Personal Statement
Program: Management of Information System

It has been frequently asserted by scholars, both domestic and international, that the marked discrepancy between China and advanced western countries should be attributed not so much to the lack of capital investment and cutting-edge technology as to its social system, administration and management.  Whether this assertion is justified or not, one thing is certain, that is, the losses caused by China’s backward management is beyond the calculation of concrete statistical figures. Under such circumstances, to develop highly-qualified management talents becomes a prerequisite. In view of this, on the verge of completing my undergraduate program in Information Management and Information System at the College of Economy Management, XX University of Technology, I wish to apply for a taught degree (Master’s) in Analysis, Design and Management of Information Systems at your renowned university.

The specialization Information Management and Information System at the College of Economy Management that I major in seems to be fittingly geared to my academic interests as it unifies three most important subjects in modern sciences—economics, management science and computer science. Compared with most of my classmates, I have a wider range of interests and ken of knowledge, more receptive to new ideas and adept at understanding difficult concepts and theories. My academic performance can fully testify to my commitment to coursework and to my unswerving interest in my specialization. With an overall GPA of 3.3 and core-course GPA of 3.8, ranking 4% among a total of 240 students in my grade, I have received Second-Class Scholarships for three consecutive years, which is only eligible to 3% students in my university. I succeeded in passing Band IV and Band IV National English Proficiency Test for University Students at the first attempt and scored “A” in spoken English in both of them.

Generally speaking, I have excelled in science courses such as Higher Mathematics, Operational Research, and Digital Logical Circuits. I am especially proud of the full mark I scored in Statistics and Probability Theory, the only one in the college. Although Computer Networks and Database Design are the two courses taught in English, I managed to achieve 95 points in both of them under a 100-point grading system. Meanwhile, I have also been very interested in management, achieving satisfactory scores in Management Science, Information Management, Management Psychology, Principles of Management, Production Management and Financial Management, etc. Science courses improved my ability of analytical reasoning while management sciences allowed me to gain a deep understanding of human behavior. Economics taught me the principle of how to make optimum allocation of resources in this world of limited and decreasing resources.

As XX University of Technology attaches great importance to student practice programs, I have participated in seven internships and field trips over the past 4 years. They include Accounting internship, course project for Database Structure & Program Design, market surveys. Based on my good academic foundation, I have considerably enhanced my problem solving abilities. I take every occasion seriously so as to enrich my practical experience. I have scored “Excellent” in all those extracurricular programs.

My other extracurricular activities have also been very rich and various. In the middle school, I was a student official whose leadership and teamwork were generally recognized by the teachers and the schoolmaster. I was honored as Outstanding Youth League Member of XX City. From the very outset of my undergraduate program, I have paid special attention to the development of my all-round personal qualities by assuming extracurricular responsibilities. I am a member of the student government of my class, in charge of art and entertainment; I am also a key figure of the campus broadcasting station responsible for hosting daily news programs. In addition, I independently launched a special English program “Global City,” which won the first prize in the evaluation of all the programs of the station.

My English language proficiency is further improved through other channels. I have participated in the annual “Noah’s Ark Cup” All-University English Speech Contest, winning third prize as a freshman, first prize as a sophomore and special prize as a junior. I qualified myself as the delegate of my university to attend the 2002 XX Province English Speaking Competition for University Students and won second prize.  Immediately after this, I took part in XX. This was the most serious challenge that I faced in my life because I had to compete against 96 attendants. But I did not back away and finally snatched a 30th ranking with an Excellent Prize. Linguistically, I will encounter no difficulty in my proposed program at your university.

Under the guidance of Prof. XXX, I undertook a research project in human resource management last year, focusing on how to make career development plans. My research paper proposes that three major factors must be taken into consideration in formulating career development plans—what are the appropriate jobs for oneself, whether those jobs are available to oneself, an what jobs are most demanded on the job market. In addition, the prospect of a specific job, and an individual’s competitive edge in the future world must also be examined. Receiving praises from Prof. Zhang, I did a course project this year—The Present Conditions of XX Computer Co. Ltd.( XX Branch), a leading computer manufacturer in China. In recent years, the rapid increase of enterprise data has far exceeded the handling capacity of the Branch’s Information Center. My solution was the construction of an internal network-based office automation information system by utilizing the Browser/Server structure and connecting this system with the Internet via the head company’s network server. In this way, the real-time processing and analysis of various data and distance office management could be realized. The evaluation of this system indicates that it is up to the standards and my advisor has expressed his satisfaction, commenting on it as “displaying relatively strong trans-platform capacity and super system expansion capacity; useful for procedure optimization, reduction of management risks, and improvement of office efficiency.”

The all too short 4-year undergraduate program cannot truly make me master all the sophisticated computer skills to perform effective information management. I want to consolidate my academic foundation and to further improve my computer expertise so that I can become a well-trained MIS specialist. Compared to advanced western countries, China falls rather behind in terms of teaching and research of MIS. This is the essential reason for my application for a Master’s program at XX which enjoys an undeniable top ranking in MIS research.

I am an ordinary student but I do not want to remain ordinary. I want to excel and to scale new heights. XX is precisely the university that I believe will help me excel because it can give me the kind of knowledge and skills that I cannot obtain in China. I firmly believe that “the best way to learn is to learn from the best” and this constitutes the true motivation behind my present application.