Personal Statement: The First Sentence

In writing any paper, the first sentence creates the first impression - it must be carefully constructed and engaging.

For the Fulbright ETA, and probably other programs or scholarships, you are required to write a personal statement and a statement of grant purpose.

In my Scholarship Funding course, we examined the sample essay below and extracted what and what not to do.

Sample courtesy to ieo.okstate.edu

Use Your Career Resource Center

If you're in college like me, chances are you have a Career Resource Center.

(Ours is called Tiger Jobs, because our mascot is the powercat!)

I first used this resource to only find an on-campus job, but I forgot how much more resourceful it was meant to be. My tip here is to take advantage of your career resource center during college and after.

Don't Get Overwhelmed... or Scammed

In my research, I realized how easy it is to get overwhelmed trying to accomplish this post-graduation goal.
Where do you start?  I only got my foot in the door by reaching out to 2 acquaintances that I found out had this teaching experience.
There's just such an abundance of resources online, some better than others (and some that will really deceive you).

 

Look at these captivating images advertising each respective blog's content; I found these on Pinterest and wanted to click on all of them! If you do, you'll find yourself wasting a lot of time...

How Much Can You Earn Teaching English Abroad?

I recently came upon a well-researched infographic from gooverseas.com about the average salaries teaching English in various Asian countries.

Click Read More to see it (it's quite large) and click through the link to see the breakdown! 

My Calling to Vietnam

I've chosen a destination for my Fulbright ETA (English Teaching Assistant) application: Vietnam.

The questions remain for myself and the evaluators: 

Why this country?

Why do you wish to teach English in this country? (as opposed to being a tourist)

What are your qualifications to teach English in this country?

The glaring obvious reason of this choice is that I'm first generation Vietnamese-American. However, it's not all that simple... I've never had an impulse to visit Vietnam, I've even been afraid of the idea, until now. Perhaps it was my parents' stories of their trip back to Vietnam and other parts of Asia last year (My dad photographing over Da Lat, Vietnam on the left!) that sparked my interest and my own research in Asian American literature last semester, but I think it's time to connect with my culture.