基本情况：郭同学， Pepperdine University， Integrated Marketing Communications，

GPA 3.66，TOEFL N/A，GRE 318 

录取学校：University of Rochester MS in Business Analytics 

Essay 1 (Required): Describe your short-term and long-term goals for post-MBA or post- MS. Given the fluctuation of economic and industry hiring trends, identify a back-up plan should your short-term goal not be immediately attainable. How does your past education and experience support your career objectives? Lastly, what aspects of your intended Simon Business School program make it a good choice for your graduate study? (250-500 word limit)*

I will return to my company, Twinn Palms Inc., after graduation as part of our employment agreement. I have helped Twinn Palms grow with my skills, by undertaking new data analysis projects and pioneering the company's work in online marketing, which led to 5% growth in eligible host family sign-ups. In return, they are paying for my graduate school. I am expected to come back as a manager of the data team, with a new set of skills to make us more effective in data management, overcome obstacles in sharing data between headquarters and branches, and undertake more advanced analyses. This why I am applying for admission to Simon’s MS in Business Analytics program. The curriculum designed around business, statistics and analytics fits these goals. 

Everything I learn at Simon will expand the contributions I can make for our company. In graduate school, I want learn more about analytics and data management as well as mathematics and statistics in use. I plan to conduct research on data management systems to further improve our company’s efficiency and eventually lead a team to develop a new system for our company’s host family management division. I hope to find more commercial value in our data through technical analysis and then help employees better understand what the data means. In the long term, I am interested in focusing more on technology commercialization, especially the commercial application of education software and customer data analysis technology. 

The degree’s courses in programming for analytics, data management for analytics and advanced information technology are valuable for me to achieve my goals. Having studied Media Technology at Michigan State and Integrated Marketing Communications at Pepperdine, I intend to focus on more advanced topics in graduate school, including social media analytics, marketing strategy, and advanced marketing analytics. Simon’sreputation in marketing is a key factor in my decision. 

Studying Media Technology showed me how it could be used to present business ideas, while I used my time at Pepperdine to further learn how to develop business strategies, and did a minor in Computer Science since programming is becoming essential to executing business strategy. Since I come with a multi-disciplinary academic and professional background, I am able to be more creative and see things from multiple perspectives. When I launched advertising projects, as an example, I took user interface, information structure, processing structure/time and other aspects into consideration, so as to make our products both imaginative and memorable. 

Although there is no chance that I will not return to Twinn Palms after graduation, there is a chance that I would not be a manager straight away. In that case, I will lead data analysis and database management projects until I am promoted. 

Essay 2 (Required): In 25 words or less, provide us with an interesting fact about yourself not expressed elsewhere in your application. (25 word limit)*

Others often look at me as a quiet girl, but I love boxing; it is a fantastic way to exercise and release stress. 

Essay 3 (Optional): Share additional information you think is important in the evaluation of your application, including any concerns you think the Admissions Committee may have regarding your candidacy. (500 word limit)

In my minor of Computer Science I have studied core courses of Formal Methods, Discrete Structures, Computer Science I and Computer Science II, Data Structures, as well as elective course of Programming Paradigms. This courses gives me plenty training in computer and programming in C, C++ and Java. 

With my technical skills, I served as the co-founder of Malibit when I study at Pepperdine, I worked with several peers to design an app on the iOS platform to make it easy for the audience of a comedy club to check the show schedule and book tickets. I was in charge of user interface design, information structure design, and coding the ‘upcoming events’ and ‘contact us’ sections. In the design process, I downloaded apps that provided similar services, such as Fandango, Ticketmaster, and Stubhub, to identify the optimal user experience and structure. In order to provide the best user experience, I programmer directs to the website of the comedy club and designed the UI and information structure of the app based on the club’s business goal. 

As a team leader, I was responsible for assigning tasks to team members and arranging weekly meetings to discuss and solve the technical problems that we encountered. After we decided to use Swift to design the app, we learned the functions of Swift and its coding standards, and also conducted research to resolve our coding, testing platform, and function realization problems. As a team, we also encountered teamwork problems like different coding styles and constantly changing member schedules. I took the initiative to organize discussions to set coding norms and firm deadlines. Due to our joint effort, we successfully finished the design of the app. This was an invaluable experience to me since it not only challenged me to quickly master a new programming language, but also improved my teamwork and communication skills. 

Another technical experience I want to share with you is when I working in Twinn Palms Inc. I found that despite the fact that the number of students and host families was increasing, the attrition rate was also increasing. After analyzing the data of the new host families and returning host families, new students and returning students, I found that Florida exhibited the highest attrition rate. I was not able to find the reason for this through the data available, yet this problem was negatively influencing the sales and brand of the company. In response, another business analyst and I went to the schools in Florida, consulted the conditions of our international students in each grade, and gathered data. After running the statistics on the feedback, we found that the main reason for the problem was that one school’s international student coordinator had treated the students inappropriately, violating the original contract and leading to the negative evaluations of both students and host families and thus attrition. After providing feedback on these problems, the attrition rate of Florida decreased at the beginning of the spring term in 2017. By using data, we found a problem, and then had to search for additional data to identify the root cause; without the initial data analysis, however, it would have taken much longer to narrow down the topic for further investigation and find a solution.