Pages 0 and 1 answer essay One

Pages 2 and 3 answer essay Two

Page 3 also answers the short answer question

Essay One: Statement of Purpose and Leadership (750 words). Feel free to write this as one
continuous statement or to break it into short sections for each theme. In either case, you must stay
within the 750-word limit. Describe your professional interests and goals; how they have evolved
over time, and how will the Schwarzman Scholars program and a deeper knowledge of China’s role
in the world help advance your goals? Based on your prior professional and personal experiences,
how do you think you will contribute to the community of Schwarzman Scholars and to the program’s
mission? Include specific situations in your professional, academic, or personal life when you have
demonstrated the leadership qualities outlined below. Guidance on describing your leadership
qualities and experience in the Statement of Purpose and Leadership: Candidates must describe
specific examples of their leadership that (1) explore their intellectual/analytical abilities to
understand challenges and opportunities, and envision solutions, (2) take initiative to act, (3) use
strong interpersonal skills to inspire a team effort, and (4) push through resistance and/or challenges
in reaching results. The applicant's example(s) of leadership might address some but not all of these
characteristics. Examples might include efforts such as founding a student or community
organization that successfully addressed a pressing need; taking on a transformative role in an
existing organization; founding and running a startup to take advantage of an emerging opportunity.
Candidates should NOT let these examples limit their thinking and should draw on their own
personal experiences for similar examples of leadership. The key is to help the committee
understand the candidate’s leadership characteristics, not just to list titles and accomplishments.
Candidates should avoid describing situations that might fall into one of the following categories, all
of which are valuable learning and growth experiences, but do not give the committee a deeper
understanding of the applicant's leadership characteristics over extended periods of time: (1)
accomplishing a difficult but typical task assigned in the workplace (2) solving brief problems of
cultural miscommunication while traveling or studying overseas (3) simply winning office in a student
or community organization (It is, however, helpful, to describe the challenges faced and
accomplishments achieved in office.) (4) brief situational challenges (focus instead on longer term
projects and challenges.)

As many stories about identity, mine starts with who I am, or rather, which community I come from. I was
born in Sao Paulo in 1996, and have already lived to witness two Presidents impeached in my country,
and one sentenced to jail just this year.

In 1998, my parents started their law firm almost out of thin air, with nearly zero funding and certainly
minimal business know-how. The firm itself was on life support, lenders were threatening to deal it a death
blow. In the 2000s, I watched my parents cautiously contrive to turn their law firm around. Perhaps my
parents’ ethos can be better understood as the epitome of Weber’s spirit of capitalism: diligent and hardly
indulgent.

Unlike my parents, I did not experience the extremes of poverty; thus, fulfilling an immigrant story of
financial success is not a priority to me. Still, there is something awe-inspiring about witnessing a
turnaround from the front row seat that stood with me throughout the years.
The belief that strategy and vision can turn any problem around.

But if even Brazil’s political past is unpredictable, how can we hope to set a brighter direction for our
future? An elderly Brazilian woman once warned me “not to trust a politician’s smile”. I share her pain
because I too have plenty of evidence to distrust government. But it’s exactly now, that we have so many
reasons to be dogmatically skeptic, that we must think critically about how to restore credibility in our
governmental institutions.

….

Thousands of miles away from Brazil, I have found myself in the business of direction: consulting. As the
youngest ever President of a 15 years old consulting organization on campus, my most important job has
been solving problems. During my Presidency, I have led a change effort to make one of the University’s
transportation systems (Airbus) profitable for the first time in ten years. Specifically, I have had to
convince a client to stick with our group, when our results were not showing. I have had to inspire a team
of otherwise unmotivated consultants to overdeliver, through positive reinforcement, as well as authority.
At the macro-level, I had to understand the nuts and bolts of the transportation business from a
multi-dimensional capacity, from how to market a bus service to fill capacity, to how to renegotiate
contracts and cut costs.

The value I can bring to Schwarzman, then, comes from my experiences as a problem solver, whether as
a Residential Advisor, intern at the Boston Consulting Group or advisor to the VP of Student Life E.
Royster Harper. My eclectic know-how as a dual degree student in Cognitive Science and Business
makes me a promising candidate for a multidisciplinary program like the Master’s Degree in Global
Affairs.

Why all these experiences matter should also be clear from my life aspiration to establish trust in Brazilian
institutions. One hypothesis I would like to test is whether a decentralized political system can lead to
lower corruption levels and to higher levels of confidence in our institutions. I believe that the
Schwarzman program would provide me with the necessary tools to structurally explore and test this
hypothesis. My humble hope is to likewise enrich the highly multidisciplinary and globally-inclined nature
of this program with my diverse experiences. I have visited nearly thirty countries and have previously
worked with policy analysis in Canada, in the United States, and in Brazil.

