point but also grow them to the next level. I also believe that ASU can provide me with the knowledge and credentials¹³ to successfully tackle the challenges in the healthcare field. After completing my graduate work, I plan to seek employment as a hospital administrator¹⁴. While I understand competition for these positions is keen and will only grow more intense in the future, I believe I will be well equipped to excel as a hospital administrator if given the chance to explore the educational and research opportunities offered by ASU’s School of Health Administration and Policy. With ASU‘s MHSA program preparing me for future challenges, I will successfully work towards my goal of becoming a hospital administrator. Since I realize that success is often rooted in a good education, I know ASU, as one of the most respected schools in the US, can give me the credentials necessary to overcome barriers in the field. I will then draw on my natural leadership ability and my strong education in health care to excel in my position.

Currently, I work for Champps Americana, a sports restaurant in Indianapolis, and I believe my experience with Champps is preparing me well for a job in management. I am the server manager and have the responsibility of managing over sixty servers. My responsibilities include preparing the server schedule, development of training programs, and sales growth through promotions¹⁵ and contests. Having learned a great deal from my coworkers and having expanded my leadership role outside the softball field, I believe the skills I have acquired through my job will help me succeed in graduate school and as a health care administrator.

In my final two years at Indiana University, I asserted myself academically and proved my resolve to succeed. While working full time and taking a full load of classes, I earned a 3.4 G.P.A. and

received a certificate for high academic achievement from the School of Continuing Studies. In short, I believe I have developed the skills and maturity¹⁶ that I will need to be successful in graduate school, and I believe my record and work experience supports this. All I need now to usefully combine my personal qualities and skills is to continue on the educational path by learning about health administration at ASU. I believe that my struggles, perseverance, and commitment to my undergraduate studies qualify me as an excellent candidate for your program. I thank you for your consideration.