The Most Surprising Aspect of Experience of a Korean Physicist in Stanford - Admission/Application Essay Example

 Foreign Experiences in America I am originally from Korea and have come to America in the pursuit of better academic and career opportunities. I am currently 30 years old, having been in this country for nearly four years in order to escape from inferior teaching practices at one of the most notable universities in Korea. Getting into this prestigious Korean university generally labeled students as geniuses, however the professors did not teach or promote collaborative work in the lab environment. Disappointed that the educational curriculum did not allow students to work together, I decided that the more progressive America was my best course of action. I am currently working in the physics lab at Stanford University as part of my graduate school studies. I am so very pleased that I was able to land this position as it took ten days (at ten letters per day) worth of e-mailing just to get the professor’s attention regarding my desire to participate in Stanford lab activities. The university staff was very helpful in writing the necessary recommendation letters so that I could succeed in America and I will be forever grateful for their assistance. I came to the United States on May 22, 2005, arriving in San Francisco. At first, I have to admit that I was quite overwhelmed by the architecture and the vast variety of food available on market shelves. People always seemed to be rushing around which was quite different than the culture in Korea who are more laid back in terms of managing personal and business-related priorities. I have to admit that I, at first, expected that America would have similar cultural values and beliefs, however this personal misconception gave me somewhat of a rude awakening. For instance, Koreans are generally more open about expressing their personal feelings because of the collectivist culture which exists overseas. Most everyone in Korea shares similar beliefs and values, making it easy for most everyone to relate to one another. Americans are very individualistic and are more reserved when it comes to self-expression and generally work on their own, unique life agendas. When I first began working in the Stanford lab environment, I was taken aback by Americans’ reservations about discussing personal issues and did not find the highly collaborative environment I was expecting. In Korea, people who work together generally become very close and share their life stories, such as birthdays, family issues, and their areas of personal interest. During the first portion of my lab work at the university, I really did not have any friends whatsoever. I did not necessarily mind this isolation in the lab because I have not always been comfortable myself with discussing personal issues. Today, I often still work alone and when I am in a collaborative, team environment, everyone generally just discusses the lab-related work projects and keep comfortable distances between the group members. One unexpected situation which occurred involved a lab colleague of mine named Becky who acted considerably different than what was the norm in the Stanford lab. Becky often cried because of a strained relationship with her advisor (Bill) who appeared to be particularly hard on his student in relation to her work quality. Becky was much less individualistic and really seemed to appreciate the closeness and camaraderie of team lab working environments. Even though Becky quit the lab because of her frustration, it was actually the first measurable friendship that I experienced and I will always remember her because she was so different than the rest of the American lab students. I believe it is important to emphasize the differences between individualistic beliefs and the collectivist beliefs of Korean citizens because it took a considerable amount of time to shed my background experiences so as to adapt to the American model of living. I did, as previously mentioned, leave the Korean university in the hopes of a more collaborative lab environment. Though I did not find what I was looking for in terms of meeting my academic expectations, I have come to appreciate the progressive nature of academics here in the United States. For instance, there is no set practice by which students are expected to operate in the lab, giving us considerable freedom to explore alternatives and stretch the limits of our personal lab-related creativity. This was something that was impossible to achieve with Korean professors as they were focused on maintaining control of the lab to such a degree that students were like machines given directions and expecting to comply with them without question or reservation. Here in America I can work together if I wish or stay isolated and make the whole lab experience one which lets me flex my proverbial muscles and achieve superior lab results. Becky, my lab colleague, was probably the most surprising aspect of my American experience and was also the most memorable. Becky, through her ability to break from social, individualistic values and show me aspects of her more tender personality really illustrated to me that Americans are very diverse and there are likely other people who break away from social norms to expose their inner thoughts and feelings. I believe that sometimes in life having a diverse viewpoint is quite important as it makes a well-rounded person. My initial thoughts were that everyone in the United States worked on their own agenda and liked to remain isolated in academic and personal environments, however Becky showed me that I can expect a multitude of different friendships in the years to come and have a quality portfolio of relationships that I can be proud of. For the most part, I do enjoy living in America, but there are still aspects of the culture that I am having a problem with, in terms of total cultural assimilation. For example, in Korea, business professionals are expected, without hesitation, to be highly competent and efficient in all areas of work. Here in the United States, I find that business capabilities and staff competence is often under-looked and under-valued, leaving people with difficulties when working with business staff. For example, I am constantly having problems with my credit card companies which consistently make errors in billing and other issues. Even when the company has made a mistake which had nothing to do with my own incompetence, I am left with the burden of proof that it is the company which has made the error and my problems take far too long to get resolved. In Korea, such a situation would be highly unacceptable and the party/parties at fault would likely be fired or reprimanded. With U.S. credit card companies, I end up having to make phone call after phone call or send letter after letter simply to get them to recognize failures in their administrative processes. This is something that I have found to be quite common: People do not seem to care as much about the quality of their work as Korean staff members, making it much more difficult to conduct business than it was overseas. This might simply be an issue of lack of consequences or lack of business oversight, however it is the highest frustration about living in America today. All in all, my life in America is improving each day and I am finding it easier to adjust to the vast cultural differences which exist here. I certainly do not regret leaving Korea, however there are times when aspects of American culture cause me concern. There are many differences between cultures, however I still feel that I made the best decision available to me. Read More