My expectation while at Tsinghua is to acquire life-long reasoning methods, so I can better navigate the
ambiguous road that is Brazilian politics. The program’s leadership training would allow me to challenge
ideas and to have my own thoughts challenged; China is a case study itself for my goals, since the
country has navigated a fast-paced period of economic growth. I’ve also been passionate about China’s
languages and culture from my teenage years, having received a HSK (level II) language certification at
the age of 13. Upon leaving China, I would like to bring my international baggage to Vetor Brasil, a
non-profit enterprise whose slogan reads: “Be the change you want to see in government”.

In thinking about Schwarzman, I am reminded of the many leaders within Schwarzman that have enacted
cultural changes in their communities. The mentorship of such individuals would be an invaluable step
towards achieving my life goals. It is likewise my humble hope to cultivate lifelong ties to the Schwarzman
community, and to one day help other scholars enact needed changes in their countries.

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Essay Two: Current Affairs Essay (up to 500 words): Choose an issue in contemporary social,
international, business, environmental, diplomatic, arts, or other policy that is of interest to you. This
essay should lay out the current factors and trends influencing the topic and make a realistic
recommendation of how local, national, or international leaders should intervene to contribute to a
more peaceful and prosperous future.

In 2014, as part of the “Lava-Jato” investigation in Brazil, the federal police discovered that Odebrecht ran
criminal operations of money laundering and bribery across 12 different countries, with hundreds of
high-ranking South American politicians involved.

What Went Wrong and Why

The executive branch directly controls over $250 billion in funds through the state-owned Brazilian
Development Bank (BNDES). In 2014 alone, the Government subsidized over 1,400 loans totaling over
$14 billion to private-owned corporations involved in infrastructure projects.

Within BNDES, the Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade is the immediate supervisor of
BNDES’ actions. The Minister, along with a core team of FOUR decision-makers in the General Assembly
are ultimately responsible for financial decisions. The Minister is appointed by the President of the
Republic, per BNDES’ statute, and can be replaced at the will of an executive action.

The process for appointing core members of the General Assembly of BNDES, surprisingly, is not
included in the statute. In fact, there are no clear public policies in place to elect and remove members of
the General Assembly in BNDES--meaning that the Minister and the President of Brazil have a lot of
freedom to justify changes to the bank’s leadership. We also know that BNDES’ decision-makers cannot
be easily accountable for their actions, because there is no clear criteria in the statute against which one
can weigh their actions.

On the macro-level, Odebrecht’s malicious intent is part of a broader culture of corruption in Brazil that
sadly dates back to 1600s. Back then, the Portuguese created a system of “Captaincies” that essentially
rented Brazil’s land to self-appointed rulers that would turn a quick profit in Brazil’s fertile soil. In the
1990s and 2000s, we had two Presidents impeached; very recently, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s
former President, was sentenced to jail.

Proposed Solutions

While legal action against wrong-doers is necessary, policies that retroactively punish corruption will not
suffice. The optimal path forward for Brazil goes through a two-fold political strategy that addresses gaps
in Brazil’s policies and culture.

First, BNDES’ statute must specify the duties and responsibilities of core members of the Assembly; the
statute must also specify a process by which money is distributed from the Government to private
companies. Only by having these criteria in place and making them publicly available, can we start to
increase accountability within BNDES.

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I also believe the executive branch should have reduced influence under the appointment of the Minister
managing BNDES. With Congress and the Senate alone appointing a Minister to BNDES, Brazil would
reduce the President’s direct influence over $250 billion in state-owned funds--or at least shield the
Minister from retaliatory executive action.

Moreover, Odebrecht should use its story to champion a broader moral duty of Brazilian corporations to
Brazil. To change a culture of corruption, it will take more than new public policies; it will take the
advocacy of business tycoons and political leaders to join the people and speak up against corruption and
bribery.

Short Answer Question (up to 100 words)

Tell us something about yourself that we would not otherwise know based on the materials in this application.

I am well acquainted with the fact that my resume and application are all about my
accomplishments, so you may be curious about my failures. Back in Brazil, my initial plan was to
become a doctor, like my brother, but I was not accepted into Medical School; so I studied Law
for three months before coming to Michigan. At the University, I sunk three Student Government
campaigns with sparkling success, two of those times I was the candidate. Before getting my
dream internship with BCG US, I blew interviews with McKinsey, Bain and with BCG Brazil.