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[Want opinions]Self-introduction for University in Korea

 
 
Reply Sun 7 Oct, 2018 02:39 pm
Hello, I'm applying for one elite university in South Korea, I'm not a English native speaker and I would like to have opinions about my essay. do I hit my target and answer the way it is expected? Each part is limited to 2150 characters.
Looking forward to reading from you guys


Self-introduction (Please state and explain your abilities and philosophy of life.)

From Elementary to High School, I never was an exemplary student. Although I learnt easily, I was often known to my teachers as restless and dreamy rather than as a rigorous and disciplined. School has always seemed like a prison limiting my ability to interact with the world outside, while I wanted to participate in writing its history. This dream was materialized for me by joining the army and thus being in the very heart of action. So after finishing middle school it seemed to me more interesting to enrich my experience with practical knowledge of the profession of electrician in apprenticeship and to connect with the world of work.
When I joined the army at 18, rather than go with the flow, I kept on pursuing my objective and the next step needed me to be among the bests since my desire was to join the most Elite unit of my Brigade: the Mountain Commando Group which was offering the most technical and interesting missions on the field as well as a greater autonomy. At the first occasion, I asked my superiors’ consent to present myself to the selection tests. These particularly difficult tests are a milestone that marks my training in the army. Indeed, because I was the youngest and the least experienced applicant, few of my peers expected to see me succeed. Nevertheless, strengthened with a determination that I had had so far little opportunity to make use of, I overcame this week of physical as much as intellectual demanding tests. This experience increased my self-confidence, allowing me to realize fully my potential and how a good will assorted with preparation can overcome any obstacle.
Today, resuming my studies today represents the same challenge for me. My atypical path does not position me as a model student, maybe justifying some hesitations from universities. Nevertheless, I consider this as a strength, throughout my life, I did not stay on predefined tracks and I took winding paths to reach my goals. My experience in Mountain Infantry and in general made of me a focused, resilient and self-disciplined person, qualities which, today, guide me in the accomplishment of my personal objectives.


Educational Background (Please summarize your academic achievements.)

My need for emancipation led me to leave classic education at the age of 15, to begin the vocational training of electricity engineering in apprenticeship. I already wished to join the military and despite being an electrician was not my final goal, I obtained good grades and I graduated my vocational training with an overall score of 15.39/20 which is equivalent to a B grade.
Turning 18, I joined the military and I completed my initial training with a score of 16.89/20 equivalent to a A grade. After 2 years of experience in army, the consideration of my superiors allowed me to present the Mountain Commando Group selection tests which I passed successfully. Then I was required to follow the commando qualification course where I distinguished myself as being the youngest trainee and by eventually ranking 3rd out of 37 in my commando promotion.
When I resumed my study in October 2017, a few months before leaving the military in December 2017, I had no other choice but to begin with distance learning. Despite of being overwhelmed by the challenge after 6 years of interruption in my study, I revealed myself as being very comfortable at self-learning and eventually I graduated my DAEU with A in each class.

Language Proficiency (Please detail the levels attained in each additional language.)

If during Middle School years I was able to learn different languages including German, Latin and Ancient Greek; I stopped practicing those language when I was 15 years old and now a little is remaining in my memory. As well, since a year ago I started learning Spanish on myself to expand my range of communication, however, I didn’t attend any official test to prove my fluency. I can now only demonstrate my English proficiency at a CEFR C1 level, confirmed with the IELTS (7.5) test I took in May 2018 while traveling in South Korea and with an A grade in English as a foreign language on my High School transcript and examination, which allows me to evolve and learn comfortably in an English-speaking environment.
 
jespah
 
  5  
Reply Sun 7 Oct, 2018 03:16 pm
@johnnydejaneiro,
Your command is very, very good. I'll correct in red and comment in blue, okay?

johnnydejaneiro wrote:

Hello, I'm applying for one elite university in South Korea, I'm not a English native speaker and I would like to have opinions about my essay. do I hit my target and answer the way it is expected? Each part is limited to 2150 characters.
Looking forward to reading from you guys


Self-introduction (Please state and explain your abilities and philosophy of life.)

