Tiffany Song Personal Statement
Tiffany Song Personal Statement
Tiffany Song Personal Statement
Tiffany Song
Personal Statement
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My professional aspirations are informed by my experience of grace, opportunity, and
change in a student-centered learning environment. I am a second-generation Korean-American
from a recently urbanized township. Raised with love and ample opportunity in what is now
idyllic Snohomish, WA, a cluster of upper-middle class neighborhoods between Seattle and the
rolling evergreen hills, I was molded by the sordid belief that academic excellence is congenital
with Asian physiology. My elementary experience in bedlinen white Snohomish proved this
rural legend true, as I was one of a handful of Asian-American students and also happened to be
an avid reader. A representative of Chinese culture and the supreme teacher’s pet, I noticed that
my community expected that I become a doctor and excel at math. The sordid belief of rural
legend progressed into subtle urbanity as rural Snohomish progressed into a partly-suburban
partly-propertied township. In middle school, suburbia was eggshell white and I was one of three
handfuls of East Asian-American students. Educated suburban society exoticized the abilities of
students with access, support, and Asian ancestry. East Asians flourished in technical fields of
study. It was the case that I fit into the model minority troupe because I was raised in safety with
reliable school access, had parents who nurtured a first-generation work ethic in their child, and
happened to be a light-skinned Korean. As a student from an educated colorblind racist
community, it felt well within my ability to attend the University of Washington, major in
biochemistry, and attend its medical school. I experienced absolute culture shock my freshman
year when I realized that my social identity from Snohomish was not one I had to maintain. The
student body was ethnically diverse and the campus climate was conducive to helping students
find their best suited career path. I lived in a residence hall with a community which welcomed
me as I was and encouraged that I work towards my own fulfillment rather than the fulfillment of
social and familial expectations. I became a Resident Adviser on the staff of Robert Egnatchik
because I wanted to share that message with future students. It was challenging for me to
consolidate my career path because I was working to satisfy social and familial expectations
rather than to satisfy my own interests. At the end of my first year as a student leader, I decided
that I would not pursue a career in healthcare as a doctor or in biomedical research because I did
not enjoy biology or chemistry. I found satisfaction through interpersonal communication, the
development of my public speaking and peer counseling abilities, and through encouraging my
traditional first-year residents to pursue a career which is right for them. Robert encouraged my
application to the 2016 Association of College and University Housing Officers- International
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(ACUHO-I) STARS College program, a three-day conference for undergraduates to learn about
the student affairs and university housing professions, and recommended that I attend the
ACUHO-I Annual Conference and Exposition after. At STARS I participated in small group
mentorship, large group seminars, and interactive activities. In combination with the supportive
climate of the Conference, this experience culminated in the understanding that by engaging in
my own transformational learning experience, I had effectively succeeded the social mysticism
which produced Asian doctors with equitable change. Robert nominated me as a Fellow of the
Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education Undergraduate Fellowship Program
(NUFP), an on-campus program connecting undergraduates of minority status with student
affairs professionals for mentorship. He connected me with my mentor, Adiam Tesfay, and I am
excited to further develop my interviewing skills, my awareness of minority affairs within higher
education, and learn more about the student affairs profession with her.
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