Note to the Readers
Kayden Hoang Bui, August 5th, 2015
If you're reading this blog, you're probably researching on how to get a Boren Scholarship or are interested in studying in Taiwan. I've decided to post one of my Statement of Purpose essays for you so that you can see an example of a successful Boren Scholarship essay. I know that I had a lot of difficulty obtaining something like this when I was applying, so I want to help prospective scholars have an idea of where to start.
Best of luck to you!
Best of luck to you!
Statement of Purpose - I
Prompt as taken from the NSEP Boren Scholarship website.
- Explain the significance of your proposed country, region, and language to U.S. national security. The Boren Awards recognize a broad definition of national security, but you should make a specific, detailed, and focused argument.
- Describe how the country, language, and overseas program you selected will help you achieve your career goals, including your plans to fulfill the federal service requirement. If appropriate, you may also include relevant past academic, extracurricular, volunteer, internship, and professional experiences. Be specific.
With rapid globalization, I’ve learned about the borderless capabilities of dangerous pathogens like HIV, cholera, and influenza viruses. Imagine that a cough is heard from a Chinese migrant worker near an agricultural area of domesticated farm animals. This innocent cough turns into a fever outbreak among neighboring families, but without a strong public health sector in this underdeveloped region, this virus sneaks into the lungs of a visiting American businessman who flies on a Boeing 747 and sparks a pandemic within days.
This scenario is not far from the truth, as we’ve seen with the Avian H5N1 influenza virus in China that evolved from highly dense human populations living in proximity with farm animals. This flu inflicted considerable economic and agricultural damage to numerous developing regions. Without intervention, this virus amplified into Southeast Asia and compromised the stability in a whole region of U.S. interest for national security.
In 2010 when I traveled back to study in Southeast Asia, I saw there was a lack of access to critical health care. As I interned at Yanhee, a leading hospital in Thailand, I saw that only the rich could afford effective medicine. I witnessed a similar situation in Vietnam, which had medical facilities that could not accommodate the poor. In these conditions, communicable diseases can easily spread, jeopardizing regional peace and stability while eroding political, economic, and military infrastructures.
Immunization and vaccination are effective methods for purging the pools of pathogens, but many of these infectious diseases can be largely avoided through modernizing water systems and increased sanitation; these methods are incredibly cost effective and sustainable. To implement and educate the regions of interest, we have the responsibility to learn the culture and the language, but not enough Americans are learning Mandarin and focusing on this urgent need. According to the U.S. Modern Language Association 2006 survey, over 158,000 Chinese students are gaining a world-class education in America, but only 12,000 American students are traveling to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and less than 500 went to Taiwan. Recently, the trend is to seek stronger ties to China, often overlooking the smaller but equally important nation of Taiwan.
Taiwan and China share tight cultural, linguistic, and historical bonds, yet have evolved to play distinct global roles. Taiwan fascinates me with its transformation from its post-war state to become America’s top 9th international trade partner. When studying maps of global diseases in biology, it manages to stay gray despite its neighbors who glow bright red with influenza and other viral outbreaks. Taiwan has strong health initiatives that have high potential to be successfully replicated throughout the neighboring regions, and I want to become a part of this movement to improve public health sectors in developing areas.
International students first introduced me to Taiwan during my science intensive semester abroad at Mahidol International University in Bangkok. Taiwan has unique cultural characteristics that invoke my curiosity, and I am especially interested in Taiwan’s traditional characters, the standard writing system prior to the recent revolution of the language in the PRC. Though these older characters are significantly more complex, the extra radicals and strokes carry a deeper cultural history.
By learning the language and engaging in the nation, I am cultivating myself to become a future leader that can assure effective communication. Solid skills in Mandarin will help me draft and promote policies that improve public health sectors and protect developing regions against emerging diseases that can harm U.S. citizens abroad and at home. In five years, I see myself establishing a global health career with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). After I return from Taiwan and graduate with a B.S. in Biology and B.A. in Mandarin Chinese, I hope to earn a Master in Science in Global Health at Oxford University. These academic degrees will give me the skills needed to uncover and address health disparities in China and Southeast Asia.
If awarded the Boren, I will fulfill my government service with USAID and extend it into a future career. My passions for global health began during freshman year when I started shadowing a physician who focused on community health and affordable medical care. I worked alongside him for three years to educate on preventative health measures to underrepresented and high-risk youth. During sophomore year, I used my position as the President of the Minority Students in Science Club to lead four premedical students on a mission trip to Mexico to serve a small town lacking medical care. Inspired, I returned to Minneapolis and created Corners of Medicine, a community service project focused on increasing oral health with low-income children. In 2011, a scholarship foundation honored me with the “Berkowitz Healing Award” for my work towards bettering the health of my local and international communities. This award solidifies my aspirations to become a global health leader. However, these accomplishments as an undergraduate did not come easily.
My family came over to America from Vietnam during the winter of 1991 when I was an infant, and my grandma was our only support. My mom and sisters did not have the opportunity to attend college, and our financial situation suggested I wouldn’t either. I will always be grateful for teachers and mentors who helped me enter college to pursue my passions for international service. My disadvantaged background have given me the compassion to tutor underprivileged kids for three years, and it continues to drive me to serve the underrepresented global communities, but to reach my goals, I will need help from the Boren Scholarship.
