In this blog post, we present a sample personal statement written during high school—divided into three sections and accompanied by 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’d heard that Japanese required less memorization, whereas I was put off by Chinese because of the large number of characters to memorize. However, I ended up taking the Chinese class because my Chinese 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 of my friends found it bothersome that the meaning of a word changes depending on the tone and complained 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—and even the sounds themselves—were similar to those in Korean. Just as our two countries have been closely linked historically, I was impressed by the linguistic similarities stemming from our shared use of Chinese characters.
Beyond studying tones and Chinese characters, reading along with sentences and practicing conversation was even more fun. When our Chinese teacher noticed we were struggling with conversation, she incorporated Chinese pop songs into the lessons. By singing along to songs like “Chun Mi Mi,” “Happy Birthday,” and the counting song, 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 so I could sing them perfectly. The key to singing Chinese songs was faithfully following the melody while maintaining the correct tones, and this was the most enjoyable part. As a result of studying in such an engaging way, I was able to breeze through the Chinese section of the college entrance exam and achieved a high score.
School Activities: Film Club Activities and Introducing Chinese Films
“Introducing Chinese Films Through the Film Club.” I was active in my high school’s film club. 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 the 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—and I found that very rewarding. By overcoming those cultural barriers and embracing different cultures, I was able to grow into a more mature person, and the films that taught me these lessons felt like another kind of classroom 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 disappointed that I couldn’t share my thoughts with others, but discussing 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’d think, “Me too!”—feeling a sense of empathy that helped us grow closer. In this way—by sharing opinions, empathizing, agreeing, and refining my own thoughts through different perspectives—I was able to broaden my 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 had left the deepest impression on me—and we watched it together as a club. I explained that ‘Secret’ is a unique film in which the lead actor also serves as the director, and that its Chinese title is ‘不能說的秘密’. Of course, since it’s a Taiwanese film, it can’t strictly be called a “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 movie. It was a film of such high artistic merit, and since it depicted stories of friendship and love among high school students—people our own age—the story resonated deeply with us. After the movie, we each shared the scenes that left the deepest impression on us. My friends expressed various opinions, such as how much they liked the piano-playing scene or how much they enjoyed the music and wanted to get the tracks separately. I mentioned that I particularly liked how the young protagonists shared pure love and friendship and cherished those memories, and since many of my friends agreed with me, I felt glad that I had recommended it.
Examples of Practicing Consideration, Sharing, and Cooperation
“We’ll Protect Our School’s Facilities with Our Own Hands!” Our school was located in a neighborhood within Gangwon Province that was notorious for heavy snowfall. Every morning on the way to school during winter, it would snow so much that it was difficult to climb the hill. In addition to the path to school, the areas between buildings on campus were also sloped, so on days with heavy snowfall, students could easily slip if they weren’t careful. Although we had a security guard who usually took care of this problem, he was quite elderly, and it often looked dangerous for him to do it. 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 assigned dates. We set aside one 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 with every step. It was a situation where just a little more snow could have triggered a heavy snow advisory, and it just so happened that it was our class’s turn to clean that day. To clear the unusually heavy snowfall, we set aside more than two hours of our afternoon and decided to bring in calcium chloride in addition to our brooms.
I heard from the nearby neighborhood office that they were distributing rock salt to help clear the snow in front of homes and institutions. So, my friends and I visited the office, worked together to bring back several bags, and started cleaning. In a way, I could have resented the fact that our class had to put in more effort 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, our classmates thanked us, which made us happy.