From elementary to high school, I never was an exemplary student. Although I learnt easily, I was often known to my teachers as restless and dreamy rather than as a rigorous and disciplined. School has always seemed like a prison limiting my ability to interact with the world outside, while I wanted to participate in writing its history. (I think I get what you mean here, but you might not want to tell a school that you don't like school)This dream was realized for me by joining the army and thus being in the very heart of action. So after finishing middle school it seemed to me(it's understood that this is about you) more interesting to enrich my experience with practical knowledge of the profession of electrician in apprenticeship and to connect with the world of work.
When I joined the army at 18, rather than go with the flow, I kept on (it's not a big deal to leave this word in here, but since you need all the characters you can get, toss it)pursuing my objective and the next step needed me to be among the bests since my desire was to join the most elite unit of my brigade: the Mountain Commando Group (is this a name? If so, then spot on. If not, then it shouldn't be capitalized) which was offering the most technical and interesting missions on the field as well as a greater autonomy. At the first opportunity (here's a place to put some of the characters you might be able to save; it's a better word choice), I asked my superiors’ consent to present myself to the selection tests. These particularly difficult tests are a milestone that marks my training in the army. Indeed, since I was the youngest and the (more space saving) least experienced applicant, few of my peers expected to see me succeed. Nevertheless, strengthened with a determination that I had had so far little opportunity to make use of, I overcame this week of physical and intellectually demanding tests. This experience increased my self-confidence, allowing me to realize fully my potential and how determination combined with preparation can overcome any obstacle.
Today, resuming my studies today (redundant) represents the same challenge for me. My atypical path does not position me as a model student, maybe justifying some hesitations from universities. Nevertheless, I consider this as a strength, throughout my life. I did not stay on predefined tracks and I took winding paths to reach my goals. My experience in Mountain Infantry (don't capitalize these words unless they are a title) and in general made of me a focused, resilient and self-disciplined person, qualities which, today, guide me in the accomplishment of my personal objectives.


Educational Background (Please summarize your academic achievements.)

My need for freedom (the words are slightly different) led me to leave classic education at the age of 15, to begin the vocational training of electricity engineering in apprenticeshipa vocational apprenticeship in electric engineering. I already wished to join the military and even though becoming an electrician was not my final goal, I got good grades and I graduated my vocational training with an overall score of 15.39/20, equivalent to a B grade.(wouldn't they already know how the grading system works?)
At 18, I joined the military andI completed my initial training with a score of 16.89/20 equivalent to an A grade (again, if they don't know the grading equivalence, then you need this. But if they know it, you won't need this. Just say 16.89/20). After 2 years of experience in army, the consideration of my superiors allowed me to present let me take the Mountain Commando Group selection tests which I passed successfully. Then I was required to follow the commando qualification course where I distinguished myself as being the youngest trainee and by eventually ranking 3rd out of 37 in my commando promotion.
When I resumed my study in October 2017, a few months before leaving the military in December 2017, I had no other choice but to begin with distance learning. Despite of being overwhelmed by the challenge after six years of interruption in my study, I revealed myself as being was very comfortable at self-learning and eventually I graduated my DAEU with an A in each class.

Language Proficiency (Please detail the levels attained in each additional language.)

If during Middle School years During middle school, I was able to learn learned different languages including German, Latin and Ancient Greek. I stopped practicing those language when I was 15 years old and now a little is remaining in my memory remember little (I'm not so sure you should be mentioning this at all. They are looking for proficiency; if you only remember 20 words of Greek, then that's really no more than if you memorized a few lines in a book; it doesn't reflect your education). As well, since a A year ago, I started learning Spanish on my own to expand my range of communication, however,but I didn’t take an official test to prove my fluency. I can now only demonstrate mMy English proficiency is at a CEFR C1 level, confirmed with the IELTS (7.5) test, taken in May 2018 while traveling in South Korea. I also have an A grade in English as a foreign language on my High School transcript and examination. This allows me to evolve and learn comfortably in an English-speaking environment.

I realize this looks like a lot. But the truth is, it's not. Your writing needs some tightening up. And English is a really hard language, particularly for people whose native language isn't Germanic or Romance. You seem to have some issues with prepositional phrases, and that's typical of people we see here.

So, in all seriousness, this is superb. It just needs some fixes which should be fast.

