Dear all,
I am applying for a PhD programme in Psychology and I need to hand in an autobiography. However, since I am not a native speaker, I am sure my current draft is prone to grammatical mistakes. Might I ask for your help in circling out my faults? I will be grateful for every help you provide.
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My name is Ka-Lon Sou, 22 years old. I was born and grew up in Macau which is a friendly and peaceful place to live. Living in a small city, my childhood was surrounded by friends and neighbors. My decorous personality also gained me supports from peers, allowing me to participate in class activities as a class president and prefect in school. My friends usually perceive me as an outgoing and energetic person because I am always ready for sports such as squash, cycling and snooker. Due to my enthusiasm in squash, I joined a local squash team in order to excel the sport through practices. Personally, however, I would rate myself as a quiet person who likes to stay alone from the busy crowds. I love to spend my leisure time in a coffee shop, sitting next to the window, reading while observing people on the street walking back and forth. Based on their clothing and behaviors, I often attempt to figure out their personalities and wonder what they are seeing and thinking at the moment. This is me, an ordinary student who likes to be surrounded by people but deep down wish to move a step backward for subjective observation.
Some may believe "one should maintain a balance between work and joy in order to achieve a better life", but I disagree since it assumes work and joy are anisometric. In my case, studying is one of my pleasurable activities. I enjoy diving in the sea of knowledge and following the author's stream of logic. With the good grades obtained from the British open examination GCE A level (A in average, grade A in Chinese inclusive), I went to The Chinese University of Hong Kong and completed my bachelor degree in Biomedical Engineering. In the 3-year study, one of my optional course, Neuroengineering, brought me into contact with Psychology and I developed a great interest in it ever since. Since then, I went to the library every day after class and read books related to Psychology. I also attended to a number of basic Psychology course so as to consolidate my knowledge built from the books. Encouraged by my former employer who was a Psychology professor at the University of Hong Kong, I decided to travel oversea and pursue a Master course in Psychology at University of Glasgow after graduated from my bachelor degree with second-upper honor classification in order to advance my knowledge in this field to the next level.
Although it was a great challenge for me to study in a foreign country, I was able to overcome it with the help and support from my parents and friends. Moreover, my prior knowledge from my first degree made part of the curriculum tractable for me, especially those related to physiology and neuroscience. One of my favorite designs of the Master course is its provision of actual research experience, in which I was able to integrate my knowledge while learning the practical skills in carrying out psychological experiments. My dissertation, for instance, equipped me with the operational skills in handling professional tools including SPSS and E-Prime, not to mention leading me to the latest academic development in the area of Attention and Face perception. The predilection toward Psychology and Neuroscience, therefore, is the main reason for my decision of pursuing a PhD position and choosing researcher as my lifetime career.
One of the reason I am applying National Taiwan University (NTU) is that I believe it is university with very high potential, especially in the field of Psychology and Neuroscience. First, NTU is one of the few universities in Asia supporting experiments with advanced physiological measurements inclusive of TMS and EEG. Furthermore, being an international university, NTU publishes academic papers not only to Chinese journals, but also to international high-standard journals such as Consciousness and Cognition. I believe this internationalization maintains an excellent bridge between Western and Eastern research and NTU hence would become a foundation for the fusion between Western empirical research and Eastern ancient philosophy.
I aim at becoming a leading researcher in the field of Cognitive Psychology. With this ambition, I have planned for my graduate study. During these four years of study, I will enrich professional knowledge and sharpen practical skills by putting effort in class and participating school seminars. Enthusiastically, I am willing to exchange ideas with and seek for assistance from coworkers and supervisors whenever I get confused with the abstract theories. As interpersonal skills and leadership are also essential elements for a smooth project, I am ready to join student clubs to develop skills in interpersonal communication, to take responsibilities and to develop leadership. Being a researcher, I understand the importance of self-motivated learning. I therefore plan to take the American open exam GRE and learn the advanced statistic programming language R during my academic years. During the school breaks, I will go around Taiwan and countries nearby to widen my horizon, and to take up challenges independently. I strongly believe that this PhD program is the best preparation for my future career. With my previous experience in psychological research which is a perfect match for the project, I am ready to be one of your students and develop my professional aptitude under your guidance.
This is good ... but, I like if you spoke something about your family background too as that too plays an important part of one's autobiography. I do not mean that you need to talk about the demographics at length like telling what your father and mother do or how many siblings you have, however, I feel all that helps you describe how your personality got shaped into the one you are now. In the autobiography, they may look for information to understand your overall personal background and personality and not so much about your academic background .... this is my personal view!
