Admission Essay
Integrity is defined as having strong moral principles and a need to be honest and forthright with others. It is the quality of an individual or group that demands a great deal of discipline and can make or break a reputation when it comes to any aspect of life. In effect, integrity is the reason why people wish to interact with those around them. When an individual, or a group, is seen as dependable and honest, then they are more likely to attract positive attention and will be able to create a network based on trust that is fueled by their integrity. In order to be seen as a person of integrity a person’s principles must be unquestionable.
In my own life I have witnessed the value of integrity and the very real consequences that can occur when it is compromised. While integrity is a vital component of the workplace, it is also a very important part of school as well. My own experience has included a moment of damaged integrity when I was engaged in a group project with four other students. For much of the term the five of us were engaged in our project, working as hard as we could to make our deadlines and doing what was necessary to keep up our individual responsibilities.
When a young woman in the group fell behind in her duties she did not tell us why, nor did she relay any message other than to say that she would catch up. She did not attend group meetings, and she did not explain why she was becoming so lax in her duties. The day before our group was scheduled to present our project she stated that she could not finish her tasks, which meant that the responsibility fell to the rest of the group. Needless to say the group pulled together and finished the work, but in the end we were forced to give our absent partner a very poor peer evaluation. Soon after her response to this came in the form of an email, telling us in a heated fashion that she had been looking after her grandfather and could not fulfill her duties.
Her grandfather’s condition was very regrettable, but this did not completely absolve her of informing her group of the reason behind why she could not perform her duties. While such a reason could have easily excused such absences, her negligence in not communicating with her group damaged her integrity, thereby causing the group to lose faith in her and to see her as less than reliable.
Integrity is also important in business, and Purdue is my choice to bring this quality back to my family business in the hopes that the skills I learn at this institution will allow me to breathe new life into my family’s small but important enterprise. Purdue is where I believe that it will be possible for me to find new opportunities and chances to network in a way that will prove advantageous in the future. I plan to use the educational opportunities I earn from Purdue as a means to bring my family business into the modern era and rebuild their integrity as well.
