前面我已经谈了,CV先于PS,教授先看CV,后看PS。在某种程度上,PS就是对你的CV进行必要的说明与扩展。这里,请允许我用强调的语气:CV的价值与要义就在于你要尽一切可能避免你的申请在最初的审查中就被刷掉! 如果你做到了,那么恭喜你,在接下来,你需要快速转动你的右脑,因为在某种程度上,你已经进入了一个谈判环节。尤其对于那些手持CSC重要砝码的同学,已经占有了一定的先机。
在CV篇我已经讲过了,只要你足够Tricky,通过最初的简历审查并不难,但前提是你得自己先确定你对教授来说是一个FIT。剩下的任务,就可以放心地交给PS来完成了。一份好的PS,足以扭转你的劣势,挽救你岌岌可危的申请,以至于改变教授对你的最初印象!
PS也就是 Personal Statement,其实我更喜欢Statement of Purpose,或者欧洲人喜欢用的 Motivation Letter的说法,也就是动机信。我也比较偏爱于动机信这种提法,与个人陈述相比,听起来要明确的多。
因为动机信与个人的教育/生活经历紧密相联,所以很难说可以找到一个“通用的法则”,这点与CV有很大的不同。但我相信,一份好的动机信应该是有生命的。我个人感觉,最糟糕的动机信莫过于那种流水帐的记事,让教授很容易打瞌睡。你的那些零碎的生命故事需要被串起来,请尝试用你的价值观与人生追求把他们给串起来。让教授看到你的动机信后,会觉得你是一个具有好的情商的人,适合于同他在一起工作。这里,我想引用一段话来说明这个问题:A successful person lives his life through his values. He knows his purpose. Being accountable in all the things that are happening in life is an example of having high emotional quotient.
这样说起来有点抽象,这里我尝试通过我的经历来说明这个问题/方法。
首先,我还是要先提示一下。动机信的最初几行应该用来说明你写这封信的目的(申请博士职位与奖学金),以及你目前的状态(正在读研或者工作)。别一开始就是I was born in... ,那样会让老外相当费解的!
交代完背景信息后,进入主题。
我是先写本科阶段的 My undergraduate education was trained in ...这里,我的问题比较严重,那就是成绩不好,当时比较贪玩,上课的时间总是与我踢球或者打游戏的时间冲突。我自己算了一下,平均分也就70+分,还挂过几科。这里,我没有选择回避这一点,相反,我要强调它!以证明我是一个从逆境中走出来的人,一个浪子回头金不换的典范!
当然,描述也是需要技巧的,我是这么说的:But truth be told, in the undergraduate period I was not an outstanding student subjected to the judgment based on academic records. At that time I thought textbooks were more or less boring and professors’ courses were far away from reality. Further more, then I noticed little that I will be involved in academic research in one day.
人都有过年少轻狂的日子吧,可能正在读你信的教授也有过!这段描述同时给我的后文买下来伏笔,为什么有一天我会选择搞学术呢,而且肯定不是一时冲动的举动。接着看:However, a turning point occurred when I participated in a research project ×××. It’s a××× project on innovative mechanical design, which was truly challenging to me with nearly zero engineering experience. But I found soon that it’s an amazing project for solving practical problems for company, with valuable scientific issues involved. Then I put my heart in the work×××××. This experience excited me a great curiosity in research as I tasted the feelings of discovering something new and solving real problems in engineering. That’s just stirring.
这样子,你就完成了一个不小的逆转。这就好比说是谈恋爱,年轻的时候我们总想追求一个我们真正很爱很爱的人,但追寻了很多年,却仍就没有找到。直到有一天,你突然顿悟:原来爱不是平白无故产生的,只有两个人在一起经历了很多,尤其是一起吃了很多苦以后,才会最终真的相爱,并厮守一生。有点扯远了,我的意思是你光凭嘴说你喜欢科研,喜欢的不得了,就是喜欢,好使吗?教授相信吗?起码我看了之后会感觉很假,所以你得讲故事,越生动越好,但不要瞎杜撰,像写小说一样,那样就适得其反了。
下面讲研究生阶段。因为很多信息,如课题/论文等都在CV中有过介绍,动机信这里就不要再重复了,可以一言以蔽之: Most of my research activities at ××× are presented in my CV for your information. In a word, I’ve been enjoyed the three years at ×××, especially ×××
然后,我写了一些我工作的体会,希望这段描述对大家也有借鉴意义。 this ongoing working experience is very valuable for me, not only technically. In fact it teaches me something that I hadn’t learnt from school, e.g. EQ is much more important than IQ.
下面的内容往往被很多申请者所忽视,那就是你应该谈谈你对你申请的学校/实验室,尤其是导师的了解情况,为什么这个研究课题对你有吸引力,你又为什么是一个合适的人选!
这里,我想毫无保留向大家展示一下我的看家本领,这可是不轻易示人的东西啊。其实也就是我在Presentation中的陈述的几点,这几点得到两位指导教授很好的评价:Clear, strongly impressed.
Why I apply for this thesis
Firstly, I am really interested in this research proposal, which, expected to be carried out on the microscopic scale, is very appealing to me.
Secondly, the thesis’s supervisors are well-known specialists in this research field, whose guidance and advice will be absolutely helpful for my academic career.
Lastly, full-field measurement technology is still considered as a relative emerging research direction, but active in France, where I think is the best place to devote my energy to this promising research area.
Why I am a worthy candidate
Having three years’ research experience on full-filed measurements, particularly in terms of experiment, which is crucial to this thesis research.
Skilled in numerical analysis and data processing by means of the software MatLab, which is eagerly expected in this thesis research.
With sufficient knowledge of metal properties and good comprehension of nonlinear mechanics behaviors in solid, which is a favorable condition for this thesis research.
最后,表一表决心, I am sure that, with the benefit of your advice, I can acquire broader perspectives and more profound insights.......
动机信被认为是很正式的申请文件,里面不要出现 I'd, don't 这样的省略用法,也尽量避免有语法与表达问题。在提交正式文件的时候,教授给了我很多建议,还帮我进行了一些修改。我上面谈的动机信是写给教授看的,在他同意接受你之后,可能还需要写个比较正式的动机信,用来给研究生院负责评审奖学金的人来看的。那个就不用担心了,基本就是个形式,教授会帮你包装的。
OK。PS结束,好累。还好,写作是我的一大乐趣!
原帖地址:http://emuch.net/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=2139367&fpage=5
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