(life) Could you please help me with my personal statement?

[lishuo.nankai]

MODERATOR NOTE:  Could people willing to help please contact the poster off-list.  Thanks.
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Hi everybody,

  I'm majored in physics and in my last year in university. In the coming year, I plan to apply to USA's universities to further my study. Now I am working on my personal statement, could you please help me revise my personal statement? Thanks a lot!

   If you have some questions about living in China, I will try my best to help.

lishuo nankai
[lishuo.nankai(at)yahoo.com.cn]

[Terence Egan]

How much credence do universities give to students' personal statements?

I'm constantly providing references and filling out other universities'online forms. I'm surprised at their low-level recruitment practice in a time when almost every course touches on ethics, cheating and the importance of maintaining appropriate levels of governance and probity.

Are the universities aware that few Chinese teachers are willing to write a reference, instead giving the student carte blanche to write them?

Are they also aware that students open temporary email addreses in the teachers' names in order to respond to the universities' background checks? It should be mentioned (in defence of the students) that this is often done with the knowledge and 'blessings' of the teachers.

I've only been asked a couple of times in ten years to submit information using an official university email address. Requests to supply information on university letterhead (recently a student offered to 'assemble' one for me) are usually accompanied by an online alternative that requires no official documentation. Why bother with the charade of asking for a letterhead in the first place?

I have never been followed up for additional information or comment. As any decent recruiter knows, references are barely worth the paper they're written on. Carefully considered follow-up is critical  to determine the true source of references and the veracity of the content.

We teach this stuff ... why do we never  use it!!!

Terence Egan