In this blog post, I’ll provide sample answers for each question on the personal statement for applicants to the Department of Community Development and Welfare at Daegu University’s College of Public Administration, along with specific examples of my academic efforts, school activities, and instances of consideration and cooperation during high school.
Academic Efforts and Learning Experiences During High School
Managing My Sleep and Realizing the Importance of a Study Plan: I am someone who needs 8 hours of sleep, and if I didn’t get a full 8 hours, I had a habit of making up the difference by taking short naps throughout the day. Even if I stayed up all night studying, I would inevitably struggle to stay awake during the day and end up dozing off, so managing my sleep was absolutely essential. To manage my sleep and study efficiently, I needed to smartly establish a “sleep schedule + study plan.” When I reflected on why my grades weren’t meeting my expectations, the main issue was that I “couldn’t concentrate during class.” The problem stemmed from the belief that I had to study late into the night and blindly trying to study the way others did. I realized that studying that way prevented me from getting a good night’s sleep, which led to me dozing off in class and missing key points—and that was the root cause of my low grades. So, instead of just following others’ study routines, I decided to create a study plan tailored to my sleep habits and lifestyle. I strictly adhered to a sleep schedule that ensured eight hours of deep sleep, made sure never to doze off when I was awake, and set specific times for both class and personal study—which I followed without fail. In a way, studying is a project driven by efficiency, aimed at maximizing results. Therefore, you can achieve the highest efficiency only by carefully tailoring your study plan to your lifestyle, physical stamina, and study environment and location. By putting this into practice, I was able to raise my grades, and I believe that by developing my own study habits, I’ve laid the groundwork for efficiently managing my future learning as well. Establishing a study plan tailored to my needs and making an effort to build concentration in line with my physical stamina became the secret to improving my grades and enhancing my own learning abilities.
Extracurricular Activities I Found Meaningful and Dedicated Myself To During High School
Community Service Club Activities I chose to join the community service club because, ever since I was young, I’ve hoped to become someone who can contribute more to society as an adult. When watching the news, I sometimes see people who cannot take for granted the things we enjoy as a matter of course, but instead experience them only occasionally as something special. Watching such news, I felt that as a member of society—and as someone who enjoys human rights as a matter of course—I have a duty to play a role in supporting those who are unable to fully enjoy them. That is why I joined a community service club upon entering high school and have been actively participating ever since. Among the volunteer activities I’ve undertaken through this club—such as working at a local children’s shelter and providing support to elderly people living alone—I have found great fulfillment in helping socially vulnerable groups exercise, even if only to a small extent, the rights they should naturally enjoy. Furthermore, I have approached these activities not as an act of charity, but with a sense of responsibility, viewing them as a way to fulfill my social duty. This mindset has allowed me to engage in more volunteer work and to build closer relationships with the local children and elderly living alone. I will continue these volunteer efforts and fulfill my role as a citizen committed to safeguarding human rights in society. Award Winner in an Essay Contest on the Human Rights of the Socially Vulnerable I have a record of winning an award in a school-wide essay contest on the topic of “the human rights of the socially vulnerable.” I conducted thorough research to more clearly organize my thoughts on human rights—a subject I had long been contemplating—and to learn about the systems currently in place within the country to advance the human rights of the socially vulnerable. While it is important to include my own thoughts in the essay, I believed it was also necessary to cite the sources from which those ideas were derived.
After conducting my own research on human rights as they are practiced in society, I began writing while reflecting on the topic in greater depth. I structured my essay around the theme that socially vulnerable groups should be guaranteed equal human rights—not as a form of “assistance” based on discrimination, but as rights they are naturally entitled to—and that the state should provide the necessary support to ensure this. I believed that helping the socially vulnerable should not be premised on “pity,” but rather on “helping,” “showing consideration,” and “cooperating” so that they can live properly as human beings, and I organized my essay to clearly articulate this premise. Although my writing skills weren’t exceptionally outstanding, I was able to organize my thoughts more easily because these were values I had held for a long time, and I believe my thorough research contributed to winning the award. As I organized my clear perspective, supporting data, and my personal reflections, I not only achieved excellent results in the school competition but also began to reflect on the mindset and considerations I would bring to my future activities in social development and welfare. Consequently, while I had been vaguely contemplating my career path, the experience of discussing the human rights of the socially vulnerable in the writing contest led me to decide to study “social welfare.”
Examples of putting consideration, sharing, cooperation, and conflict management into practice, and what I learned
Winning Over a Friend Who Wouldn’t Open Up There was a friend who always kept to themselves. At first, I thought it was because they were shy, but it turned out they were full of grievances about the world and didn’t trust people, which is why they wouldn’t open up. I was just going about my daily life, accepting that some friends are like that, when my teacher called me aside and asked if I could spend time with that friend. The teacher believed that my friend’s distrust stemmed from past experiences of being bullied, and that he needed the help of his peers to overcome it. At first, whenever I spoke to him, he would give one-word answers, keep his distance, and seem to shut himself off even more. However, as I observed his behavior more closely, I realized that, contrary to appearances, he actually wanted to trust people. So, I made sure to include him in the group without exception, while also letting him know he didn’t have to talk a lot or be overly outgoing. I believed that in our daily lives, introverted people should act according to their introverted nature, and outgoing people should act according to theirs—there’s no need to force sociability just for the sake of it. Therefore, I wanted to make sure he didn’t feel pressured, but still let him know that his friends cared about him and were thinking of him. As that friend was part of the group and saw that we weren’t forcing them to do this or that, they actually began to open up. They started striking up conversations first and speaking up confidently when they needed something. My friends and I were genuinely happy to see this change in them, and we made an effort to listen carefully to their stories, showing empathy and understanding. In this way, we brought out a brighter side in a friend who had been carrying such a dark aura, and she expressed her gratitude to us, saying she had realized that not everything in the world is bad. Through this experience, I came to understand that the foundation of helping someone lies in “putting yourself in their shoes and not imposing your own feelings on them.” I also learned that this is the very essence of consideration and the most fundamental attitude that fosters cooperation.
