Min Yang, Ph.D (양민 박사) 1-30-2010 To "the Korea Daily Student Reporters", at 2010 Initiation Orientation
Hello,
How is everyone doing tonight?
I am honored to meet you in person and have an opportunity to share my thoughts with you.
After I was asked to be here by Ms. So Young Kim Boo-Jang-Nim of the Korea Daily, at first, I was very excited to meet you, thinking about what I can tell you that will be personally useful.
At first, the topic that I was thinking was how to write a successful essay, then next, how to make yourself competitive and then how to be successful in the college entrance process.
But allow me Ms. Kim, since given time is limited to combine all three into one topic, rather than talking about detailed items, I wanted to talk about how to make your mind-set a successful one in your college preparation and application journey.
Again I am very privileged, for in the US, not many people have this kind of honor to talk in front of a group such as this, You will be the leaders of the next generation Korean Community, either from inside, or from outside, purposely or inadvertently. Because you are Koreans.
1. Remember your identity
The First thing I would like to say to you is that you should remember that you are Korean. But, There are many kinds of Koreans. Even in this group.
Some of you were born in the US and raised here. Some of you are fresh off the boat. Some have no accent, while the others have strong ones. Some of you will think like Korean, act like Korean; some of you will behave differently. But ethnically you are all Koreans. Especially, to the eyes of the others, you will all be considered Korean. So, like it or not, you have to know that you are Korean. That is the base of your fundamental being.
You do not need to advertise it, but you should not hide it, and hide from it.
Although it is true that every one of you is unique and different from others, you will be first considered as a stereotyped Korean. One bad thing about being stereotyped is that your uniqueness can be easily overlooked, and you are expected to be a stereotyped Korean.
They will think you are good in math. You are a Nerd. You play in Orchestra. You go to church. And so on and so forth. If you are not, you are less than you should be. No. This is wrong. The Second thing you need to remember is that although you are all Korean, you are all unique. If you have not found out how you are different from your friends, you cannot expect others will see you as anything but just another Korean.
2. Differentiate yourself
Until recently, Koreans are considered to be a minority. For the main stream, yes Koreans are a minority, but now academically at least in the high school level, Koreans are no longer a minority. Many Koreans are benefitted because they are Koreans. Not anymore. Now Koreans compete against each other. When every Koreans are same at least to the eyes of others, they do not need to tell the differences between Koreans. Picking a Korean is good enough. As long as the quota is filled, they feel OK. This Korean or that Korean, it really does not matter.
When fewer Korean students were applying, being Korean was sometimes good enough. From now on, being Korean is not only not enough, but it can hurt.
As more and more Korean students became eligible for Ivy League colleges, would colleges admit more Koreans? I would not think so. They would not need to do so. Especially when every high achieving student looks alike, does alike and performs alike. With the same levels of GPA, and SAT, Koreans have less chances to be accepted than academic minorities such as African Americans or Hispanics. The Primary reason is that there are fewer seats than academically eligible Korean Students. Now, You cannot just package yourself as A high achieving Korean. That is simply just not enough. Now you need to show who you truly are, on top of your general high achieving Korean base. You may even have a better chance by being more different at the expense of GPA or SAT scores, if your difference can give them adequate reasons to pick you. So, the key is uniqueness. Strive to be different.
It is not easy; it may not even possible if you just try to be different. You have to begin by acknowledging you are different already now, and put emphasis on your difference.
3. Search for your Goals
This is true. You have your own strengths, you own weaknesses, your favorites, your tastes, and your likings.
You have your own thoughts and opinions. Let these qualities be found by others. Let yourself take risks and as results, taste success and failure. Go for what you are good at, what you like to do, and what would make you feel happy. If you already know your talent, taste, and interests, research and find out what to do and how to do to get them.
If you do not know those yet, that is OK. You know what; generally most people-adults including you parents-do not always have answers to these questions. Even people who are considered to be successful did not have concrete goals at your age. You will find out. OK? Just remember one thing you and yourself alone will find out. So do not expect your parents to help you out. You usually do not like their ideas anyway. Search out your own life. It is about time. When you do not have a choice by the time you apply for college, and then follow your folk’s choices and change later.
When searching for your goals, you should not fear. People worry too much. Some statistics reports that 97% of human worries are useless worries. You may afraid of unknowns and uncertainties. Learn to enjoy those. Change your fears into expectations. Change your fears to chances to fail or succeed and learn from your experience. Take life not too seriously, but rather lightly.
What does not kill you will only strengthen you.
4. Have self-confidence
Feel good about yourself. Lift up yourself. Love yourself the most. Help yourself before you help others. I am not vindicating Egoism or self-centeredness.
There is a big difference between pride and self-confidence.
With Pride, you expect recognition. With Self-confidence you do not.
With Pride you are afraid to lose. With Self-confidence you do not fear, because what you have cannot be taken.
With Pride you are satisfied when others lose. With Self-confidence you are comfortable when you share with others.
Whenever you feel bad, try to remember the best moment of your life. The moment of your genuine joy. For me there are many such moments. They usually come after an achievement after a hard work. For example, when I learned to ski for the first time. Getting up on a ski-lift and going up to the summit of a small hill from where you need to ski down, was my first and most exciting achievement. That made me feel good. So good that I still remember the feeling.
That same feeling can be brought up back whenever I want. That makes me feel my heart fill up, Such a good feeling. Taking myself up to that state is what I call as Lifting up.
5. Be Truthful and Pour your heart
When you do things, the next thing I want you to do, is to Pour your heart out.
Spill your heart. Reveal the truth. Do not spare your goodness. Do not say the sayings and cliches, but pour out from inside of your heart. Show the true you. Practice integrity.
“Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching.”
“Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.”
Let me summarize.
- Remember you are Korean.
- Differentiate yourself
- Search for your Goals
- Have self-confidence
- Be Truthful and Pour your heart
I wish you do these as you write news reports, as you write your college application essays and as you prepare yourself for college.
Now for the last thing,
Remember that you are who you are now, thanks to others. Be thankful to your parents and teachers.
I am grateful the Korea Daily made such a wonderful program and gives such opportunities for students. This program not only recognizes achieving students, but also gives them unique opportunities. But most of all, this seemingly small opportunity will lead to other opportunities for these students. I hope this program will remain as long as the Korea Daily exists, and become further developed into something more meaningful and profound for the education of our 2nd generation students.
I congratulate, each of you and your parents, and I thank Ms. So Young Kim Boo-Jang-Nim, other members of the program and the the Korea Daily for giving me today’s opportunity.
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