在申请中被拒绝是很平常的事情，但是如果因此就放弃了可能就真的错过很多机会。我这次在申请转学的过程中也是被UCLA拒绝的。
下面就是这封信将我拯救了回来。希望对大家有所帮助~
================================
Zhang Jingwei
mailing address
Los Angeles, CA 900xx
May 8, 2008
UCLA Undergraduate Admissions Office
1147 Murphy Hall
UCLA Campus
Dear Appeals Committee:
I have been at UCLA for the past academic year as an exchange student from the University of Hong Kong. I applied to transfer to UCLA for the Fall, 2008 and would like to appeal the rejection decision by the Admissions Committee. I was initially disheartened upon receiving the rejection letter but as I reflected on it further I perceived it as a set of questions that seek for sincere answers: How badly do I want to achieve my dreams? Am I good enough? And have I tried hard enough?
Less than a year ago I was a boy generally interested in science. However, the last six months really witnessed the ripening of my serious consideration of a career in science. This is the consequence of a variety of factors, all of them are directly or indirectly related to UCLA.
Taking full advantage of my time as an exchange student here at UCLA, I have taken eleven courses (including this term) since last fall. Four of them were graduate level, four were concurrently held with graduate courses and the rest were upper division courses. In addition, I tried to sit in as many graduate level chemistry courses as my schedule would permit. With such an extensive exposure, I started to feel knowledge from different branches of science merge inside me, as tributaries converging into the sea.
I was lucky enough to have the chance to join the discussion of the UCLA Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Program directed by Prof. K.N. Houk and the Structural Biology Journal Club co-directed by Prof. David Eisenberg and Prof. Todd Yeates (in both cases, I am the only undergraduate participant). These frontier research programs expanded my vision and greatly integrated the knowledge I learnt from courses. More importantly, through interaction with these leading scientists of our world, I have tried to inherit their style of problem solving and their zeal towards discovery.
The most significant discovery for me, perhaps, is my passion for structural biology. Under the supervision of Prof. Reid Johnson, I have been conducting research since last October with the goal of obtaining an X-ray crystal structure of a protein-DNA complex. I managed to redesign a protein purification protocol for a protein called alpha-CTD and have produced enough alpha-CTD and Fis proteins for co-crystal trials with DNA. In screens performed last week, I was able to obtain some protein-DNA crystals. And actually yesterday, I successfully reproduced the crystallization condition. If the identity of the protein-DNA crystal is confirmed, this will mark the breach through the bottleneck of the whole project and open enormous possibilities. I would like to share a line from Prof. Joan Valentine as a nice illustration of my feeling towards research (It was taken from an interview I conducted as a member of the UCLA Undergraduate Research Journal):
"… the idea that I could actually find an answer to a question that nobody in this world understood is extremely intriguing, and that defined my first impression on the excitement of science…”
Apart from all my academic life, I participated in various social activities. I am currently involved in the UCLA Undergraduate Students Association campaign, supporting and facilitating Bruin United in terms of its election. I am also on the marketing board of [url]www.xiaonei.com, an oriental equivalent of Facebook designed to facilitate communication between all Chinese. After I helped to spread the network in the University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong region early this spring, I am now switching my focus to the US, mainly to expand its business in the California region.
When I applied to UCLA using the UC application system, I concurrently applied to UC-Berkeley and was admitted by their College of Chemistry. But throughout these weeks, I kept asking myself: What am I really passionate about? And where can I best achieve my dreams? I think I know the answers to these questions, and they are the reasons I am writing this letter of appeal to UCLA. I hope I have been able to convey in this letter that the brief time I have spent at UCLA has made a major impact on my life. I really hope that I can continue to devote my intellect and passion to this wonderful institution.
Thank you.
Yours,
Zhang Jingwei
======================================
点评：
1. 最重要的一点是向他人展示自己自上次提交申请之后有什么新的进步。很多人在申请告一段落之后就单纯地等结果。其实如果多加一把努力，几个月之后会有很多新的进步，这些进步会对admission decision 起到至关重要的影响。
2. 要加强自己与申请对象之间的联系，让别人感到你是很specifically 要去他们那里。
3. 感情真挚~ 这种东西很多时候是假不出来的，所以如果真的喜欢一个地方应该就会对其很有感觉！
4. 语言不必花哨。当时我的professor跟我一起改文章的时候就跟我说申请本科的时候，语言可以花哨一些，因为这样有一种potential 的感觉。但是到了大三或是本科毕业，每个人应该有清晰的目标和规划，在写材料的过程中应该体现这种成熟。
5.每年都有2%的录取者是通过appeal申请成功的，所以千万不要放弃！
6. 有的时候人从被拒绝中能够学到更多的东西，会让人更加珍惜来之不易的机会，挫折感能够让人意识到天外有天，很好地转化为动力。 |
收藏