Reading across websites and came across this article. Here's a tip:
Get on LinkedIn, connect with these people and message them from there.
Who knows, they might actually respond. People based in the US use LinkedIn more, and use it better. But, please, no stalker-ish messages or even desperate pleas. Be professional.
Even if they don't respond, then you could also just look at their profiles and measure your chances. Though the author below encourages the reader to "Dream big," I think she should have been more judicious in choosing her interviewees. These people had histories that included Ateneo de Manila, Princeton, McKinsey or a large family business -- seriously, if you add the diversity factor, there's a pretty big chance already for them to get in. Not to discourage you or anything, but I think the author of this article could have come up with a better intro. Or chosen a Pinoy in Harvard who had a less-distinguished background to support her "Dream big" mantra.
Maybe that future inspiration could be you.
Proudly Pinoy in Harvard
By Kara Vibal Guioguio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
DateFirst Posted 22:05:00 09/04/2010
Dream big. If you think you're dreaming big enough, dream even bigger because you're young
IT'S
NOT every day that we hear stories of Filipinos journeying halfway
around the world into the ivy halls of one of the world's most
prestigious schools and doing good there.
Here, three recent
Harvard Business School MBA graduates share their experiences studying
abroad, their hopes and dreams for the country, and how it was to be a
Pinoy in Harvard.
Jennifer Anne Kelly
Describe the Harvard campus.
The
campus itself is stunning, and its location by the Charles River is
beautiful. It?s all you can ever wish for. The library is amazing, so is
the student housing. The classroom is really conducive and my favorite
part is the faculty. They?re absolutely wonderful; their ability to
facilitate discussions in class and their openness and willingness to
talk to students who want to pop by their office to ask questions. You
can go in there and talk about life; what you want in life, what
inspires you.
How's the Filipino community there?
We have a
very tight community and we make sure we?re in touch with a broader
community like those from Harvard College, Law School, Kennedy School,
etc., to make sure that all the Filipinos gather together several times a
year. We either cook or order Filipino food, which is the best thing
because you miss Filipino cuisine after awhile.
When Ondoy struck the Filipino community in Harvard really worked together to raise funds
for the victims. We were part of the student calamity fundraising
project which was able to raise $35,000 for the victims. It was really
inspiring how engaged Filipino students are even abroad. You can see how
much passion they have about the country.
How's your academic load? What do you do to unwind?
The
coursework requires reading a lot of books, but for leisure we love to
travel. Our group of Filipinos and also the South East Asian
group have gone to Europe, south of France, Miami, Jamaica, Argentina.
The best part of school is having free time, about a couple of days to a
week off, and having a group of friends that are all happy to explore
the world.
What does it take for someone to survive in this highly competitive environment?
It
takes a lot of discipline, not just in your studies, but in learning
both within and outside the classroom. Fifty percent of your grade is
participation, so you have to be on all the time. You need confidence to
convince people about your ideas. It's very useful in real life. The
entire class is composed of 900 students, and we're divided into 10
sections. Harvard made sure each class is a cross section of various
viewpoints, so there's someone in the group for finance
, an engineer, etc., such that we can learn something new every day.
What is your advice for the Filipino youth?
Dream
big. Dream as big as you can ever dream of. If you think you're
dreaming big enough, dream even bigger because you're young and there
are so many opportunities
, and the world is in the palm of your hands. Don't let anything stop you.
Oliver Segovia
Why did you decide to go to Graduate School?
During
my undergraduate years, I had 3 career paths in mind: consulting,
private equity and real estate. Coming out of the Ateneo taught me about
liberal arts, how to think about world, and a good appreciation of how
the world works. I was always passionate about real estate growing up
because it?s the family business, and also because there are only a few
industries that affect people in a fundamental way.
I saw the MBA
as a way of learning more about those passions, getting the skills I
need to succeed in that field, and knowing people who work in those
industries.
Business is a very relational social endeavor. You
have to know different people, learn from different perspectives, so I
applied.
How was the application process?
I submitted a
resume along with essays, letters of recommendation from employer or
from people who know me well, and I had an interview. The toughest part
for me was the essays, because you are given limited space and a loaded
question to answer. On the surface, the questions (i.e., describe your
three greatest achievements in 600 words) seem simple but it's pretty
hard to answer because it takes a lot of introspection.
