Essay 3
The focus of the PhD program at Boston College is research. Describe a research question that you would like to explore. Make sure to explain what you are trying to find out, why it is important, and what approach you might like to take in answering the questions.

Through my previous studies and research, as well as the profound reflections that I conducted on certain economic questions, I have discovered that a vital question in Chinese current economic reform has not been solved but will have to be solved, that is, state property occupies a paramount position in most state-owned enterprises and since the state is an abstract concept, those properties cannot find corresponding proprietors to carry out their duties and obligations, hence many social and economic evils of huge bureaucratic corruption, the loss of enterprise assets, the reduction of the enterprises‘ competitive power. Since the separation between ownership and management, represented by modern American mode of enterprise/company management, has become a prevailing practice characterizing virtually all the production and management activities of large companies, it is essential that China find out an effective mode of organization that can ensure the smooth operation of the so-called state-owned enterprises in the absence of property representatives. I believe this is a strategic subject that bears significantly on the healthy and steady development of national economy and the long-term development of Chinese enterprises.

According to my present conceptualization, the optimum solution would be to transfer the majority of national assets to individuals or to enterprises to transform those assets into circulating capitals. Then, those capitals are to be combined to form a "National Property Investment Fund" which shall be responsible for re-investing those assets into enterprises and research institutions that possess investment value and that are indispensable to the needs of the country‘s strategic development according to highly standardized operational modes of investment fund. The transformation of this nature can help the otherwise stagnant capital recover its vitality and facilitate the more rapid growth of those major enterprises that have genuine development potential. This program can be summarized as "entry-exit" mechanism.

At my current knowledge level, I cannot precisely predict what will be the cost for implementing this mechanism, what transformations will be introduced into the enterprises‘ mode of organization and into the form of the assets, how large an investment fund will be needed to manage the wealth of an entire nation, and whether there will be technically insurmountable problems would occur.

But it can be safely asserted that the execution of this model means that fundamental changes will happen in the situation of our country‘s entire economic organization. The prerequisite for working out such macro-level organizational reform is to develop a clear notion of the possible problems that are likely to be involved, to solve people‘s sense of displacement caused by reform, and to conduct cost-profit analysis necessary for the organizational restructuring of a particular enterprise under well-defined micro environment. I think that only when I have mastered very solid theories in organizational study, acquired abundant practical experience, and grasped all the possible problems that one may encounter in an enterprise‘s organizational transformation and their solutions will I be qualified to undertake this large-scale research, to fathom the necessity and the feasibility of launching this unprecedented reform at the current stage of China‘s economic development by applying a very scientific and rational methodology.

I have consulted in great detail on the area of specialization of the renowned professors at Boston College in this field and the four-year coursework and have come to the conclusion that my prospective studies and investigations under the Organizational Program will constitute an excellent beginning for this research plan of mine. To complete this Program and the research demanded by this Program is my greatest academic aspiration and your opportune assistance is undoubtedly crucial.

Essay 4
Discuss your career objectives following graduation from a Ph.D. Program

If I could ever be admitted into and could ultimately graduate from a Ph.D. program in Organizational Studies at the Carroll School of Management of the internationally renowned Boston College, I would be fully equipped, I am convinced, for undertaking any category of research, teaching, or consultation related to this field.

Nevertheless, as a youth replete with a strong sense of responsibility and mission, I am prepared to carry with me back to China the knowledge that I will acquire from my prospective degree program at your esteemed college. More specifically, I plan to work at the most authoritative research institution in China, the Research Center of the Economic Development (DRC) under the State Council of China, to pursue a fruitful career. It is my wish that my future undertakings would generate breakthroughs and radical contributions to both the theory and the practice of China‘s organizational transformations.

DRC is an organization specifically devoted to the government‘s policy research and consultation and is directly affiliated to the State Council of the People‘s Republic of China. It focuses on the analysis and the solution of the macro, strategic, and long-term problems in China‘s national economy while providing administrative consultations to the government. As the country‘s economic think tank, DRC addresses itself to the implementation and the research of the organizational reform of state-owned enterprises as one of its primary tasks. This is so closely related to my target degree program that my future research will arouse serious attention of the government.

A belief that I have consistently maintained is that the great value of the research findings from a particular economic management project is primarily incorporated in its ability to contribute to development of a particular enterprise, a particular nation, or a particular field of the international community. Such a role is almost invariably impossible to be played by one individual only. The DRC, however, with its galaxy of the most outstanding economists of the nation carrying the most advanced economic and managerial theories, will transform every research finding into important frame of reference for the government in the execution of its policies. Any proposal, once adopted by the government, will produce comprehensive and direct impact on the management of national economy. In this sense, a career at this research center will make possible the perfect marriage between my academic concepts and the actual practice of economic management, generating maximum social effects, fulfilling my own academic value, and incarnating the value of the education that your college is to impart to me.

I am resolved to develop myself into a scholar who will promote and guide successful social changes in the field of organizational transformation by means of my academic research. The education that your respected college can provide will be my most treasured source of knowledge and the DRC will undoubtedly help me materialize by career objective that I consider most worthy and meaningful.