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发信人: tietie (tiger), 信区: AdvancedEdu, 读者数: 33
标  题: what to say in your personal  statement
发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Tue Jan 12 17:03:01 1999)

Applying to US graduate schools

When you apply to US graduate schools, you should understand that the
competition will be stiff. My economics department ( at the University of New
Orleans) gets the majority of its Ph.D. applications from mainland Chinese.
Curiously, the GRE scores on
these applications are far superior to those on applications from Americans.
One year the page listing the top scorers had only one American ---the rest
were Chinese! No doubt the Chinese study harder for the examinations; they
also assume, correctly,
that the competition for financial aid will be stiff, and only the best
bother to apply. Yet because we are supported by the state of Louisiana, we
are obliged to give priority to local applicants.
When writing an application, one should bear in mind that the readers will
know little about China. I recall a discussion in which one professor argued
for taking student A because he was from People's University, which he had
heard was a top school.
Another argued for candidates B because he was from Renmin university,
allegedly a very good school. It was not immediately understood that both
candidates were from the same institution!
Since the readers know so little about China, supply details that establish
why a given fact in one's record is significant. For instance, if one has won
an honor, say why the honor was bestowed and how many people received it. For
instance, you might
explain that the XYZ Award is given for excellence in scientific research by
undergraduates at ABC University; only two students a year receive it. Or
suppose you state that you were named an "outstanding graduate"-then go on to
say that only the top
5% of graduating seniors receive this honor. If a Chinese university is a
highly respected institution, say so (even if Chinese readers all know it).
The school might, for instance, be on the government's list of key
universities; to give this fact its
full value, mention how many Chinese universities there are and how many of
them are labeled " key " Universities.
Likewise, it may be useful to remind foreign readers just how strong the
competition is in China, Recently I was looking at an application from a
student who ranked fifth in his province on the national university entrance
exam. The province, as it
happens, yet few Westerners would even recognize the name, has some 35
million inhabitants, yet few Westerners would even recognize the name. If
someone had ranked fifth in a general exam in a US state or European country,
we would probably be happy to
have him. I suggested that the student tell the readers how many people there
were in his province and compare it to a well-known European country("the
province has 35 million people, almost as many as all of Spain or Poland.")
Readers will be rushing to get through a thick pile of applications, Members
of the admissions committee do not get any special rewards for reading essays
carefully. In my department the only essays that get any real attention are
those from candidates
with outstanding test scores. Essays will be read quickly and the forgotten,
unless something in them catches the reader's attention. Thus an applicant
should comb his academic history or personal experience for anything that
makes him stand out, and
then highlight it. Perhaps one completed and outstanding research project, or
has written a book, or has obtained a patent on an invention. Perhaps one has
quickly reached a high supervisory position in a company. Such
accomplishments should figure
prominently in the essay.
Saying things that everyone else says will do nothing to advance one's
chances. Paragraphs about how one will contribute to China after getting a
doctorate, or about how greatly the country needs educated people, or about
how marvelous the target
school supposedly is-all of this adds nothing of value to an application
essay. One may wish to mention these matters if one has something concrete to
say, but the emphasis should be elsewhere, on why one is able to finish a
program with intellectual
distinction and be a credit to the target university in the US. Again, hot
air does not help; find solid evidence that leads to favorable conclusions
regarding one's promise in a given field. The best evidence that one will
eventually succeed is having
already succeeded.


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