A Simple Graduate Admissions Statement
For many years, I have wrestled with the idea of working for a Masters degree. Many things kept me from this pursuit: work needs, lack of time, family needs, you name it. There also was that nagging “value-proposition” problem…. I couldn’t find a Master’s program that qualified me for more than a $75,000/year middle management position. As an owner of my own business, the idea of spending the time, energy and money to obtain a Masters for a position I was over-qualified for seemed rather silly.
Fast forward a quarter of a century….
In my risk management studies, I met an individual (hat-tip to George) who turned me on to the possibility of using the graduate credits earned from my ARM and ARM-P coursework towards a Masters degree. I began investigating this possibility and found the Salve Regina University willing to accept at least 12 graduate credits towards the 36 needed for the conferment of a Master of Science in Management with a Risk Management concentration. I will be petitioning the Dean of Graduate Studies to accept 6 additional graduate credits once I complete my Associate in Commercial Underwriting (”AU”) designation, scheduled (if all goes well) for June 1.
Almost all of the work is online and much of it self-study: right up my alley! To that end, I decided to apply. My first assignment: “Provide a detailed statement which describes academic and professional experiences which will make a contribution to your pursuit of a graduate education at Salve Regina University. Include in this statement any unique aspects of your experience relevant to your intended course of study.”
My graduate admissions statement follows:
I find it humorous that as I sit here wrestling with an appropriate application statement, I am transported back 25 years or so wrestling with my USC and NYU application statements as if it were yesterday. In that sense, my experience is circular, with everything old being new again! I am smiling because it’s “interesting” to try to sift through a quarter century of life trying to figure out what experience should be highlighted in such a statement. And by “interesting”, I mean “pointless”!
Every thing I’ve done and every person I’ve met and every experience experienced has led me to this point in time, the “here and now”. Every person helped, every person counseled, every life touched is a part of what constitutes me as me. For me to attempt to judge which experience was more important than another strikes me as folly. So let’s recap…!
NYU days were hectic. I worked full time in the family’s trucking business my junior and senior years and took night courses and summer sessions to keep up. I did not do this by choice but the family business was struggling and I needed to pull my weight. I paid for my own education and therefore understand its value. Soon after my Bachelor’s conferment, the family business failed. Shortly after that, I was married to my bride, moved and started a new job all in the span of 30 days. It was during this time that I consciously learned and accepted that the only constant in this world is change.
And many things did indeed change: I “fell into” the insurance sales business by accident and with my first home and daughter on the way, I had to figure things out very quickly. One thing I figured out quickly is that insurance sales producers could be broken down into two groups, one being so-called “social” producers, relying upon who they knew and not what they knew to make a living, or “technical” producers, those relying upon what they knew rather than who they knew. Since I didn’t have an effete, “social” background, you can pretty much guess which group I was relegated to!
I have yet to meet the person that grew up wanting to be in the insurance industry. A policeman, a fireman, an astronaut, yes, but not one insurance actuary, underwriter or risk manager. I think that this is the reason why there is such a lack of empathy, compassion and passion associated with the insurance industry. Its members think in terms of insurable risk,insurance contracts and how much the commission is going to be on the policy they just sold. After 20 years of practicing, I can tell you that the best insurance practitioners listen to people and find creative solutions to the problems faced.
At his trial for heresy, Socrates is acknowledged to have spoken “The unexamined life is not worth living”. In times of quiet, I close my eyes and allow myself to relax. In these moments of introspection, I listen and allow myself to hear what my heart is telling me. And what I’ve heard are the most important things, things that have shaped the tapestry of my life. Among these “important things” is that I need to be a life-long learner not just to expand knowledge for its own sake or for personal hubris, but to deploy this knowledge to better the lives of others. Willingness to assist others is not enough, as it must be matched with commensurate ability.
Which is why, after 17 years from the conferment of my first professional insurance designation, I decided to listen to what
my heart was telling me and have dedicated two or so years to a remake, a refresh, a re-do. I chose the study of risk management in all its forms because it was the most natural progression from insurance. With it, I took my first steps into a much larger world. What I soon learned is that for all these years I had been applying risk management techniques and risk control mitigation in solving problems, I just never knew the language and could not articulate the ideas and solutions as well as I can now. I became aware, that despite its vast nature, just how small the world of insurance was.
Since January 2008, I have formally studied risk management at the AICPCU/IIA and National Alliance for Insurance Education and Research and have attained many acknowledged advanced technical designations. Conferment of a Masters degree in Risk Management will break down many walls to understanding, and give those whom I meet and help added comfort in my ability to adequately address the pressing problems they face.
I do not know what the future holds, but when the time comes to stand before my Maker, I do not want Him to think I’ve wasted my life, after all He’s given me.