You also sound (at least from what I can read of you here) like a conscientious and hard-working person and I wish you success in continuing your education.
johnnydejaneiro
 
  1  
Reply Mon 8 Oct, 2018 04:17 am
@jespah,
Hey!
Thanks for this extra reactive answer! I'm currently correcting my mistakes based on your suggestions.
Nonetheless I have few questions concerning what is expected by the Uni.

Can I talk a little bit more about my military achievement in educational background? Things like medals, rewards or some specialized trainings I attended, or is it exclusively for school and grades like I somewhat did?

Also I'm expected to answer those questions as study plan, I'm not so sure about what should I talk about there and I'm afraid to make something a little redundant.

What is the purpose of your application to Korea University?
What do you know about your intended major and why did you choose it?
What are your future plans after graduating from Korea University?
What other information do you believe would be helpful to the Board in understanding you better and in considering your application?


As a matter of fact for now I answered the 2nd question this way:

What do you know about your intended major and why did you choose it?
Passionate about history and geography since childhood and driven by the desire to be involved at the heart of modern geopolitical issues, I joined the army in December 2011 when I was 18 years old.
For the sake of challenge, I chose to join the 27th Battalion of Mountain Infantry specialized in combat in high mountains and extreme conditions. At the end of my initial training I felt the need to continue my specialization. Supported by my superiors, I presented myself to the selection tests of the elite unit of my brigade, the Mountain Commando Group.
After passing the selection tests, I discovered the captivating world of human intelligence and special action, allowing me to be deployed twice in Africa within Operational Mentoring Liaison Teams at first as a commando team member in the context of Operation Barkhane in Mali, and then as a group leader in the framework of Operation Saber in the Sahelian zone for a total duration of 9 months; leading me to intervene in a context of strong international cooperation with the local armies and populations.
This experience allowed me to discover the complexity and reality of military and humanitarian operations, confirming my interest for international relations and intelligence analysis, and therefore strengthening the desire to continue my training in order to evolve towards decision-making roles.
I came to the realization that I wanted my impact to be broader and deeper than what I could accomplish on the field. The part of my job that interested me the most was the strategic planning rather than the actual implementation of the tactics. I now wish to build a career where I can make use of the precious lessons learned during the past years and building on that through the academic training you offer, where I can influence how decisions are being made. That is why, today, it seems natural and necessary to me to pursue my education with integrating a bachelor's degree in International Relations which will provide
0 Replies
 
johnnydejaneiro
 
  1  
Reply Mon 8 Oct, 2018 04:35 am
As well, I didn't get why did you change materialized to realized Neutral

Edit: I just realized the last part of my essay was missing, here it is:
"...me all the knowledge allowing me to apprehend thoroughly global modern issues, so as, in the future, play a role in the pacification of the world."
jespah
 
  3  
Reply Mon 8 Oct, 2018 05:54 am
@johnnydejaneiro,
I don't have a lot of time today (I've got to start work soon) - materialized generally means something became material, it was made manifest. A scholarship materialized -- i. e. it was suddenly granted. A dream realized is an idiomatic phrase in English. And the truth is, your sentence is passive voice.

Instead of This dream was materialized for me, try My dream came true (another English idiomatic phrase).

I also just noticed there's a spot in my first post where I should have changed language to languages.

I may or may not be able to check your other stuff later. There are 2 things I've noticed in your writing. One is the use of passive voice so try to use active voice (e. g. instead of the dog was walked by me, say I walked the dog -- this has another advantage in that it saves characters). The other is that you seem to use more complex words but they are not necessarily better words. Go simpler. I'm not kidding. Korea U will want your essays to be readable and for you to use the right term. You won't impress with a longer word if you're not using it correctly.
0 Replies
 
johnnydejaneiro
 
  1  
Reply Mon 8 Oct, 2018 06:07 am
Again, thanks for your answer.

What I meant by "was materialized" was "was represented", I think this last one is proper
0 Replies
 
johnnydejaneiro
 
  1  
Reply Tue 9 Oct, 2018 05:35 am
I'd like to know if you could delete my post please?
I'm finalizing my writing at the moment but later on when I will post it, I would like to avoid the Board to think that I plagiated my essay on my own thread Confused
0 Replies
 
 

 
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