如果你的经历颇为丰富，你可以考虑先说最近、最重要的部分，以避免把自己的优势埋没在冗长的描绘中。这篇文章的作者经历比较丰富，在核工业部下的一个研究所工作过，在中科院取得了硕士学位，并有多项研究成果。要把这许多材料组织起来不容易，本文采用了一种相对新颖的写作手法，即从当前的生活一步步倒回去，每两个阶段之间加以适当的连接，给人耳目一新的感觉。
An experienced engineer now undertaking advanced research with China's topmost scientific research institution, I am writing in support of my application for acceptance into your Ph.D. program in chemistry so that I can build up an even more productive career on my already strong research background.
I have just obtained my Master's degree from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which groups together the best and brightest in China's scientific community. At this elite institution, I first received basic training that was both rigorous and vigorous in Radiochemistry and Bio-inorganic Chemistry. Such training furthered my understanding of Chemistry, Biochemistry, Bio-inorganic Chemistry, Nuclear and Radiochemistry and Nuclear Analytical Techniques as well as Computer Sciences. While it is hard to compare the academic performance of students majoring in different areas, I was undoubtedly one of the best in the Academy's graduate school, as evidenced by the Outstanding Graduate Student Scholarship that I was awarded at the end of my first year.
Graduate education at this distinguished institution endowed me with a strong ability to conduct independent research, the kind of ability not often seen in graduate students in China. This is so because the state makes available to it a lot more research opportunities than to others. Starting from the beginning of my second year, I embarked on a study of Nucleic Acids Binding of Rare Earth Elements (REE) in Natural Plants, which continued for two years and formed the basis of my Master's thesis. This study was part of an important basic research project commissioned by the state to determine whether rare earth elements in their natural state would bind with macromolecules. The answer to this question has profound implications to the understanding of the impact of rare earth elements on the health of human beings and other animals.
Through this two-year study, I elucidated the roles of REE in biological and environmental systems by biochemical separation together with nuclear and non-nuclear analysis techniques such as NAA, HPLC, ICP-MS, NMR, etc. In the process of doing so, I developed a very simple and effective method to isolate the nucleic acids binding of REE. I believe that my study has taken the REE research a step forward in terms of both methodology and conceptual understanding.
The success of my graduate studies was built upon the solid grounding I gained in my previous working and educational experiences.(这一句自然地将自己生活的两个阶段连结起来，虽然是倒叙，但并不让人觉得突兀。) Before I was matriculated into the Chinese Academy of Sciences, I had served the country's Ministry of Nuclear Industry at its Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Engineering and Metallurgy for five years. Once engaged exclusively into in top secret research, the institute is staffed with some of the country's best scientific and engineering talents.
Five years of actual research at this institute bequeathed me expertise in a variety of research methods and research facilities. I spent my first year working as an assistant engineer in the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, where I learned the analytical methods for some 40 elements and skillfully operated many instrumental analysis apparatus such as AAS, UV-VIS, Spectrophotometer, HPLC Instrument, and X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer etc. The basic skills I thus gained gave me wings for sophisticated research.
In the following years, I participated a variety of highly important research projects. In a key project of the country the Technical Improvement of Uranium Purification, I helped to develop a number of techniques that are to be used in the country's nuclear power stations. Meanwhile, I conducted a study on the techniques of recycling and purifying ice acetic acid from the industrial waste water. By using my techniques, a major Chinese manufacturer has significantly boosted its profit margin. I have also been involved in a project to develop techniques of removing FE from the products of aluminum oxides. By doing these projects, I acquainted myself with the state of the art in China's scientific and technological progress.
I got the coveted job with the Ministry of Nuclear Industry on the strength of my outstanding performance at the Chengdu University of Science and Technology, a leading higher-learning institution in Sichuan, the most populous province in the world's most populous country. In the four years of my undergraduate studies there, I took a full range of chemistry courses, of which I particularly enjoyed dissipated structure and chemical oscillation and their extensive applications in astronomy, geology, biology medicine, chemical engineering and human science. Taking full advantage of the rigorous training, I made myself one of the top students in my class.
But what benefited me the most was the plenty of hands-on experiences that the university offered us in scientific research. Such research taught me that chemistry is a discipline connected with many other disciplines. Under the advice of the distinguished professor Wei Yongzhi, I wrote an article about the further derivation of chemical thermodynamics equation. I also composed three reports about the latest research in the thermodynamics of non-balance state in the1989-1990 period. My graduation paper was a study of computer simulation in chemical oscillation. The research entailed by these writings was extensive and challenging, and by doing it, I equipped myself with an overall understanding of my chosen field of studies. The interdisciplinary approach has since served me well in my research career.
I think I should continue to pursue an interdisciplinary approach in my Ph.D. studies. I believe that I have been adequately trained in Bio-inorganic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Radiochemistry and Nuclear Analytical Techniques. With such training, I think I am well set to pursue an academic career on the cutting-edge of chemistry. This is why I am now applying for Ph.D. studies at your university in one or a combination of the following areas: Photochemistry of Nucleic Acids, Proteins, and Lipids, Bio-inorganic Chemistry and its application in medicine, life science, Analytical Chemistry.
I am glad that your university has a very strong faculty in these fields. With your emphasis on close interaction between students and faculty, I think I can count on your faculty's help while I seek to scale higher intellectual heights and take up greater challenges.(这种说法值得申请者注意，可以作为写作时的参考。) I already have an extensive and productive research record. I am sure that this record will be greatly enriched if I get to study under your seasoned guidance. Such a record should adequately prepare me for a teaching career at a Chinese university, where I plan to take up a permanent position.
Once I enroll into your program, you should find me a very pleasant person to work with. Over the years, I have been known as both a good team player and a good team leader. Such qualities are exhibited not only in my cooperation with others, like my professors, in scientific research but also in a variety of extracurricular activities I either helped to organize or took part in. In both my undergraduate and graduate years, I was elected to several positions in the student leadership. Using the platforms provided by these positions, I provided a variety of services to other students. I particularly enjoyed editing campus newspapers that would publish writings and other artistic works authored by students. Such publications greatly stimulated the students' creativity and enlivened campus life.
Given my educational and professional experiences, I believe that I make a strong applicant for acceptance into your Ph.D. program, especially when compared with other Chinese candidates. If you decide to accept me, you will be training not only another student but also a promising scientist who is determined to play a leadership role in the scientific and technological progress of the world's largest country. I have already achieved much in chemistry research in China. With the benefit of your guidance and facilities, I can only achieve more. A lot more, I am sure.
