[Graduation Series] Graduates furthering their study

For some excellent students who are passionate about studying, now it's time to say goodbye to the GDUFS, and to further their study elsewhere. What lessons did they learn here and what can they share with us? Let’s meet YANG Guanyu and YANG Xujing.

• YANG Guanyu: Leave your comfort zones

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YANG Guanyu, a graduate from the Faculty of English Language and Culture, was admitted to an international training program at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

When she was a freshman, she was determined to participate in all the contests held by the Faculty. Having set the goal, she became more motivated in her study. She is also a smart learner, emphasizing efficiency in and after class.

“It’s always important to pay full attention to the class. And never hesitate to ask the teachers for help after class. The teachers here at GDUFS are very good and patient.” She mentioned that she had often turned to Ms. DU Yinyin for advice on revising her articles, which helped improve her writing ability significantly.

Looking back, she summed up two other reasons for her success: leaving her comfort zone frequently and doing plenty of reflection. Over the last four years, she has constantly challenged herself and developed quite a few abilities and gained confidence after taking part in the contests. She took her experiences of the Translation Contest as an example. “The first time I only got the third prize; the second time, the second prize, and the third time, I got a chance to revise my translation and got a prize in the Han Suyin Translation Contest (A nationally renowned translation contest in China),” she smiled. Besides, every week, she would encourage herself to try something new, something she is not interested in before, and see where it takes her.

In the future, she will study International Economics at BFSU and abroad. Now she is ready for the next chapter of her life.

About the program: Lasting for three or four years, it allows students to spend their first year at BFSU before going abroad to earn their master’s degree at a foreign university. Finally, the students will return to BFSU for the last year of the program, working as interns for international organizations while preparing a graduation thesis for a master’s degree from BFSU.

• YANG Xujing: You have more potential than you think

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Searching for moral model undergraduates in the post-graduation application, we finally found a senior student, YANG Xujing, who has an offer of Master of Arts (M.A.) in Cultural Management from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). What impressed us is that she encouraged her fellows not to limit themselves but try to realize their potential. According to her, we are far more potential than we think. Since YANG applied for the program all by herself (which means self-initiated postgraduate application), she shared with us the experience and feelings on her way of application.

YANG majors in International Exhibition and Tourism in the Faculty of English Language and Culture, in which she found herself interested in Curatorship, which means the combination of planning, selecting and exhibiting in Cultural Studies. When asked about how to decide on the university and the postgraduate program where she was going to apply for a M.A., she told us that an interesting area for further study (for her, it’s cultural management) and the comprehensive power of the university are the two most important factors to her. That’s way she picked CUHK.

Then, what’s her motivation of continuing her study all the way through post-graduation? Being farsighted and insightful, she recalled that post-graduate study appealed to her from three perspectives. In terms of academic improvement, she thinks it more than necessary to undertake further study as the knowledge she learned during undergraduate study is relatively shallow and on a basic level. Besides, she believes that she has the potential to achieve more, which is derived from her experience of exchange study in Taiwan when she was a junior student. Furthermore, higher education is likely to pave her way for a better job.

YANG started to apply for the postgraduate program as soon as her senior study began, the very year when most of her peers have a headache about finding a job after graduation, or about whether or not to carry on studying. She excitedly and gratefully told us that she was inspired by one of her teachers during her exchange study in Taiwan, who was a professional and interesting translation teacher full of curiosity and who enlightened her that one’s life is full of colorful possibilities. Apart from this, she worked as an intern for a period of time in order to check if she had the passion for it, and luckily she did. Eventually, she wrote down cultural management on her application, a perfect choice for her that she loves and feels thrilled to explore more in the future.

On the way to her M.A. application, as is put by YANG, she could not be too thankful to her teacher and classmates who were of great help. But it was also noteworthy that it was a DIY application, which required more effort and was quite challenging to her. She suggested that preparation work be started as soon as possible, such as some certificates concerning students’ language proficiency (it’s particularly important for out-of-border applications) and their work or social capability. As for personal statement and Curriculum Vitae writing, she managed to make full use of the ‘resources’ she owned, meaning to learn from reference books and asked for help from her teacher and classmates. What’s more, she has formed a group of friends who were able to share and discuss information she needed with her, so as to further equip herself for the battle of applying for the M.A. program. Despite all the difficulty, she added joyfully and confidently at the end of the interview, that it was all worth it when she finally got the olive branch.

We also asked her if there is anything shewould like to say to her younger fellows who will go after her in post-graduate study, and she suggested that we try topractice more to find our real interest and make full preparation. “Lead a life without limiting yourself, you’ll find yourself more than potential than you think!” she emphasized.