Graduate School Admission Essay

Prior to graduate school, I worked in the classroom as a teacher in urban schools for seven years. During that time I observed the numerous inequalities that were difficult for some students to overcome. Although I no longer teach, I view my departure from the classroom in a similar vein to Richard Wright’s explanation for leaving the South; ‘I am not leaving the classroom so as to forget the classroom, but that someday I might understand it.’ In my experience, I encountered many bright students who entered high school with bright futures; many did relatively well while others with similar abilities dropped out or barely graduated high school. My purpose for returning to graduate school was to better understand the inequities faced by

My mentors in my undergraduate at Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University greatly influenced my decision to return to school and obtain a PhD. My collegiate experience and the mentorship I received shaped my understanding of research. I attended a historical black college and university, which afforded me a unique academic experience to flourish as an economic major while providing a supportive and nurturing environment. Math was not particularly my strong suit in high school however, the interest and encouragement my math professors took in me, especially Dr. Stephens, greatly influenced my decision to be a math teacher. He saw in me something that none of my previous white high school math teachers recognized. The confidence and commitment Dr. Stephens and other faculty members at the Historical Black Colleges and University bestowed upon me is the same effect I want to have on future

Sara McLanahan and numerous other faculty members have been instrumental to my development in translating my classroom experiences into contributions to the field of sociology. There are two main ways the mentorship I received at Princeton University influenced my training. First, I my mentors help me learn how to write a research paper. The classroom training taught the importance of theory building and providing evidence in the form of quantitative or qualitative data, but being out of school for seven years made it difficult to translate my classroom experience into a research paper. I discussed my initial difficulties with Marta Tienda and she encouraged me to take a writing class and she worked closely with me to develop the foundation of a research paper that is currently under review. I have also worked closely on two projects with Sara McLahanan and it is through discussions and feedback that I have a better understanding of the research process. I do not believe I would be as successful nor as far along on my dissertation without the close mentorship I received these past four