University of Pennsylvania offers many courses that are of interest to me. The three most relevant areas of study I’m going to focus on are political science, business, and economics. I believe that University of Pennsylvania has a very good record in teaching subjects like this. And as for me, I think that the combination of these three areas of study can guarantee me a good career start and further professional development. Furthermore, I’ll be able to choose from a wide range of interrelated occupations.
I deem that the University of Pennsylvania is a good choice for me for the main reason that it offers outstanding quality tuition. It also has good facilities for academic and recreational purposes. For instance, “[l]ibraries [comprise] 5.37 million books; 4.0 million microform items; 39,426 serials received; 9,196 computer files (including CD-ROM); 9,552 e-journals; 239,537 locally digitized images; 9,731 videos.” (University of Pennsylvania, 2005, “Libraries”)
I believe that good library and computer base (and Penn has both) is essential for those students who are interested in research and extracurricular activities, beyond studies themselves. As for recreation, University of Pennsylvania has very good sport facilities, and I’m keen on sports, too. As University of Pennsylvania (2005, “Athletics and Recreation”) informs, “[a] charter member of the Ivy League, Penn offers intercollegiate competition for men in 17 sports.” University also offers various facilities for community service and volunteerism, which I also find important:
“Approximately 6,500 University students, faculty and staff participate in more than 300 Penn volunteer and community service programs, as well as the more than 150 academically based community service courses that Penn offers.” (University of Pennsylvania, 2005, “Community Service”)
And finally, University of Pennsylvania is known across the state for its atmosphere of friendship and cooperation among the students and between student community and faculty. Those of my friends who have studied or simply visited the University say that it has a very strong corporate spirit. It also boasts an atmosphere of tolerance, and there are also many international students at Penn; “[m]ore than thirteen percent of the first year class are international students.” (University of Pennsylvania, 2005, “Internationalism”)
I believe that it’s very useful to be exposed to other cultures in the process of studying. International students can introduce various views about same issue. And the University offers Study Abroad programs:
“Penn offers opportunities to study abroad on more than 100 programs in 36 countries. Penn ranks first among the Ivy League schools in the number of students studying abroad, according to the most recent data.” (University of Pennsylvania, 2005, “Study Abroad”)
I think that at some point I may chose to take advantage of these offers.
Therefore, I’m strongly convinced that University of Pennsylvania is a perfect choice for me. It teaches the courses that are of interest to me, it offers perfect facilities for study and recreation, and it’s noted for its atmosphere of friendship, cooperation and tolerance. I’ll be proud to be the student of Penn.
…and that was my first job. While the majority of my peers were working in fast-food restaurant, and the luckiest of them in school libraries, I was very proud to get such an “intellectual” job. Moreover, it was a freelance job, so I had to learn much of self-management. These skills, together with the ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure, became a very important asset in my further studies and career.
So what was the job about? At first, they employed me to edit the speeches of the President of their organization. He was a very busy man and never bothered writing speeches himself, and the organization was a charity one, so delivering speeches was virtually he main occupation of their president. The organization had a staff speechwriter, but several time the lady made serious stylistic blunders, and they decided to hire a part-time editor of the speeches to be on the safe side. They were looking for a person, preferably a student, who would agree to edit the speeches for the humble pay they offered. I was ready to work for them because I was more interested in the professional experience than money.
I applied via Internet and they invited me for an interview. I was very anxious and spent a sleepless night before the interview. But it went smoothly, the HR manager was scrutinising my school record and recommendation letter from my teacher and seemed not to listen to me at all. But I employed all my rhetorical skills to persuade that I was the right person for that job because deep in my heart I believed it was so. In two days they invited me to the office and gave me the first task. The president of the organization was invited to charity ball and had to deliver a 5 to 10 minutes speech there. Their staff speechwriter, Marion (we were introduced to each other), handled me the draft of the speech and asked to read through it and make all the corrections I would find necessary. The draft was a complete mess, and it required lots of work done to polish it.
That afternoon I went to the bookstore and bought myself a huge pile of books on speechwriting, persuasion, business etiquette and protocol. I took me two days to complete the first task, but then I acquired some skills and experience and could do the tasks much faster. And at the end of December an event that decided my promotion in the organization took place: Marion got married and left for a honeymoon to LA. I became the staff speechwriter, and they allowed me to work part-time. I was responsible for writing the speeches from the beginning to the end. It involved communication with the PR department and the president himself. The job gave a unique inside into the work of an organization and business etiquette. I dreamt of becoming the speechwriter of a famous political leader; although now I changed my career plans, that job gave me an invaluable experience of business writing and communication. I was working for them for a month or two and then…
References:
University of Pennsylvania. (2005). “Penn Facts and Figures.” Retrieve December 13, 2005, from http://www.upenn.edu/about/facts.php