Personal Statement
Applied Program: Financial Management & MBA
As a 22-year-old Chinese female, I have developed splendid scholastic aptitudes and I also feel proud of myself for having been independently responsible for organizing a guitar playing competition in which hundreds of university students participated all across Beijing, which is an achievement in itself. My life is filled with passion and creative impulses. Every morning represents to me a new starting point. The journey of life alternates between joy and hardships, but I pursue this journey with equal perseverance. I appreciate the eagerness with which one transcends one’s existing circumstances as described by the renowned Taiwan woman author Qiong Yao in her novel Burn, The Firebird! In my life-long pursuit, I will constantly encourage myself with a quote from this enlightening novel –burn and fly bravely, the firebird!

I have always been the top student in my class. I especially excel in English and mathematics. In 1997, I succeeded in entering People’s University of China as I had desired and became an undergraduate of the English Department. Throughout my four-year colorful undergraduate life, I not only successfully completed my degree program itself but also shaped my personality. At the same time, I tried to develop a clear notion of my career objective. Although I have been good at English ever since I was a senior middle school student, as I delved deeper into my studies and knew more about other disciplines, I came to discover that English language should only serve as a linguistic tool to facilitate my studies in other important areas instead of becoming the object of research itself. While undertaking coursework in international finance and management, I began to develop an intense interest in economics, financial science, accounting, and other related areas. The heated discussions during the classes further deepened my understanding of the current economic phenomena of the society of which I am a part. Furthermore, the knowledge concerning stocks, equities, securities and other financial and accounting fields involved in those classroom discussions aroused my serious interest in conducting detailed studies. As a result, I carried out large amount of self-education in those areas with a view of enriching myself. The career experience in some enterprises after my graduation makes me determined to pursue an MBA program in financial management. Such a program is where my interest and my advantages reside. I have long liked mathematics and have a special sensitivity to numbers and figures.

Finance and accounting are an important component of economic management as well as the foundation that comprehensively, continuously and systematically reflects the realities of economic activities. The more developed a country is, the greater the role played by finance and accounting in that country. This is why accounting and finance have developed at such an alarming rate in China since its reform and opening up campaign. On the other hand, the system of financial management is far from well-developed. The practitioners and the accounting firms cannot very well carry out their due responsibilities, a fact which in return hinders the nation’s economic development. The financial sector in China faces many serious obstacles and those obstacles may be attributed to the low level of financial management. I studied enterprise accounting as early as the first year of my undergraduate studies and for this reason I have followed closely the development of financial management of China in recent years. It is my belief that it is absolutely necessary for me to pursue advanced studies and to accumulate practical experience in financial management in a country with developed economy, a sound market economic system and a vigorous financial market. It will be a crucial step in my entire career plan. The future financial administrator should be equipped with all the necessary professional knowledge, and he also has to possess knowledge of computer and network, information management system and legal affairs. As a multi-disciplinary subject, financial management requires one to learn new knowledge in many different fields. This very much accords with my character because I like to meet challenging tasks. My experience of working at some enterprises since my graduation has also reinforced this determination of mine.

My overall undergraduate scholastic performance can be described as “good”. I was awarded scholarships. I participated in the First English Contest for Global Chinese Youths and was given the commemorative award for the translation group. My class ranking reached top 3 during the first year but it declined somewhat as I devoted myself to the self-education in accounting and finance and took part in a diversity of extracurricular activities. I served as the head of the Guitar Association of my university and organized successful large-scale guitar competitions. I also worked as editor and broadcaster for our university’s English Broadcasting Studio. I taught Joy American English for one year to the students of the Primary School attached to Peking University. I also attended an International Conference on Love and Ethics for the Young Generation in China, Russia and the United States held in Beijing and worked as a volunteer for the Universiade 99’ in Beijing. In addition, I undertook internships at the Advertising Department of Guangzhou Southern Metropolitan Newspaper, from which I acquired considerable business management knowledge and practice. In all those activities, I have displayed much more passionate creativity than my peers and this has significantly increased my confidence in myself. I believe that during my undergraduate life I achieved comprehensive development both academically and psychologically. Although my colorful extracurricular involvements somehow affected my scholastic performance, I still consider them worthwhile because I have been able to derive much knowledge that could never been taught by mere textbooks, knowledge which is nevertheless vitally important to my personal development.

Upon my graduation, I have been working as secretary first at a high-tech joint-venture company in Beijing and then at an investment in Sichuan. My responsibilities also include translation for and negotiation with foreign investors. Those opportunities have allowed me to participate in enterprise administration and enabled me to have a first-hand knowledge and experience in company management. Personally, I feel that I need to further enhance my management skills and to acquire a systematic knowledge of business administration. This constitutes my strongest motivation in applying for an MBA program at your most esteemed university.

I am clearly aware that to undertake a degree program in a new area will be full of challenges and difficulties. However, my personal character has always been that, once a decision has been made, I would pursue to fulfill it with persistence. I believe that I am a person who is not afraid of difficulties. I have encountered continuous difficulties in the process of my growing up, including the misunderstanding on the part of my parents when I was plunged into the darkest hours of my life. However, I have managed to surmount those difficulties one by one with my strong willpower. Therefore, I am fully prepared for meeting all the possible challenges. My conviction is that few things are impossible to conquer for a person of the strongest willpower. At this critical moment of making a choice of life that might bring a world of difference for me in the future, I do so with perfect calm and confidence