This book is dedicated to applicants in China and other nations. The essays are successful personal statements, statements of purpose and application essays to first-rate graduate schools, colleges and universities in Western countries including United States of America, Canada, The United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, Sweden, Russia and other European countries, in a wide variety of fields of study in the sciences and the humanities. By default, the essays are personal statements unless specified. They were written from 2005 to 2016 and are listed in reverse chronological order within each category. 

Most of the essays are written based on a significant number of raw materials provided by the applicants in the Chinese language and are a true reflection of the backgrounds and experience of the applicants. During the writing process, the raw materials are screened, selected, organized, compiled, condensed, extracted, highlighted and showcased. In some sense, it is the integration of creation, translation and editing. The book was formatted in Microsoft Word and some essays have retained their original format in order to resemble a true application essay. This collection aims at illustrating that there isn't one set of standards for a successful personal statement or statement of purpose across different English-speaking countries and different fields. Instead, a truly successful personal statement or statement of purpose is the one that can touch the humanity and heartstrings of admissions committees and professors of top schools in all Western countries by thoughtfully expressing the true achievement and intent of each applicant. It is worth noting that even though the author endeavored to perfect each essay in each moment, readers of this book should understand that perfection is a process and not a destination. There is no such thing as a perfect application essay. Perfection is improving at each stage, getting better and better! If this book can inspire a reader to write a better application essay, its purpose is fulfilled.

Chen Du is a Voting Member of American Translators Association and a member of the Translators Association of China with a Master’s Degree in Biophysics from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Master’s Degree in Radio Physics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. She revised more than eight chapters of the Chinese translation of the biography of Helen Snow, Helen Foster Snow – An American Woman in Revolutionary China. In the United States, her translations have appeared in Lunch Ticket and The Bare Life, and one of her essays will be published by The Dead Mule in February 2019. She is also the author of the book Successful Personal Statements. Find her online at ofsea.com.