Personal Statement
Program: Mechanical Engineering

Over the past 20 years of my life I have been experiencing two different modes of existence: one is realistic and the other simulated. On one hand is my past experience of education and work and on the other hand my career as a football player. They interrelate and are inseparably intertwined. I have excelled as a football player. Yet, more than that, I have tasted the process of life –learning, struggling, suffering from failures and achieving success, making immense efforts together with my teammates towards a common goal, remaining indefatigable and perseverant even when utterly exhausted, and willing to sacrifice everything for the fulfillment of what I love. My pursuit of education and my professional career bear surprising similarities to my athletic experience, all of which contribute to deepening my understanding of the meaning of life. Now, I have undertaken a higher pursuit, to apply to your most esteemed Graduate School under the hope of embarking on an advanced degree program in Mechanical Engineering. This new pursuit will be crucial for me because its success will significantly facilitate my future career objective. The zeal with which I undertake this application is like that of Chinese National Football Team which, in 2001, was qualified for the World Cup for the first time during the past 44 years. It will be a fulfillment of a long-cherished dream.

In the eyes of others I am most noted for my football achievements. I received systematic training ever since I was a primary school student and my football career continued well into my undergraduate studies. My sustained good performance allowed me to participate continuously in various matches throughout the country and finally resulted in my winning the title of National Second-Class Athlete. However, what others do not generally know is my love for science, which is no less than my love for football sports. This love for science played a decisive role in my choosing the kind of university for my undergraduate program. I could have entered the most prestigious sports university in China with all my athletic qualifications. Nevertheless, I chose the relatively obscure Shanxi Construction Materials Institute out of my determination to pursue a scientific career. With my childhood interest in science and engineering, I believed that ultimately I would achieve something in the field of science and engineering.

For my undergraduate program, I majored in mechanical designing, mechanical manufacturing, electronic technology, trainings in automatic testing technology, all of which accorded with my interests. With strong hands-on abilities, I could always derive great pleasure from my studies and experiments. Therefore, ever since the first year of my undergraduate program, I have been intensely interested in the specialty that I studied and this interest led me to make wholehearted efforts to excel in my studies. Consequently, my scholastic performance constantly remained among the top five of my class for the first two years. Too many football matches during the last two years somehow distracted my attention from my studies; nevertheless, I still managed to retain a top ten ranking. This was itself an achievement for me because as the main player of our institute’s football team I had to spend a large amount of time and energy on training and matches. Sometimes, I would even suffer from several physical injuries. Naturally, the time I devoted to my studies was considerably less than that of my classmates. I was frequently prevented from attending my classes regularly. The fact that I remained well above the average level of my class was the result of my diligence on one hand and of my intelligence on the other. I completed much of my coursework through self-education and sometimes in order to catch up with my classmates I would study late into night. In our institute, there were few students like me who could bring athletic honors to the school on one hand and manage to be academically distinguished on the other. My academic excellence was totally beyond all my football teammates, a fact that also made me feel quite proud of myself. Throughout my undergraduate life, apart from my studies and participating in sports matches, I acted as the Minister of Sports in the Students Union of our Institute and every year I was responsible for organizing a series of sports events both on campus and with other colleges and universities. In this way, my organizational abilities and my social experience have been effectively trained and improved.

Since my graduation in 1998, I have been employed by a foreign trade company where I am in charge of importing and exporting machinery with my American trade partners. Over the past three years, I have undertaken quite a number of major trade projects including the transactions of many categories of telescopes and rigging. The nature of foreign trade makes it possible for me to keep improving my English proficiency on one hand and deepen my understanding of the mechanical industry. With the increasing trend of inter-penetration among different subjects ranging from computer technology, information technology to materials and mechanical engineering, the science of mechanical engineering is developing with gathering momentum in the United States, a fact that has excited me a great deal. Although my work is not strictly mechanical in nature, I have been following closely the latest development of mechanical engineering. By assimilating relevant knowledge in this field, I have evolved the ambition of really being able to pursue a professional career in this field instead of being merely involved in the import and export of machines.

Meanwhile, my long-time involvement in international machinery business has exposed me to such a diversity of high-tech and sophisticated equipment that I am made painfully aware of the deficiencies in my existing knowledge. It seems that my undergraduate training is far from enough in this rapidly changing world of scientific and technological advances. Much of my existing knowledge has been rendered obsolescent, creating serious difficulties for me in communicating with my international clients. Under such circumstances, I decide to seek advanced education in mechanical engineering in the United States, the most developed country in the field. In so doing, I hope to establish a solid basis for a higher-level career development in the future.

With regard to my study plan, I wish, first of all, to learn systematical all the major theories of mechanical engineering and to undertake systematic professional training. Laboratory experiments would be a very important part of my future program. Then, I plan to do some research in those fields that enjoy promising prospects of future breakthroughs. I will focus on the highly difficult mechanical processing, manufacturing and designing, with special attention to those relatively updated technologies that are quite foreign to China. Finally, I have made up my minds that, upon completing my degree program, I will come back to my native country where I will be able to independently develop new mechanical products that are up to international standards.

Ambitions and actions, along with the capacity for taking actions, contribute to a person’s success. I have full confidence in my ability to complete my challenging degree program at your most prestigious university. First, I am highly motivated and I possess a relevant professional foundation. I am fully prepared to endure the hardest difficulties. The teamwork spirit I have cultivated by playing football is another important guarantee for my academic success. My special advantages also include my unusually strong physique and capacity for self-education. My football experience tells me that the realization of every challenging objective always results from huge exertions, both mental and physical, and from the conquest of unexpected difficulties. Shortly before the entrance examination for senior middle school, my ankle was badly wounded in a match and the doctor said it was not advisable for me to take part in the examination. However, I believed that endurance and willpower could conquer all obstacles and every ambition would be ultimately achieved. I prepared for the examination in the midst of great physical pains and Stephen W. Hawking was my hero at that time. His deeds helped me understand that perseverance is the key to personal success. It was only by reading stories of Hawking that I succeeded in entering the senior middle school which I had aimed at.

Deep inside my blood is the spirit of football competition. I am bound to keep running along and pursuing my goal. Such a spirit will enable me to remain invincible and my current application is no exception. This much I believe.