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Sample Personal Statement for Communications Studies
There are two divergent views concerning the prospect of Chinese
media development— whether an exciting future or a downturn as a
result of unregulated disorder. To what extent is each of those
contentions justified? My 2-month summer internship from July to
August in 2004 at XX has allowed me to gain insight into the complex
reality of the country’s media community. Although in appearance
China’s media market is booming and making big money, there are
inherent crises. Apart from the political control imposed on the
media, Chinese media workers suffer from a conservative ideology,
backward technology and shortsightedness resulting from the false
boom. This is largely related to their lack of international
experiences and perspectives. My present application for a Master’s
programme in Communications Studies at your esteemed university stems
precisely from the motivation to develop the kind of international
experiences and perspectives that most Chinese media professionals
lack.
My internship at XX has been significant. Apart from gaining a
realistic picture of China’s media world, I did experience tremendous
improvement in my practical media skills. The channel is primarily
targeted at the audience in the national capital, but it has important
ramifications over the entire country. The show “XX” where I worked
has created a standard in the field. During my internship, I performed
such duties as interviewing and editing of programmes under the
guidance of the programme director, from whom I learned important
experiences of collecting materials and producing programmes. It
constituted my very first experience of standard media work, although
I used to work at our university’s broadcasting station. Both of those
experiences have helped to motivate me toward a possible career in
media.
As a student of English, I have developed a strong interest in media.
This development seems inevitable on two accounts. There is first the
longtime influence of my mother who used to be a journalist and is now
a senior editor. Another factor is my character. I have known to other
as lively, energetic, sociable, and communicative. As a child, I
practiced playing piano and also practiced dancing of China’s
minorities for more than five years. Those artistic talents made me a
leader in extracurricular activities. By actively participating in
those activities, I learned how to plan, manage and launch major
events. Since September 2002, one year after I began my undergraduate
programme at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Institute
of XX, I have been acting as art and entertainment representative of
the class, the director of Art and Entertainment Department of the
School’s Students Union, and vice chair of the University Students
Union. In my various positions, I masterminded and launched a series
of important events and served as anchorwoman. Those events include
the university’s annual large-scale performance in commemoration of
the December 19 Incident from 2001 to 2003, freshmen receptions and
summer evenings in 2002 and 2003.
In executing my extracurricular duties, I have seen how I can use my
talents to fulfill public responsibilities and how to interact with
different sorts of people. But my sense of achievement also comes from
many other aspects, more or less related to media. In May 2002, I
acted as planner and English hostess of the English Talents Contest of
XX, which was part of the 3rd Nationwide English Talents Show
sponsored and televised by XX. Both my English proficiency and oral
eloquence were highly recognized by my teachers and fellow students.
In Nov. 2003, I was responsible for directing a short English play
“Lucky 250” which won first prize at the university’s first Short Play
Competition. Our play later entered the XX Competition and claimed a
third prize. Around the summer vacation in June and July this year, I
interned at XX Art and Culture Development Co. Ltd and my duties
included translating documents, business proposals, correspondences,
and manuals and participating in corporate planning. As the company’s
line of business is brokering art performances between China and other
countries, I learned important knowledge about intercultural
communications.
Learning English as my major has allowed me to have important
experiences of the cultures of the English-speaking countries. I used
to be a volunteer who showed a group of British and American teachers
working in China around the city of XX. While familiarizing them with
the Chinese culture, I learned about their own cultures. As sophomore
and junior, I took part in many exchange programmes with international
students studying in XX, among whom were students from the UK, Canada
and America. I believe that this cultural knowledge will be useful to
my prospective studies in Communications Studies because your
programme is best understood in a cultural context.
In carrying out the studies in my own specialty, I have been most
interested in the courses related to English and American literature.
In addition to providing a historical framework of English and
American literature, our teachers have offered in-depth analyses of
major literary movements and their representative authors, and I have
developed a relatively comprehensive knowledge of the novelists,
playwrights and poets and their individual works in the great literary
traditions of those two English-speaking countries. The study of
English and American literature has produced a two-fold significance
for me. Achieving over 80 points (as in a 100-point grading system) in
the last two examinations, I have remarkably enhanced my aesthetic
sensitivity and knowledge of the creative process of literature. On
the other hand, my study of English and American literature has
presented me the best channel for improving my English proficiency,
especially in reading and writing. As a student of English, I have
also make conscious efforts to improve my proficiency in listening and
speaking by practicing with teachers and students from the
English-speaking countries on our campus. Compared with other Chinese
students who apply for a programme in Communications Studies, I have a
much stronger background in English language, which constitutes my
unique strength. Moreover, I submitted an article to a writing
competition under the name of XX on Campus and claimed an Excellence
Award.
I am especially proud of the fact that my active involvements in
extracurricular events, while promoting my personal development in an
all-round manner, have not in the least hampered me from attaining my
academic excellence. I have developed useful knowledge and skills in
areas other than our own specialty, which many of my fellow students
do not possess. On the other hand, although our teachers have been
invariably strict in their grading, I have maintained a top 10
academic ranking in my class consecutively, winning third-class
scholarship in the 2002-2003 academic year.
When I first chose to major in English, the choice was made out of my
admiration of English and western culture. Now, as my interest shifts
to communications, I am equally excited over my new choice. XX
University has achieved rapid ascendancy in academic ranking among all
the UK universities over the past decade and its Institute of
Communications Studies is one of the largest departments of its kind
in British universities. The postgraduate programme offered covers six
schemes, some of which is taught in association with BBC. Establishing
the Center for Television Research as early as 1963, XX University was
one of the first to undertake the study of communications as an
academic discipline. I chose your programme because I am eager to
learn advanced knowledge of this discipline. My study plan is that, on
the basis of the books on communications I have self-studied, I will
choose a comprehensive spectrum of core courses as well as many
optional courses. Having mastered the basic theories and
methodologies, I would concentrate on mass media and society, with
emphasis on political communications, Art Communications, and
communications and international affairs. My dissertation will focus
on one of those aspects, which will bear importantly on China’s
existing media and communications practice.
Mass media is essentially about interaction and communication. As
China gradually opens its media market to foreign enterprises, radical
changes are bound to take place. My prospective programme will be part
of that Sino-UK interaction and communication. I envision myself in
the near future as working either in a leading Chinese media
enterprise which operates jointly with a western partner or in a
western media organization operating in China. Therefore, my present
application for your programme will play a vital role in my future
career development.
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