Students Always After Carefully Considering the Four

¶ … Students Always

After carefully considering the four principles of Berkeley's Haas School of Business, I most identify with the principle of "Students Always." I am a perpetual student who instinctively knows that the quest for knowledge is a lifelong duty and privilege. In addition, experience has taught me that learning encompasses formal education, personal life lessons, and larger issues affecting my community. Consequently, I am delighted to discover our shared commitment to constant learning across human experience.

I certainly appreciate the value of formal education. Fueled by curiosity, realistic confidence in my abilities and a student's well-deserved humility, I am an eager pupil who readily uses classic learning tools but is also open to innovative ideas and teaching methods. In my experience, that classic training and openness equips me to make decisions based on factual proof and reasoning while gladly exploring new subjects. As a result, my formal education has fully equipped me for the intellectual challenges I hope to meet at Berkeley.

The fact that learning extends beyond a brick-and-mortar classroom has not escaped me, either. My willingness to learn reaches beyond formal institutions and toward newer and more enlightened ways of living. Though this tendency sometimes clashes with tradition, I readily accept the resulting friction and occasional setbacks, learning from them as well. Furthermore, my "world classroom" includes fields unrelated to Business. Acknowledging my temporary ignorance in these new fields, I am nevertheless confident of eventually learning about each field by earnestly asking as many questions as needed to understand. The result has been a grasp of non-Business fields that would have otherwise eluded me.

My "world classroom" has also led me to perform as a member of several teams and communities. Through observations, questions, trial and error, I have become a valuable, accountable member who easily seeks and gives opinions and assistance. Though equally comfortable working alone, I am energized by belonging to a group of people who are working to achieve common objectives. Knowing that my personal circumstances exist within the larger context of a group, whether that group is my family, team or community, I am enthralled by the interdependence of my goals and the goals of my group(s).