It is precisely my distinguished mathematical caliber that has permitted me to venture beyond mere coursework and to address practical problems. One of the greatest events for the whole world in 2008 is the summer Olympic Games in Beijing and outside the athletics the greatest problem for the city is its traffic, with millions of athletes, media people, spectators and tourists all over the world suddenly flooding into this already over-populated metropolis. From the very beginning, I have been as concerned with this great international event as every excited Chinese; but as a resident of the city itself, I am also concerned with how traffic problems could be solved to provide a congenial environment for the Olympic Games. What I did was to carry out a research project in which I designed a questionnaire, collected data from the interviewees and statistics regarding the traffic volume over the past few years, performed quantitative and empirical analysis, and came up with several tentative solutions. By undertaking this project “The Problems of Beijing’s Traffic and Some Countermeasures”, I honed my research skills. What’s more, I enhanced my environmental awareness and my sense of social responsibility—as part of the city itself, I have the obligation to investigate into its existing problems and to help solve those problems for the sake of improving the welfare of the general public. This research experience, tentative as it is, will deepen my interest in scholarly research in my future academic careers.

For me, school education has not only been a rewarding process of opening my minds but also of opening my hearts. With a height of 190 cm, I have been both the captain and a leading player of our school’s basketball team. As such, I have organized annual basketball competitions of the entire school that have become the greatest campus event. My extracurricular responsibilities include serving as director of the External Liaison Department of the Student Union, planning and launching debating contests with 8 neighboring schools in our district, as well as cultural festivals and art shows of our school. On many occasions, we have participated in the municipal contests. An active volunteer in community services, I have paid visits to homes of the elderly people to clean the houses and help with household chores. In the wake of the May 12 Earthquake in Sichuan Province, I have organized charity activities apart from making my own donations. The money we raised was sent to help re-established schools. Since then, I have been closely following the reconstruction in the disaster-hit areas and keeping contacts with our counterparts in the areas.

By far, my most impressive extracurricular activity happened in the summer last year. Through a highly competitive screening contest, I became one of the three students in our school to go on a Scientific Expedition in the United States organized by Juvenile Adventure Club under the China Association of Science and Technology. I became the student leader of the 50-member team of this month-long journey of discovery, which took us to Hawaii where we studied the active volcanoes on the island and visited its observatory. We also traveled to the Grand Canyon and other sites of natural wonders which are of huge scientific research values. Toward the end of our journey, we paid visits to a number of leading universities of the United States including Stanford University and Berkeley University.

This experience, plus my previous experience of communicating and exchanging with the visiting students and teachers from our sister schools in the United States and Europe, has been decisive in opening my heart and mind. I have long been fascinated by the open and creative education of my international counterparts who are open-minded, with distinctive individuality and strong hands-on abilities. At the same time, they attach great importance to cultural diversity. Such a pattern of education is surely crucial in developing healthy and socially responsible students who will be contributive citizens of tomorrow’s society. This perfectly agrees with my vision for my personal growth; hence, I am strongly motivated toward an undergraduate program in the United States.

Fascinated by the first-rate undergraduate education of your prestigious university, I would like to enter its undergraduate program in economics. I prioritize on your university with its heavy international atmosphere and valuable cultural diversity. In your stimulating academic environment, creativity and imagination are encouraged, initiatives are readily recognized, and intellectual curiosity is satisfied. Students are urged cross academic as well as geographic boundaries in their pursuit of knowledge, to acquire perspectives, insights and aptitudes that enable students to be responsible and contributing members of society. I am interested in economics because, as China becomes the fourth largest economy in the world, there have been important changes and consequences in the world economy. The Chinese economy presents a unique case for study, including its underlying implications for China itself and for the rest of the world. I hope to learn classical economic theories in the west and use those theories to interpret the China Phenomenon. To study economics, I believe I have some obvious advantages. First, I have performed extensive self-study on economics under the guidance of my father who used to be a university professor. I have read such books as Microeconomics by N. Gregory Mankiw and The Economics of Transportation by Rong Zhao, a Chinese scholar. Then I have strong aptitudes in mathematics. I hope to develop my skills in constructing mathematical models to do empirical research on economics, particularly to put Chinese economy into a global context. I believe my future studies and research would lead to interesting discoveries.

Curiosity, passion, and a readiness to face challenges, those are the qualities I have developed in the past. Those qualities will also inform my future academic endeavors. Through your undergraduate program, I expect to develop into an aspiring student with international perspectives and experiences, as well as pluralistic cultural values, who is ready to tackle with the complicated challenges of this rapidly changing world.

