美国留学 教你怎样写读书计划 - 二

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What Graduate Schools Look for in Application Essays
　　Unfortunately there is no way to know specifically what graduate schoolsl look for in application essays, so it is important when writing your essay to not worry about writing "the magic answer" or "the magic phrase" that will get you admitted. Since there are no objective standards for evaluating essays, you should write about experiences and issues that you actually know about and care about. If you are not genuine and sincere in your essay, it will show.
　　While graduate schools do not expect essays on a particular subject, there are a few things that they do expect. They expect clearly and logically written essays that reveal thought and creativity. They expect essays that reveal maturity and focus. They expect essays that bring together the separate parts of an application (e.g. transcript, test scores, work experiences, extracurricular experiences, interests, etc.) and prove an applicant is qualified and motivated for graduate study. So essays should reflect the great amount of thought and effort taken by their author in writing them, as well of course as be free of grammatical errors.
What a Unique Essay is and Why to Write One　　
　　A unique essay is one that will be memorable to graduate schools' admissions staffs. By writing a unique essay, you will make yourself more attractive to graduate schools. Most American universities want to have a diverse student body, one that includes all sorts of people. Not only do universities target specific sexes, races, and areas of the globe in creating a diverse student body, they also look for people with unusual backgrounds and experiences. For example, top business schools do not only admit people with excellent grades and GMAT scores, but also look very favorably on candidates who have unique and uncommon work experiences. Graduate schools believe that a diverse student body adds both to the quality of student social life and the quality of education, because students with different experiences contribute different skills and ideas to the academic environment.
The First Step: Self-Examination
　　Before you beginning writing your first draft, you should review your personal history carefully to figure out what makes you both unique as an individual and a good candidate for graduate school. Here is a list of questions for you to consider to help you review your personal history.
How to Use this List of Self-Examination Questions
　　The below list of self-examination questions is for you to consider and answer. If you answer these questions thoughtfully, writing down your answers, it will be much, much easier for you to choose what to write about in your application essays. Thinking about these questions will also be very helpful if you ever have to interview for graduate school. Good Luck!
School and Academic Achievements:
1、Why are you interested in your chosen field of study? How and when did you begin to get interested?
2、Why do you want a graduate degree?
3、Why do you want to study abroad?
4、What was the most rewarding class you took in college and why? What was the most rewarding assignment you did and why?
5、In addition to classes, how else did you learn about your field of interest (e.g. books, seminars, lectures, conversations)?
6、Do you feel your grades (university and graduate school if applicable) and test scores (GRE, GMAT, LSAT, TOEFL, etc.) accurately reflect your academic ability and potential? Why or why not?
7、What kinds of academic skills (research, lab, etc.) did you learn in college?
8、Were you involved in any especially memorable academic accomplishments in college? Describe them.