Harvard
wasn't looking for people who can easily talk about how great they are
or how smart they are or how much they've already achieved, because
there's a lot more people like that. But to dig really deep and figure
out what really motivates you, what's your purpose in life; having that
level of self-awareness to be able to talk candidly and get some lessons
out of that was pretty challenging.
Now that you've graduated, what are your plans?
I'm
writing a book, which started out as a project in school for the next
few months. It?s about leadership and the future of business education
which will be published by the Harvard Business School Press. I am
planning on pursuing a full-time career in real estate.
How can you help the country given your background and training?
We had a case in a class on political economy
, where we had to study the Philippines
as a country and about our 10 million overseas
Filipino workers and their remittances. Telling them about the OFW
story was fascinating and also unbelievable for them, because they could
not imagine the number of broken families there are because so many
were forced to work abroad.
Perhaps, by telling the world more about the Philippines, more people would want to invest here, go as tourists
and study what we've achieved. Also, by learning as much as I can from
the best real estate firms, the best countries that are known for their
real estate practices, the level of professionalization in those
industries and by adapting it back home, I can put them all in the book.
I
say to the youth, keep on learning because if there's anything I've
learned, it's that I don't know anything yet. It's a very humbling
experience but Harvard Business School taught me how to learn. That's
the skill of being very open, being hungry for information, hungry to
learn from people, places, companies, etc., in a systematic and
structured way; and finally, of being able to help other people learn as
well.
Paolo Campos III
How do you find studying in Harvard?
I
was an undergrad in Princeton before enrolling at the Harvard MBA
program, so I had a foretaste of what to expect since I had to do a lot
of adjusting being the only Pinoy at Princeton at that time. Studying
abroad and virtually on my own forced me outside of my comfort zone,
which allowed me to grow as a person. It heightened my sense of being a
Filipino, and the experience convinced me to come home and reinforce the
fact that this is my country. I do have a responsibility to do what I
can to make things better.
What were the difficulties you encountered?
There's
definitely being home sick (sic) and missing my family and friends. As much
as I was able to learn from other people from elsewhere, at the end of
the day you?re all alone at home. That was the challenge, having to live
independently without your security blanket.
But it was also
very fulfilling to meet such amazing people from all over the world.
[School was] very tough academically, but Filipinos are very well
equipped to be very competitive in an academic setting. We are a very
global people; generally speaking, we have a variety of cultural
influences as a nation. Filipinos can hold their own academically or
otherwise, despite the challenges.
Who is your favorite world leader?
Barack
Obama. We were there when he got elected, we had just started school. I
think he's coming up against the challenges of a chief executive. He
was a masterful campaigner, and really got people to rally around his
vision. Words are one thing, actions are another but just being in the
States I really saw a shift from people being apolitical and not caring
about politics during the Bush years, and then Obama came along and
people started to care-whether for him or against him.
President
Noynoy Aquino is a transformative figure in the same mould as Obama, and
he got people to rally around his vision, too. The challenge for him
now, like Obama, is to make the shift from the candidate of hope to
being an effective administrator.
If you were to send P-Noy a message, what would it be?
Focus on the private sector to be the engine of growth. Fulfill your promise to stamp out corruption. Because it inhibits investments
when there's a lot of red tape. As a foreign or local investor, you
won't have much confidence in the government that allows graft to
flourish.
Also, look for ways to expand public-private
partnerships. That's the way to go. Take advantage of the renewed
interest in the Philippines because as fiscally constrained as we are on
the government side of things, there's just so much potential from the
private sector to really play the role.
Also, we need to leverage
OFW/ Filipinos overseas because they have so much skillm (sic) and by
encouraging them to come home and set up businesses here, we can turn
that into a positive force for change in the country.
What advice can you give to the youth?
Believe
that the world is your oyster. You're only limited by how expansive
your thinking is, how expansive your hopes and dreams are. Have a goal
that you really believe in, and everything comes from that. Talk to
people with the same career path, learn from those who've come before
you. Don't be afraid to pursue that idea which will change the world.
When you do that, everything else will fall into place.
Don't get
discouraged by the fact that schools in the US are very expensive. Look
for full scholarships, because for those that can qualify and may lack
the means, they give out grants.
