申請文章在申請獎學金過程中所起的作用遠超過托福和GRE。要保證您的讀書計劃和推薦信獨樹一幟,獲得獎學金評審委員會的刮目相看,可以參考以下的范例:
Growing up in a modest village in China,I hardly ever had the chance to see many examples of modern technology;people who dig wells by hand to obtain drinking water and use ox-driven plows to cultivate their fields don’t have much use for televisions and personal computers。But when my father gave me an old radio to play with,I wanted nothing more than to take apart the contraption and see what inside made such interesting sounds。Sitting on the floor with a confused grin,surrounded by wires and metal,I looked up at my father and asked where the noises were...(有刪節(jié))
點 評:合理地闡述了申請者學習電子工程的動機,學習動機是評審委員非常看中的。同時,讀了這段文字,會使讀者沉浸在對童年往事的美好回憶里,借此打動評審委員的心。
另外一篇修改過的文章開頭用詩一般的語言寫道(有刪節(jié)):
......I first read this paragraph from Madame Curie as a 14-year-old child,and I still remember how wonderful I felt。I remember thinking,“What esteemed men they were!How hard they worked!” As I grew older,this paragraph became a source of encouragement in the face of adversity。I begin to feel a magical blue light twinkling in my heart,kindling a love of science,and encouraging me to charge bravely into the unknown world。
結尾呼應了開頭,闡述了作者為什么要去美國讀書:
I never forgot my adolescent idol,Maria Curie。As I re-read the book,another passage leaped out:“She was now 24-an age when some of her great contemporaries were to be on the brink of major discoveries... Maria took the train from Warsaw to Paris,the intellectual Mecca?!薄?/p>
For me,the intellectual Mecca is the United States。...I hope to continue my study and research,as detailed below。One day,I hope to find the pure esthetics of biology and reach its luminous summits。
點 評:我們可以想象地到,評審委員在讀了這位女士的申請文章以后,腦海里肯定能栩栩如生地浮現(xiàn)出一個好學上進、充滿遠大抱負的未來女科學家的形象,怎么會不拍案叫絕,全力幫助這個女士登上前往學術圣地美利堅的飛機,成為第二個居里夫人呢?
總 結:
PS之所以重要就是反映學習動機。ps好的最基本條件就是要針對該學校具體情況。 要表現(xiàn)出你的背景是如何地適合這個學校。當然,胡吹是不行的,因此再怎么吹牛只要沒作假柜子還是看的出高低的,比如你物理方面實力的確比電子方面強,所以MIT的EE只能把我放在waiting list里。我常見的申請者的通病就是一個同樣的PS發(fā)給十幾幾十個學校。會申請的人都是一個學校一個PS的。UPenn的招生辦主任就曾明確表示,我們最反感的是,我們看到的PS不加改動低可以適合于大半美國的其他學校。
一個好的PS,結合過去的經(jīng)歷和對專業(yè)的興趣來談為什么該校的教授和研究計劃對自己特別有吸引力。可以點名指出感興趣的教授或研究方向,這樣論述就具體了,因而也就更讓人信服??上Ь臀宜膶W生都沒做到這點:大多數(shù)人實在是太忽視PS了。Princeton物理系博士計劃的介紹說的好,我們關心的是申請者對物理學的興趣和動機而不是現(xiàn)有的專業(yè)水平,至于以前物理學基礎的薄弱環(huán)節(jié)可以在以后的博士學習期間彌補。所以有時PS表現(xiàn)出的對專業(yè)的興趣比申請人實際具有的專業(yè)學術水平還重要。另外能說明申請者對專業(yè)興趣的還可以通過推薦信來表現(xiàn),這就是為什么推薦信和PS最最重要。