Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Biodata

(juz realized you guys could not comment on my profile, so i copy and paste it here.)

I am a final year Statistics student from the National University of Singapore. Though interested in Economics, I was not able to specialize in it due to the limitations of my scholarship. Nevertheless, four years of studying with numbers made me a person with strong quantitative and analytical skills. Meanwhile, I still fulfill my interests by pursuing double minors in both Economics and Financial Mathematics.

Being an adventurous person, I left my home and started my life alone in Singapore at the age of 17. Though suffered from cultural shocks and homesickness, I quickly adapted to the new environment and made many new friends here. In addition, I had an opportunity to study in the United States as an exchange student during my second year in university. Over there, I met students from all over the world. Although we all came from different backgrounds, we shared and appreciated our differences in culture; we partied and traveled together, and became lifelong friends.

After studying abroad alone for almost five years, I am now an independent and resilient individual who will never surrender to difficulties. Just as my favorite saying: "When there is nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire."

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7 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 16, 2009 at 3:26 AM

    Hi Xiaoyu

    I thought your biodata came across very reader-friendly, with your own personal touch aded to it. I like how you narrowed down your post to namely, your academic interests and your experiences as an international student. I thought you were very sincere in the way you related your strengths.

    However, just some small pointers that you may wish to consider. Perhaps you should not mention the reason for not pursuing an Economics degree, but rather show how your keen interest in Economics have led you to pursue relevant minor(s) in those areas. This would have reinforced your strengths even further.

    And also, your second paragraph had words such as "over ther", which I feel could be avoided as it comes across rather casual and informal. Perhaps, it was such because you wrote as a first person, and not a third person, which I feel would have made your entry more professional.

    But nonetheless, I enjoyed your post, as always. The structure, and organization that you have is really commendable.

    Best,
    Prahant

    p.s. Why does my picture not resemble me? I thought it was obvious. =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. gdaqSeptember 16, 2009 at 3:53 AM

    Hi Xiaoyu,

    I like it that you included your experience as a foreign student in your personal statement. It is never easy to leave your family and friends behind and move to a foreign land all by yourself. I really like your quote and hopefully it'll take you through the next six years (if i didn't remember wrongly) of working life in Singapore as it'll only get more challenging.

    However, I feel that you could have shared more about your experience as an exchange student to the US. Perhaps any insights that you've gained through interaction with different groups of people. Also, since you have such keen interest in Economics/Statistics, maybe you could also share your goals or what you hope to achieve in this area.

    Glenda

    ReplyDelete
  3. wxSeptember 16, 2009 at 10:03 AM

    Hi Xiaoyu,

    The gung-ho spirit that you have is admirable and is evident in your writing. The fact that you admitted your anxiety and ability to overcome such emotional burden has made your bio-data as earnest and confident, for only a confident person is not worried about his/her past. This could be a advantage to you as you could impress your potential employer as a independent, mature candidate for the job.

    While reading it, I realized that you might have made your bio-data too personalized to the extent of being slightly informal in certain parts when you convey your experiences. You could refine them easily to make your bio-date more profession. There’s just one thing that I thought you could consider adding in your bio-data and that it your future career goals or target plan you have set for yourself. This might be a useful indicator to tell others that you are a well-prepared person who can take charge over her own future. You could also relate those personal goals to your passion in economics and financial mathematics too.

    When life throws lemon at you, you just make lemonade out of it. Hope this helps and you could continue to sparkle, “burn” and shine.

    Regards,
    Wei Xiong

    ReplyDelete
  4. huiyiSeptember 16, 2009 at 10:35 AM

    Hi Xiaoyu,

    I like the way your structured your biodata. There is a good flow to it and the experiences you had were varied and aptly described your qualities and skills.

    Here are some points that you could note. I think you could elaborate on the adaption and assimilation skills you have honed, having travelled to many different countries and experienced their different cultures. For example, regarding your exchange experience, you could specify which university you went to and some difficulties you encountered such as language barriers. Your ability to adapt to changing environments and your exposure gained seem to be your major plus-points that you could afford to make known more clearly.

    Huiyi

    ReplyDelete
  5. XiaoyuSeptember 17, 2009 at 6:10 AM

    Hi all,

    I agree that my biodata is quite informal, and I should elaborate more on my exchange experience.

    Thank you so much for your comments!

    Xiaoyu

    ReplyDelete
  6. liews_ryanSeptember 24, 2009 at 6:27 AM

    Hi Xiaoyu,

    Can you explain the meanig of "When there is nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire." to me? I really dont get it.

    Thank you so much for enlightening me!

    Cheers,
    Ryan

    ReplyDelete
  7. XiaoyuNovember 15, 2009 at 12:59 AM

    Hi Ryan,

    This saying is actually from a song by Stars. For me, it means that I will try my best to achieve my goals, my dreams. I will never easily give up. :)

    Xiaoyu

    ReplyDelete

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