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Key Formative Experience

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Being uprooted in childhood was a key formative experience. Born in Vietnam, I was adopted by my grandmother and sponsored to immigrate to the US when I was eight. After four months in a refugee camp in Thailand, I resettled in California. For the next eight years, I was raised by my grandmother in a Vietnamese ghetto in San Jose.
My grandmother, a recent immigrant with a third-grade education surviving on welfare, was disconnected from American life. As a result, my friends were my compass in adjusting to a new culture. From navigating adolescence to applying for college, I was able to piggyback on their support systems and knowledge—an experience that not only instilled in me a strong sense of community but taught me how to engage and relate to people.
When the government reduced my grandmother’s housing stipend, I …show more content…

I matriculated on a full-scholarship, double-majored in Economics and Business while working part-time at an investment bank to pay my bills and gain work experience. The obstacles I faced growing up and at Berkeley instilled in me the tenacious work ethic I have today.
The circumstances that shaped my strengths have also been a source of weakness. For example, my drive to succeed makes me impatient of those who do not share my motivation. I am learning to be more patient, recognizing that not everyone feels the same pressure to succeed or even has the same definition of success. For some, success is defined more by balanced family-life than career mobility. Today, I remain equally driven but have learned not to project my personal priorities onto others.
Professionally, my data-orientation sometimes leaves me reluctant to make decisions in situations of uncertainty. When I first started working at PNC, I had a difficult time articulating my evaluation of management and investment theses of acquisition targets because often times, exhaustive due-diligence is performed

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