L.G.
I am making a commitment. I am making a commitment to pursue a better and more fulfilling life for myself and my child. I am excited to write this essay, excited that someone wants to celebrate the joys and hardships of the working single parent, excited that I may find a way to advance my degree and provide a better life for my daughter.
I have committed my career to working with people. As a retail manager, I have spent years helping people in a variety of ways including: finding the perfect gift, finding a way to celebrate a loved one, even finding a way to feel better about themselves. Middle management is challenging, I have found myself the liaison between my team of sales people and my district and regional sales managers. After a number of years of walking the tightrope between the two I've discovered I'm not only good at it but I love it. I wish to accelerate and define my career with people by applying for an MBA in Human Resources.
I have a bachelor's degree from Boston University in English. I was enrolled in continuing education classes at Harvard University when my father suffered a serious setback from a recent heart attack. Since he and my mother had divorced a few years earlier I chose to take care of him. I moved him to an Assisted Living facility about a mile from where I lived in Boston. It was a joy to be close to him again, but also quite a bit of work. He was given a few years to live by his doctor's and with constant care he lived four more years, but my studies suffered as a result and I ended up leaving school.
While taking care of my Dad, I was working as a Retail Manager at a furniture store on Newbury Street. I was being considered for a promotion to District Manager when I found out I was pregnant. My boyfriend and I had been dating a year and I thought we were closer to a permanent future than he did. He begged me to have an abortion, I said no and he left our relationship. My father died when I was three months pregnant. I was heartbroken, especially since my dad would have loved being a grandfather. I was feeling very alone in the city, my friends had moved out of town, and my studio condominium wasn't big enough for me and my child. There were also practical concerns of how to financially support my new family. I sold my home and moved to the seacoast of Massachusetts. I left my career in the lurch, walked away from graduate school, had my baby, and learned how to be the best parent I could.
My career was never the same. I couldn't take the next step to a district manager position because I couldn't travel with a baby at home. I didn't have the money to go back to graduate school because I was busy supporting myself and my child. I also didn't want to, nor could I afford to, leave my child with babysitters while I attended classes. These are the obvious reasons I haven't returned to school. The other one is a little more complicated. My life was never happier as a result of my unexpected gift; a little girl that would come to mean everything to me. Since her birth nine years ago I have constantly sacrificed my career goals instead of her, this has proven to be financially difficult, but for me, morally correct. If it were not for the assistance of my mother, a few incredible friends, and my church, we would have been homeless at times.
As January arrived this year I finally accepted that I was drowning in debt in my beautiful seaside town. Child care expenses were giving me no hope of getting ahead and I felt trapped in my life. I decided I was at a crossroads and ready for a major life change. So we moved to a more affordable state, and now I am trying to find a new job. As a forty-three year old single working mother, I find myself facing serious competition. An advanced degree would make a difference on my résumé, in my career options, and in my self-esteem. I wish to pay back my debts. I wish to see my life more rewarding with challenging, interesting, and satisfying employment. I wish to provide my daughter with a college education by working hard at a career that will pay all our bills. I wish to feel my mind expand again the way it did before I was immersed in the countless details of motherhood. In short I wish to pursue an advanced degree to further my education.
And as for those other more complicated reasons for not pursuing my education, well they have changed too. When I attended Harvard University I was taking Fiction Writing and English Literature classes and believed I would get a Master's Degree in English. When my daughter arrived, I realized I needed a more practical degree but I didn't know what that was, until now. I have spent the last thirteen years in retail management. I have been all about people and I have seen numerous conflicts in various work environments. In my last two store manager positions I discovered I cared more about my teammates, their career goals and their future work environments than the retail sales dollars I was supposed to be putting in the cash register. In short my passion for people redefined itself as more important than my passion for selling things to people. I have made the decision to pursue human resources. I have been struck by the idea of not just working with people but making people's work better.
I believe that this is a career goal I can truly aspire to and without enough direct experience I am not being considered for the HR positions for which I have applied. My skills are transferable; a degree will speak volumes to my determination, and will provide the experience I need to make a career change. An online degree will allow me scheduling flexibility to work and be a terrific mother. A scholarship with Project Working Mom is the only way I can afford to accomplish my goals for higher education and career change. I am ready to make a commitment. I hope that you can help.
Thank you for your consideration.