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发信人: bartonchen (闲云野鹤), 信区: Flyingoverseas
标  题: PS(转载)
发信站: 哈工大紫丁香 (2001年10月10日09:15:15 星期三), 站内信件

Goals never die.
Allowing one's personal aspirations to fall victim to life's hardships may b
e a desirable solution, but also a costly sacrifice. It takes perseverance,
drive and passion to rise above difficulties, and a long-term goal always se
rves as a light at the end of a seemingly never-ending tunnel. My goal is si
mple: intellectual enrichment and the use of my knowledge to help those in n
eed of a helping hand. My life experiences have helped me to appreciate the
value of this goal, and I look forward to reaching it.
Perhaps it was my father who first inspired my thirst for knowledge.  A shar
ecropper in a small Alabama town, he never ceased to emphasize the value of
a good education to his eleven children.  Unfortunately, I was his only chil
d to graduate from high school. I enrolled in a small local college and purs
ued my education in the field of Finance. Affer two years, it became apparen
t that my family's budget could no longer support my education.  My thirst,
however, lingered on.
In order to reach the educational plateaus I desired, I needed to support m
yself. I relocated to Omaha and was successful in obtaining employment at a
finance company.  My job afforded me the opportunity to meet many attorneys
who inspired me to consider a legal career.  I proceeded to enroll in night
classes, working toward a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice.  My educati
onal pursuits were interrupted once again when marriage crossed my path.
Raising a family became a very demanding task, but I continued to pursue my
studies.  Before long, however, my status changed to a single mother.  Follo
wing the divorce, I had to work full-time to support my two sons.  I still m
anaged to make time for classes.  I was also involved in community service,
serving the African American community by participating in the _____________
__ Scholarship Pageant as a recruiter/mentor and in the Black Women's Networ
k as a member and co-chair of the honoree selection committee. While I excel
led in my job, eventually becoming a Mortgage Counselor, I was not satisfied
.  Every time I fully dedicated myself to my studies, something had stopped
me.  I remained thirsty, and more willing than ever to finish what I had sta
rted long ago. Last year, I was finally able to obtain a Bachelor of Arts in
Sociology.
Now is the time.  My sons have grown up and are able to support themselves.
  I am ready to embark on the final, and perhaps most difficult part of my l
ong journey: Law School. My initial perseverance and drive has evolved with
every barrier I overcame.  I can confidently say that Law School will be a w
elcome challenge, one which I plan to face with my arsenal of experience, pa
ssion, dedication, and discipline. My experience as a single working mother
has provided me with a sense of responsibility which every lawyer must posse
ss.  Passion and desire are the internal instincts that have brought me this
far in life, and are the core characteristics that I rely on to carry me th
rough Law School.  Similarly, I have displayed my dedication in many differe
nt areas, including motherhood, employment, community service, and education
. Finally, all my experiences have taught me that discipline is necessary to
get to the next level.
I am Janet Smith. I believe myself to be a strong candidate for admission to
Law School.  The well of knowledge that Law School offers is the goal I hav
e pursued all my life. It has taken me many years, but I have finally arrive
d.  I am ready.  I am willing.  I am still thirsty.
"There are three kinds of lies -- lies, damned lies, and statistics." -- Ma
rk Twain
Well, perhaps Mr. Twain didn't see the beauty of numbers the way that I do.
Because ever since grade school, mathematics has been my favorite subject.
And once I was in college and could focus on many areas of math, I realized
that I had a genuine interest to applying mathematical and statistical theor
ies to real-world concerns.  Hey, even Twain the skeptic realized the import
ance of balancing the cargo on shallow, difficult-to-navigate riverboats so
that the port and starboardsides were equally laden -- he even advised the c
aptains to part their hair down the middle so that the weight was perfectly
distributed!
I find a similar pleasure in seeing the numbers "come out right."  When I fi
rst entered the work force, starting out in the actuarial area, the areas of
my day-to-day work that I most enjoyed were researching and analyzing data
so that I could logically apply the information to the business opportunity
at hand.  Consequently, I realized that the most prudent path to accomplishi
ng this would be to further my education in the advanced studies of statisti
cs and I have been preparing myself by taking a year of higher-level math an
d statistics courses at Ohio State.  I've maintained a 4.0 GPA, and am confi
dent that pursuing a Ph.D. and later entering a career in statistical consul
ting or teaching is the right step for me.
I'd like to focus on two qualities that I know will help me to succeed in g
raduate school and in my chosen field.  First, I go after what I want and do
n't stop until I get it.  And second, I quite genuinely find research and an
alysis fascinating and enjoy doing that kind of work.  My strategy in attain
ing success is to identify my goal, figure out the best way to attain it, an
d then do it.  When I was an undergraduate, I wanted to start my own busines
s. I assessed my skills and founded CalcWizards, a mathematics tutorial serv
ice. I developed and marketed the service to other students and taught all d
isciplines of mathematics, from beginning through advanced.  Not only was my
business a financial success, but I really enjoyed the time I spent teachin
g others.  This go-get-it attitude served me well in my career at Cigna Life
Insurance as well.
Looking back, I am proud of the many professional successes I've enjoyed:  t
he marketing packages I developed were used by all members of the Pensions s
ales force; key clients who were going to leave Cigna decided to stay becaus
e of the efforts I made to provide them with the best service and informatio
n; the company created the position of __________ specifically for me becaus
e of my mastery of both the financial and personal communication aspects of
the job.  My efforts were both recognized and appreciated, and I was rapidly
promoted because I consistently went above and beyond the traditional respo
nsibilities and expectations of my job.  Most significantly, I received the
Above and Beyond Quality Award, which is given to, at most, one person per y
ear -- three times in five years.  But the most important aspect of my job a
t Cigna was the research and training that I did.  The vast majority of my t
ime was spent researching and analyzing pension fund information and then pr
esenting this data to our sales directors and clients. I also used the resul
ts of my research to create marketing packages, such as the one mentioned ab
ove, which was used by our sales force, and a package used by our Diversifie
d Portfolio Management product and included equity, real estate, fixed-incom
e and short term-funds.
I am eager to start the work that will bring me my Ph.D. in statistics.  I a
m also looking forward to continuing my investigation of how I can apply mat
hematical theories in the real world.  Mark Twain may despair of my chosen c
areer, but I agree with Thomas Carlyle, who said, "Blessed is he who has fou
nd his work; let him ask no other blessedness."

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           ╭─────────────────────────╮
           │◆ 可以不去问过去的曾经　可以不去想未来的结局 ◆  │
           │☆ 但总是无法　将你　轻易忘记               ☆  │
           │◆ 在这个思念的季节里　很想说一句　好想你�    ◆  │
           ╰─────────────────────────╯

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