Intrest in doing Phd in management and professional goals (Admission Essay Sample)

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PhD (Management) Personal Statement: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Working as a project manager at the John Hancock Financial services, from the summer of 2008 to date, has been tremendously exciting, capping over ten years of a successful work life in corporate America thus far. I have had an exceptional opportunity to put to practice my knowledge and skills, in an environment where I not only learn and advance my career, but I am also well compensated and appreciated by my colleagues and clients alike. However, such is my incessant fascination and thirst for more knowledge that career advancement and good perks would not stop it. My interest to pursue a doctoral degree was also in part inspired by a burning interest to unravel strategic decision making in corporate America, which has always baffled me.
I am a Nigerian citizen who came to the United States with the sole intention of advancing my education and career, in order to go back home and help not just my own country, but many other African economies in their respective country’s development efforts. I intend to have attained my doctoral degree (Management) in five years time, after which I will head off to my country, where I purpose to take up a teaching and research position. These have been my long term goals, in part inspired by my prior teaching experience, where as an undergraduate in Nigeria, I taught Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics at High School level which afforded great satisfaction and joy when my students excelled. I came to America advance my education and career but most importantly, conducting research, teaching and publishing are more in line with my desire of giving back to society as against pursuing a career in the corporate world, which is mainly driven by money.
America is a deeply entrepreneurial country, with what I believe is a virtual success formula and path followed by the majority of businesses and corporations from their inception, growth, expansion and maturity. Although I think this template may be fraught with ethical difficulties, I am convinced that a PhD would equip me with what it takes to device a similar if not better template, suited for young entrepreneurs in African economies. Entrepreneurship is particularly close to my heart, and little gives me more excitement that the feeling of getting an idea to reality, through uncertainties and challenges. This is what drove me into starting two businesses of my own, and even though one failed, I believe the experience equipped me with knowledge and to steer the other venture, which is still in the implementation phase to success.
At the John Hancock Financial Services (JHFS), I was charged with the management of complex IT projects, planning, monitoring and scheduling of the same, as well as managing resources, besides the analysis of key system applications in order to determine and document intricate business needs that cost effectively meet the customer demands. My skills and knowledge in project management methods has come in handy in performing my duty in the identification, analysis, mitigation, documentation and control of project risks as well as other project aspects right from the project initiation to its completion and perhaps most crucially, preparing reports and presentations to senior management on project activities and status. The JHFS has allowed me to perfect my skills in customer relationships development, collection of information from clients to facilitate the identification and solution of problems, project team workload coordination and management as well as education of team members among numerous other areas.
Prior to joining the JHFS, I had worked as a systems of...