Personal statement for a Japanese University.
AIMS TO SHOW MY PASSION AND MY ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS, ACTIVITIES FOR BIOLOGY
I AM STILL WORKING ON 2 MORE PARAGRAPHS FOR MY CAREER PLAN AT THE END OF THESE 4 PARAGRAPHS
During my secondary school years, with a lack of experience, I possessed a naive outlook on the world and had yet to develop a clear vision for my future life or my dream goal. However, everything changed in an instant when my teacher led us to the school lab for our very first experiment: observing onion cells. The sight of those tiny yellow entities, visible only through the magical microscope, has completely transformed my perspective on how life works. In that precious moment, I realized that under the existence of that simple plant-an onion-there is a whole system working together to create it, prompting me to question the hidden uniqueness of other objects under the enchanting microscope. With more research on biological topics besides school lectures, many interesting topics in modern biology have taken me aback. How can humans believe that one day we could edit parts of the genome by removing, adding, or altering sections of the DNA sequence? How can humans believe that one day we could print a body organism to replace the old one? This era is dubbed "The Century of Biology" because of the rapid advances being made in the field of biological sciences.
As a student without any passion, I delved into the field of biology with a thirst for exploring new knowledge and its application in daily life. It still preyed on my mind that it was a lecture in Grade 11, and we were learning about different types of photosynthesis in plants, which is one of the most difficult topics in that year's syllabus. Because of the shortage of time for lectures in class, my teachers could not explain to us the root of the lecture and the metabolic transformation in different types of plants. With an eagerness to deeply understand the problem, my friends and I started researching more on the Internet, not only in our native language but also from foreign sources. Step by step, disentangling our thoughts, we could somehow understand the differences between C3, C4, and CAM photosynthesis. The experience of deeply learning something I am passionate about really amazes me, and I could never forget that piece of memory.
Intending to excel in my knowledge of biology, I have tried my best to be in the "Good Students Selections" team, the place where the best students in a particular subject gather to learn more advanced knowledge apart from the foundation in normal lectures. I can have access to a broader picture of biology, as my teacher has more time in the supplementary periods to teach us from the root of the problems rather than just skimming through all of them, just like in our main lectures at school. These lectures, though challenging, still help me continue on my chosen path. The feeling of working day and night in a particular field of study and then finally conquering it has been the main source of motivation for me to continue my studies. After a period of time studying consistently, I challenged myself to participate in the "Excellent Student Competition" at my high school. With the amount of well-rounded knowledge I have acquired, I passed that competition with the first prize in my grade, which was a recognition of my hard work.
However, theoretical knowledge alone is not enough to have a broad understanding of what are the applications of Biology in real life. I have actively sought out practical experiences to complement my theoretical knowledge. By actively participating in a Biomedical Project at the local University of Medicine, I have a chance to broaden my knowledge about the application of Biology in diagnosing patients' conditions. Our Project concentrates on collecting the patients' breathing data via magnetic information. After that, other Ph.D. researchers will process that data to spot the correlation between the breathing graph and the patients' conditions, therefore diagnosing the others' sicknesses by comparing the data. This project has broadened my view of what my field of study would be in the future. The application of Biology in diagnosing and carrying out treatments on patients is enormous and it is vital for human civilization. With such a perspective, I believe that this path could lead me to the future of the world.
