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Sample Personal Statement for LLM
In August 2000, I spent 7 most special and memorable days in my
life. Through a very stringent screening test, I distinguished myself
from the rest several hundred outstanding students from Universities
of Beijing who had won “Top Scholarship” and became one of the 14 most
outstanding students to embark on a 7-day visit to Australia. In
Australia, we met with students from major universities, had exchanges
with them, and also visited leading Australia enterprises. This
exchange program, brief as it was, allowed me to experience Japanese
culture and traditions. The experience has proved defining—for me,
this very first experience of setting step on a foreign country
enabled me to significantly broaden my horizon and to acquire totally
new perspectives. I realized that I have far more exciting things to
learn in countries other than my own.
At this very moment, as a Master’s student majoring in international
economic law on the verge of completing my program, I have felt the
need, more urgently than ever, to pursue an advanced LLM program to
receive a typically western legal education and rigorous trainings
that may equip me with an international perspective. The legal system
of a country is closely related to its political, social and cultural
traditions and to its overall economic situation. In particular,
International Economic Law that I study is a new discipline that is
designed to regulate international economic relations; it involves
international public law, international private law and the civil and
business laws of different countries. It is my conviction that the
best way to learn this subject well is by plunging myself into the
major countries in the world to experience and to know their specific
legal systems.
While boasting a most developed economy, the United States is also
reputed for its most advanced teaching and research, and its legal
system is also most well-developed in the world. Those factors
motivate me to apply for a Master’s program in International Economic
Law (International Trade Law) from your esteemed university. I firmly
believe that my strong interest in this subject, my solid and
comprehensive knowledge of know, and my important potential to perform
academic research will facilitate my successful completion of my
proposed program.
I have the confidence that my past academic experience can make me a
competitive for your program. The reason for my confidence is based on
the fact that I have received the best legal education that a Chinese
student can expect in his/her own country—an undergraduate program in
the Law School of Tsinghua University and a Master’s program in the
Law School of Peking University. Whereas an elitist Chinese student
belongs to either Peking University or Tsinghua University, I have
been nurtured by both of them. What makes me especially proud is that
my educational experience is not confined simply to China. Apart from
my brief tour of Australia, I have also attended a one-month joint
program in Korea .
My undergraduate program at Tsinghua University permitted me to
systematically learn all the basic courses of law, and expose me to
major categories of individual laws. I was most interested in such
laws as civil law, contract law, international economic law and
maritime business law. My receiving of a spate of accolades and
scholarships is an indication of my academic excellence.
For my Master’s program at Peking Law School, I chose International
Economic Law as the area of my specialization. To deepen my study, I
read most of the classical works on the subject and my voluminous
reading encompassed International Trade Law by Clive Schmitthoff and
International Finance by Hal S. Scott & Philop A. Wellons. An
important extracurricular experience is our Law School’s Moot Court
Contest at which my team members and I won the first prize through
close collaboration and teamwork.
In 2002, my academic performance qualified me as one of the four
students from the entire mainland to go to Korea to attend a course
program. For one month, together with law students from all of the
world, I studied three important courses Introduction to American law,
International Financial Law, and WTO and China, all delivered by
American professors. I not only achieved high scores for those three
courses but also adapted to the American-styled education under an
all-English environment. This experience will pave the way for me to
receive more extensive American education in my LLM program.
As law is more an applied rather than theoretical subject, I have made
conscious efforts to undertake internships at local law firms during
summer and winter vacations. This summer I worked at Beijing
Arbitration Committee where I was exposed to a number of international
economic and trade disputes. In coping with those specific cases, I
applied my knowledge on one hand and, on the other hand, I developed a
more direct and practical understanding of the laws in international
economy and trade, as well as relevant international conventions, that
I had learned in class.
With the rapid scientific and technological advances, social progress
and media proliferation, the economies of various countries in the
world are becoming increasingly interdependent, and economic
globalization has become a tendency that no one can reverse. With
China’s accession into the WTO, China has established close and broad
economic relationships with all the WTO members of the world and
China’s trade volumes with its major trade partners have increased on
an unprecedented scale. For China, international economic activities
will occur within a single unified framework from now on. My objective
is to grasp in-depth knowledge in international economy and trade, and
especially the knowledge of the laws and regulations in those two
fields in the world’s major economic forces like the United States and
European Union. With such an education, I will be well-equipped to
play an important role in facilitating the economic exchanges between
China and the rest of the world. Your esteemed university is known for
its leading position in the teaching and research of international
economic (trade) law. Your strong faculty and advanced pedagogical
resources makes your university my ideal choice.
It is my hope that my systematic education at your university will
give me the necessary foundation for a rewarding career in
international economic (trade) law. In this age of increasing economic
(trade) conflicts, my professional knowledge and training will help to
ease the tension and promote the healthy development of economic ties
between China and the rest of the world. I believe this will be the
most important use to which I can apply my education.
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