Offer From A Tier 3 Program example essay topic

I want to share my application story with you. It's a story about how a guy with a GPA lower than 2.3 has gotten full assistantships. Of course, not by cheating. Repeatedly, I have seen questions like "Can I apply to US schools with a GPA of 3.1". You can't imagine how I felt whenever I saw this kind of questions, unless you know that my GPA is less than 2.3 and was still applying. As Jingo explained in the 9-Step Guide at BeBeyond, there is no sole factor that is decisive in admission.

The GPA is about your past so isn't it more advisable to try to improve yourself than to cry over the spilt milk? A 3.1 GPA is really not bad, at least to me! In college, I ditched most classes to play tennis and cards or simply stayed in bed until lunchtime. In the last year, I had to face the reality that I possessed probably the worst academic records in the whole Department. I did begin to worry about my future as I realized that knowledge still played and would continue to play an important role in job searching. Also, for the most part, I grew tired of being a bad student.

I wanted a change. I considered my situation and decided that I couldn't do much about my past, but I could give myself another chance to prove my intellectual strength. The way to do it was to pursue a graduate study. I still ditched classes, but I picked up my brand new course books and stopped oversleeping. It was amazing to find out that learning actually was not so boring as I had thought before.

Finally, I was admitted by a graduate program with the forth-highest overall score among about 30 test takers. It turned out to be a great change. In graduate school, I went all the way to improve myself. When I graduated, I had good academic records, published research papers in reputable journals, received top-ranked scholarship in Chinese Academy of Sciences, and scored okay in the G / T tests. I could then say that I had gotten some academic competence in spite of my poor undergraduate performance. I also decided to gain some working experiences in China first even though I could have applied for US schools immediately.

Studying abroad had been my ultimate goal for my graduate study in China, but then it turned to be more of a process of learning something useful and interesting for me. Last fall, having seen both the nice and not-so-nice "faces" of Chinese corporations and colleges, I believed it was time to go abroad. I thought about my situation again and knew that I could never deny my bad college records. And most Chinese applicants are very competitive. This left me no choice but to do a job that makes me stand out. To begin, I took time to search schools with programs that fit my research background and try to really understand what the professors were doing.

Then, I worked hard on my Personal Statement. I knew most Personal Statements were filled with high GPA, top three ranks, 2300 GRE score, etc. so I chose to focus my Statement on my academic interest and background. I love my graduate program and I do have research experiences in my field. Since I had some knowledge of the American professors' research projects, I could put forward my idea about their programs. Thirdly, I mailed out my first batch of application packets in early October when most students were still waiting for their application forms. I wanted the admission officers to have time to read my statement thoroughly instead of glancing it over when the applications poured in during December.

Finally, in a separate statement, I explained why my undergraduate records were so poor, and what accounted for the difference between my undergraduate and graduate performance. I told the truth, thinking that honesty was a virtue respected by almost everyone. I wrote to the department Chair or related professors but never begged for an admission. I just wanted to have a chance to show my best. Having completed all these, I thought I have done all I could. So I relaxed and enjoyed my life.

Then in the early March, I started to receive emails informing me admissions. At the end, I have gotten five full assistantships, one from a top 50 school, two from tier-2 schools, and two from tier-3 schools. I chose one offer from a tier-3 program because I liked their program most. Through the application process, I have learned how to reach my goal by thinking, planning, and hard working. Early this year when I logged on BeBeyond the first time, I was amazed to find out that to some degree, my application procedures coincided with the BeBeyond strategy.

Since then, I've been thinking of sharing my story with all BeBeyond members and visitors. The spirit of BeBeyond is to participate and to show yourself, and I am doing it now. On an early May day, I sat with one of my college roommates back from the US. He told me that his greatest achievement in the US for the two years was that now he dared to step on every corner of the world without any prior knowledge of that place, and to talk without fear with anybody, no matter he was the President or a millionaire. I listened and smiled. I shared his feeling of confidence.

We might never be a president or probably never a millionaire, but we can always do our best and be ourselves.