　　正是我数学方面出类拔萃的秉赋，使我得以在单纯的课业之外敢于有所追求, 去关注某些实际问题。对于全世界来说，2008年最重大事件之一便是在北京举办的夏季奥运会。对于北京这个城市而言，除了体育竞技，最大的一个问题便是交通—数以百万计的运动员，体育官员，媒体记者，观众和旅游者从世界各地涌来，使这个业已人满为患的大都市更趋拥挤。从一开始起，我就像每一个兴奋不已的中国人一样，对这个举世瞩目的事件高度关注。但作为北京市民，我还特别关注交通问题如何能最好地得到解决，以便为奥运会提供一个良好的环境。我的实际行动是进行一项小科研，其中我设计了问卷调查表，从受访人那里收集信息，并对北京过去几年的交流量进行统计，然后展开定量和实证分析，并得出若干探索性的方案。通过从事这个名为“北京交流的现状及对策探索”的小科研，我提高了我的科研能力。此外，我也强化了我的环保意识以及社会责任感――作为北京市的一分子，我有义务去研究它所存在的问题并帮助解决这些问题，以便改善全体公众的福祉。这次科研经历尽管尚欠成熟，但将会极大地加深我在未来的学习生涯中对学术研究的兴趣。

　　对我而言，学校教育不仅仅是一个令人获益匪浅的开放头脑的过程，也是一个开放心灵的过程。以我1米90的身高，我既是我校篮球队的队长，又是主力队员。以此身份，我组织全校每年一度的篮球赛事，令整个校园为之欢腾。我课外的职责还包括担任校学生会外联部部长，策划并举办我区八个学校间的辩论赛，以及我校的文化节及艺术展。我们还多次参加市级比赛。作为社区服务的热衷志愿者，我也走访敬老院，帮助清扫房屋和做家务。在四川“5.12”大地震后，我在自己进行捐款的同时旋即组织了筹款赈灾活动。我们筹得的款项被用以重建校舍。打那开始，我一直密切关注着灾区的重建，并与灾区的学生保持着联系。

　　迄今为止，我最重是大的课外活动发生在去年。经过竞争激烈的选拔，我成为我校三名学生之一，参加由中国科协下属的青少年探险俱乐部组织的赴美科考活动，我还成为这为期一个月的探索之旅的五十人团队的学生领队；其间，我们在夏威夷研究了活火山，并参观了当地的天文台；我们还前往大峡谷以及其他具有重大科研价值的自然奇观进行科研。在旅程的最后，我们还参访了多所美国最著名的高等学府，如斯坦福大学，伯克利大学等。

　　这一经历，加上此前与欧美姐妹学校的师生们交流交换的经历，对于我心与智的开放产生了决定性的作用。长期以来，我一直深为我的国外同龄人所受到的那种开放和富有创造性的教育所倾倒，他们思想开放，具有鲜明的个性，注意培养扎实的动手能力。同时，他们十分注重文化多样性。这一教育模式无疑具有至关重要的意义，能够造就身心健康和富有社会责任感的学子，使其成为能够造福于未来社会的公民。这完全符合我对于自己未来个人成长的构想，有鉴于此，我萌发了强烈的动机，要前往美国接受本科教育。

　　由于深受南加州大学一流的本科教育的吸引，我期望能进入其经济学本科学位课程进行学习。南加州大学比其他任何一所美国大学都要招收更多的国际学生， 这一浓重的国际氛围实乃我所看重的。南加州大学以人文教育与专业教育的兼容并蓄为其厚重的传统，鼓励培养一种富有活力的校园文化，激励学生们跨越学术和地域的界限，去追寻知识。我之所以对经济学甚感兴趣，这是因为随着中国成为世界第四大经济体，它正在给世界经济带来重大的转变，并引发一系列新的结果。中国经济向世人提供了独特的研究案例，包括它对中国本身，以及对世界所产生的深层影响。我希冀学习西方经典的经济学理论，并利用这些理论来解读中国的经济现象。对于经济学的学习，我拥有某些显而易见的优势。首先，在我曾经是大学教授的父亲的指导下，我广泛地自学了经济学，读过诸如曼昆的《微观经济学》和中国学者荣朝的《交通经济学》等经典书籍。其次，我拥有很强的数学能力。我期待着能拓展我的数学建模能力，进行经济学的实证研究，尤其是要将中国经济置于全球框架内来审视。我相信，我未来的学习和科研必将取得某些饶有兴趣的发现。

　　求知欲、激情、以及面对挑战的决心，这是我在过去的学术和个人求索中所形成的三大品质，这些品质亦将贯穿于我未来的学术追求中。通过攻读贵校的本科学位课程，我盼望着能成为一个积极有为的学生，拥有国际性视野和经历，以及多重的文化价值观，时刻准备着去应对这个快速变化着的世界的各种复杂的挑战。