Starting 2012, I want to become part of President Obama’s 100,000 Strong Initiative by dedicating 12 months towards Mandarin Chinese to achieve proficiency. For 8 weeks in the summer, I will be joining an intensive language program in Shanghai with Alliance for Global Education. After this running start, for 9 months, I will join the Council for International Educational Exchange Intensive Chinese Language and Culture Program in Taipei, Taiwan at National Chengchi University.
Working with USAID in China after studying in Shanghai and Taipei assure my continued engagement in the language and cultures. In the future, I hope to use my experiences and skills to gain a Fulbright Grant to initiate an independent research project that will advance my language abilities and contribute to international peace. Even though I’ve experienced marginalization and hardship because of my low-income and immigrant status, I know that with high dedication, education, and work, I can succeed in China and Taiwan to take the next steps towards achieving my future goals as a global health ambassador for the United States and the international community.
This scenario is not far from the truth, as we’ve seen with the Avian H5N1 influenza virus in China that evolved from highly dense human populations living in proximity with farm animals. This flu inflicted considerable economic and agricultural damage to numerous developing regions. Without intervention, this virus amplified into Southeast Asia and compromised the stability in a whole region of U.S. interest for national security.
In 2010 when I traveled back to study in Southeast Asia, I saw there was a lack of access to critical health care. As I interned at Yanhee, a leading hospital in Thailand, I saw that only the rich could afford effective medicine. I witnessed a similar situation in Vietnam, which had medical facilities that could not accommodate the poor. In these conditions, communicable diseases can easily spread, jeopardizing regional peace and stability while eroding political, economic, and military infrastructures.
Immunization and vaccination are effective methods for purging the pools of pathogens, but many of these infectious diseases can be largely avoided through modernizing water systems and increased sanitation; these methods are incredibly cost effective and sustainable. To implement and educate the regions of interest, we have the responsibility to learn the culture and the language, but not enough Americans are learning Mandarin and focusing on this urgent need. According to the U.S. Modern Language Association 2006 survey, over 158,000 Chinese students are gaining a world-class education in America, but only 12,000 American students are traveling to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and less than 500 went to Taiwan. Recently, the trend is to seek stronger ties to China, often overlooking the smaller but equally important nation of Taiwan.
Taiwan and China share tight cultural, linguistic, and historical bonds, yet have evolved to play distinct global roles. Taiwan fascinates me with its transformation from its post-war state to become America’s top 9th international trade partner. When studying maps of global diseases in biology, it manages to stay gray despite its neighbors who glow bright red with influenza and other viral outbreaks. Taiwan has strong health initiatives that have high potential to be successfully replicated throughout the neighboring regions, and I want to become a part of this movement to improve public health sectors in developing areas.
International students first introduced me to Taiwan during my science intensive semester abroad at Mahidol International University in Bangkok. Taiwan has unique cultural characteristics that invoke my curiosity, and I am especially interested in Taiwan’s traditional characters, the standard writing system prior to the recent revolution of the language in the PRC. Though these older characters are significantly more complex, the extra radicals and strokes carry a deeper cultural history.
By learning the language and engaging in the nation, I am cultivating myself to become a future leader that can assure effective communication. Solid skills in Mandarin will help me draft and promote policies that improve public health sectors and protect developing regions against emerging diseases that can harm U.S. citizens abroad and at home. In five years, I see myself establishing a global health career with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). After I return from Taiwan and graduate with a B.S. in Biology and B.A. in Mandarin Chinese, I hope to earn a Master in Science in Global Health at Oxford University. These academic degrees will give me the skills needed to uncover and address health disparities in China and Southeast Asia.
If awarded the Boren, I will fulfill my government service with USAID and extend it into a future career. My passions for global health began during freshman year when I started shadowing a physician who focused on community health and affordable medical care. I worked alongside him for three years to educate on preventative health measures to underrepresented and high-risk youth. During sophomore year, I used my position as the President of the Minority Students in Science Club to lead four premedical students on a mission trip to Mexico to serve a small town lacking medical care. Inspired, I returned to Minneapolis and created Corners of Medicine, a community service project focused on increasing oral health with low-income children. In 2011, a scholarship foundation honored me with the “Berkowitz Healing Award” for my work towards bettering the health of my local and international communities. This award solidifies my aspirations to become a global health leader. However, these accomplishments as an undergraduate did not come easily.
My family came over to America from Vietnam during the winter of 1991 when I was an infant, and my grandma was our only support. My mom and sisters did not have the opportunity to attend college, and our financial situation suggested I wouldn’t either. I will always be grateful for teachers and mentors who helped me enter college to pursue my passions for international service. My disadvantaged background have given me the compassion to tutor underprivileged kids for three years, and it continues to drive me to serve the underrepresented global communities, but to reach my goals, I will need help from the Boren Scholarship.
Starting 2012, I want to become part of President Obama’s 100,000 Strong Initiative by dedicating 12 months towards Mandarin Chinese to achieve proficiency. For 8 weeks in the summer, I will be joining an intensive language program in Shanghai with Alliance for Global Education. After this running start, for 9 months, I will join the Council for International Educational Exchange Intensive Chinese Language and Culture Program in Taipei, Taiwan at National Chengchi University.
Working with USAID in China after studying in Shanghai and Taipei assure my continued engagement in the language and cultures. In the future, I hope to use my experiences and skills to gain a Fulbright Grant to initiate an independent research project that will advance my language abilities and contribute to international peace. Even though I’ve experienced marginalization and hardship because of my low-income and immigrant status, I know that with high dedication, education, and work, I can succeed in China and Taiwan to take the next steps towards achieving my future goals as a global health ambassador for the United States and the international community.