In this blog post, we present a sample personal statement written during high school, divided into three sections, along with examples, for students preparing to apply to the Department of Chinese Studies at Keimyung University.
Efforts Devoted to Academics and Learning Experiences
“Second Foreign Language Chinese Class: Who Knew It Could Be This Fun?” I was first introduced to Chinese through my second foreign language class after entering high school. My school offered Japanese and Chinese as second foreign language options, and at first, I intended to choose Japanese. This was because I had heard that Japanese required less memorization, whereas I was hesitant about Chinese due to the large number of characters to learn. However, I ended up taking the Chinese class because the teacher was exceptionally beautiful. At first, I attended class diligently simply because I liked the teacher, but as I practiced pronouncing words according to the tones, I eventually developed an interest in the class itself and in the Chinese language.
Some friends complained that it was a hassle because the meaning of a word changes depending on the tone, and that there was just too much to memorize, but I found it fascinating and fun. For example, the sound “ma” means “mom” in the first tone, “horse” in the third tone, and “to curse” in the fourth tone. I found it appealing that a single sound could convey so many different meanings. I was also surprised to find that the pronunciations and meanings of commonly used Chinese characters, as well as their sounds, were similar to those in Korean. Just as there are historical ties between Korea and China, I was impressed by the linguistic similarities stemming from both languages using Chinese characters.
Beyond studying tones and Chinese characters, reading along with sentences and practicing conversation was even more fun. When we struggled with conversation, our Chinese teacher conducted lessons using Chinese pop songs. By singing along to songs like “Chun Mi Mi,” “Happy Birthday,” and “Counting Songs,” I was able to get used to simple Chinese conversation. Not only did I hum songs in my daily life, but I also wrote down the lyrics sentence by sentence to learn the words because I wanted to sing them perfectly. The key to singing Chinese songs was to faithfully follow the melody while maintaining the correct tones, and this was the most enjoyable part. As a result, because I studied with such enjoyment, I was able to breeze through the Chinese section of the college entrance exam and achieve a good score.
School Activities: Film Club Activities and Introducing Chinese Films
“Introducing Chinese films through the film club.” I was active in the school film club during high school. Since I’ve always loved movies and tend to watch a wide variety of genres, I joined the film club because I wanted to spend time watching movies and discussing them with my friends. The reason I love movies is that I find it deeply moving to indirectly experience diverse lives I’ve never lived myself. In particular, watching foreign films allowed me to encounter unexpected and unfamiliar cultures. Although I might initially feel resistant or surprised, the moment I realized that was just my own prejudice or a cultural barrier, I was able to open my mind, which I found very rewarding. By overcoming cultural barriers and embracing different cultures, I felt I could become a more mature person, and the films that taught me this felt like another class to me.
The time spent watching movies with other friends in the film club and discussing our impressions was also a learning experience for me. Previously, when I watched movies alone, I felt a sense of regret because I couldn’t share my thoughts with others, but talking about them together allowed me to recognize the limitations of my own perspective. And when I heard a friend express the exact same thoughts I had, I felt a sense of empathy, thinking, “Me too!” which helped us become closer. In this way, by sharing opinions, empathizing, agreeing, and developing my own thoughts through others’ perspectives, I was able to broaden my intellectual horizons in appreciating and understanding films.
In our club, we mainly watched Korean or American films. This was because DVDs were easy to obtain and the cultures were familiar to us. However, I wanted to go beyond that and watch French, British, and Chinese films as well. So, I recommended “Secret,” the Chinese film that left the deepest impression on me, and we watched it together as a club. I explained that “Secret” is a unique film where the lead actor is also the director, and in Chinese, it’s written as “不能說的秘密.” Of course, since it’s a Taiwanese film, it can’t strictly be called a mainland Chinese film, but because it’s primarily in Mandarin, I was able to understand simple dialogue even without subtitles.
Thanks to my strong recommendation, our club members watched “Secret,” and after it ended, everyone expressed their admiration and thanked me for introducing such a great film. It was a film of such high quality, and since it depicted stories of friendship and love among high school students—people our age—the content resonated deeply with us. After the movie, we each shared the scenes that left the deepest impression on us. My friends had various opinions, such as liking the piano-playing scene or wanting to get the soundtrack files because the music was so good. I mentioned that I loved how the young protagonists shared pure love and friendship and cherished those memories, and since many friends agreed with me, I felt glad I had recommended it.
Examples of Practicing Consideration, Sharing, and Cooperation
“We Protect Our School Facilities with Our Own Hands!” Our school was located in a neighborhood known for heavy snowfall, even within Gangwon Province. Every morning on the way to school in winter, there was so much snow that it was difficult to climb the hill. In addition to the path to school, there were slopes between the buildings on campus, so on days with heavy snow, students were prone to slipping if they weren’t careful. There was a security guard who usually took care of this, but he was quite elderly, and it often looked dangerous for him. So, the students at our school decided to roll up our sleeves and clear the snow ourselves.
After this issue was raised, the plan was for each class to take turns clearing the snow on designated days. We set aside an hour during the daytime—when it was relatively easier to clear the snow—and each of us grabbed a long broom to participate in the cleanup. However, there was one day when the snow reached knee-high, and our feet would sink deep into it. It was a situation where just a little more snow could have triggered a heavy snow warning, and coincidentally, it was our class’s turn to clean that day. To clear the unusually heavy snowfall, we set aside more than two hours during the day and decided to bring in calcium chloride in addition to our brooms.
I heard from the nearby community center that they were distributing rock salt to help clear the snow in front of homes and institutions. So, I visited the community center with my friends, and together we carried several bags back to start the cleanup. In a way, I could have resented the fact that our class had to work harder than usual for the convenience of the entire school, but my classmates didn’t feel that way at all; we all approached the snow removal with a positive attitude. In fact, we felt it was rewarding to put in extra effort to help other students and ensure a safe walk home for everyone.
As a result, by working together, we were able to clear all the snow in less than two hours. Also, because we cleared the snow quickly to prevent it from freezing on the hill, we were happy to hear our classmates thank us.
