Beautiful Lady, Brilliant Mind

She has a great talent for learning. Graduated from University of Edinburgh with a Masters Degree in Linguistics, she was also once a student at GDUFS; Zhan MeiLin is No. 1 excelling other students and has offers from five American universities to study for her Ph.D. Now, she is preparing for her doctoral journey, pursuing her dream with great firmness.

In the University of Edinburgh

Though she did not have many classes in the university, Zhan found herself quite busy every day as she had to read a large quantity of essays, articles and journals. Instead of classic chef-d'oeuvre, she spent much more time reading the latest journals and academic documents related to her major. She read 1 to 2 documents every day, each with 7 to 30 pages, which is a huge amount of reading over time.

What's more, she said, to pursue a Doctoral degree is very tough. The universities focus more on the candidates' ability to do research, an area in which she thinks Chinese students are lacking. Students should try to improve to their judgment so they are able to design an experiment, write papers and articles and do projects. When she was preparing for her MA thesis, she decided what she wanted to study, then raised questions, made  relevant assumptions, looked for volunteers to interview (over 60, in total, from the university), and read data (this by itself has cost her about 30 hours). It took her 5 months (from March to August) to finish the thesis.

"I was learning by doing."

She has improved her practical skills, learning much more, in-depth, about her major. Also, she has learnt how to build models, how to manage statistics, and even how to do computer programming, not only related to her own field, but involving other subjects as well.

"I try to make contributions to my field".

"I seize every chance whenever there is an academic conference." Speeches given at such conferences as the World Linguistics Conference in Geneva are regarded as outputs to show what you have studied. She said exams were not seen as being so necessary because, what truly counts is that we had pushed forward in the area of international study. So, she made full preparations in order to make her voice heard and her opinions spread.

Zhan participated in the World Linguistic Conference in Geneva and wandered at Lake Geneva

"I am not a diligent student."

ZHAN said she never studied late at night, even during the time she was preparing for her thesis. What the most important thing is, she gauges, is that you have lost yourself in your study. Whatever she does, she will concentrate on it but never sacrifice too much time which she thinks is necessary for sleep.

"I am a good cook."

There is an interesting saying that it's better for a man to marry someone that has studied in the U.K. because she must be a good cook. "Well, " commented Ms ZHAN, "Restaurants in the U.K. are too expensive for a student to afford". Also, ZHAN said the food there didn't agree with her. She often cooked for herself and sometimes even learnt how to cook a dish through an overseas call to her mother.

Life at the University of Edinburgh was very meaningful to her. Einstein has said,"Raising a question can be more important than solving a problem." Questions can be the beginning of innovation. Life for study in the UK has improved her thinking structure and practical skills, and taught her how to think independently. Most importantly, it has made her choice of career in life clear and, as a result, she has chosen to pursue linguistics throughout her lifetime.