<p>Hey all, new to the site and I found myself intrigued by UGA and its International Affairs program. </p>
<p>I'm 23, Asian and it's been 7 years since I graduated from high school on 2003. I've also been taking on a program from Broward College (FL) who operate an overseas campus here in Singapore for the past year, and have earned 18 credits with 3.2 GPA so far.. which means that qualifies me as a Nontraditional Applicant, for the criteria of the Nontraditional route states that I must have graduated from high school at least 5 years ago and have earned less than the 30 credits typically required of transfer applicants. Last year, when my GPA was 3.66 before a professor who didn't like me struck my GPA down with a C, I was invited to Phi Theta Kappa and still am a member of it.</p>
<p>My SAT scores from 2005 (which are thankfully still valid) are:</p>
<p>CR: 610
Math: 650
Writing: 560</p>
<p>Total: 1820
CR + Math: 1260</p>
<p>I called up the UGA Admissions Department and they told me to submit my application along with a letter explaining what I was doing since 2003, and here goes in chronological order:</p>
<p>2003: Graduated from Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) holding a Cambridge-Singapore GCE 'O' Level certificate of 2As and 4Bs.</p>
<p>2004-2005: Entered Singapore Polytechnic and did not complete after 2 years. Found out that the program I was in guaranteed me a dead-end career.</p>
<p>2004-2007: Entered active e-Sports. Notable accolades include top #16 position in Battlefield 2 Online World Tournament, and travelling to Taipei for Battlefield 2142 Asia-Pacific Tournament, and clinched championship.</p>
<p>2007-2009: Enlisted to the Army by mandatory National Service. Served as Signals Operator in Armored Brigade support staff. Majority of activities are still classified and spent several months in an operation hunting down the escaped leader of Southeast Asian terrorist cell Jemaah Islamiyah</p>
<p>2009-present: Discharged from the Army, studying and working part-time at a LAN-gaming venue. Worked closely with management to foster and build up the local gaming community in Singapore. Presently promoting a healthy gaming lifestyle campaign which attracted interest from the national media and government bodies.</p>
<p>Typical questions:</p>
<p>Why do I want to study at UGA?</p>
<p>With respect to the focus on the International Affairs program, I was fascinated by the work of department faculty, like Dr. Han Park's awesome efforts in maintaining North Korea's dialogue with the rest of the world, and Dr. Patricia Sullivan's astute analysis on Major Power Military Intervention. Why UGA, specifically? Because I come from an old school with a strong school spirit in ACS(I), and UGA immediately appealed to me for the same reasons.</p>
<p>Why major in International Affairs?</p>
<p>Picture a nine year-old kid ambling around church engaging in discussion about Bill Clinton, or the Palestinian conflict with grown-ups. Global affairs has always been my passion, and 2 years of service in the Army made me realize my particular interest in matters of defense and security. My knowledge in understanding matters in tactical and operational terms will give me that additional advantage of perspective in defense and security analysis, and having had a second-hand, rudimentary education in military grand strategy, and brigade-level tactics, signals and communications from speaking with the senior officers I often accompanied, I am confident of being well-placed to take on the International Affairs major.</p>
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