首先，学习上我不是大牛，但是我觉得现在已经不是只用学习成绩评价人的日子了，在这里的四年我觉得自己学会了灵活，完全不像四年前那个喜欢钻牛角尖的我了。在这里学了很多东东，四年199学分毕业（169加上没有任何用处的30学分计算机辅修）。
check还没结果，闲着也是闲着，就在这几天写一下自己的申请吧:P
基本情况（化学本科）
overall GPA 3.47，rank 21/145；major GPA 3.61；TOEFL 55/68/61/4.5(2001.10.20)， 55/64/62/4.0(2002.08.24)；GRE 510/620/800(2002.2.25)，640/710/800(2002.7.31)；TSE 40(2002.5.11)SUB 81% (2002.11.9)
以上是我参加过的考试，所以给大家的建议是尽早尽快考完，而且在短时间内考的尽可能多，以便根据学校不同要求寄成绩。这里列举的我的考试成绩没有出彩的地方，但基本上都是能用的分数，这跟我的想法有关。我觉得如果你必须花两倍的力气做到100％倒不如花一半的力气只去完成80％，其实80％就已经及格了。TSE成绩不重要，考的好当然不错，很有说服力，考不好只当是为了提高口语水平，SUB跟TSE差不多，也只是锦上添花的东东，考好了非常有用，考不好就不拿出来。但是最低的标准还是有的，譬如GPA>3.0，T>600，2150<GRE<2250，这样的成绩就跨过了一个国外学校招生的门槛。余下的就取决于自己的材料和面试的发挥了。
顺便说一下，GPA（特别是专业GPA）和TOEFL越高越好。本科生拿不出什么东东，只有靠这个了。
去年10.1回了一趟家，在那时候以前我没有做任何材料。10.6回到上海，开始写PS的第一个字，一个星期以后找外交学院的同学润色了一下词句，PS也就定稿了。
其实我的PS就是吹牛，里面的research我根本没做过，前两年在学专业课，大三一年我考了两次TOEFL，两次GRE，一次TSE，那里有时间去看文献呀，大四上有12学分的专业课，还有11学分的辅修，晚上从星期一上课到星期五，而且全是闭卷考试，还有申请的材料也要一份一份做，更没时间去看文献了。
Statement of Purpose
I love the feeling of being challenged, especially the joy of competition, that is why I resign from Ph. D. study in our department without entranceexamination and choose to continue my graduate study in the USA, where Ican surmount difficulties and hardships under a totally different, exitingnew circumstance. I have been trying my best to be successful through allmy life, desiring to achieve something original and creative, and makingamazingly rapid progress beyond anticipation. Obstacles in my life, formy part, are such great fortunes that I can keep calm in hard times and makeout efficient solutions when facing emergency.
Another special reason is that I am so fond of this intriguing particularfield of science--chemistry. Through four years' systematic study I havemastered the fundamental methods of research and the basic knowledge ofchemistry. More importantly, I have my own opinion on chemistry, a branchof science that tries to understand the properties of substances and thechanges that substances undergo. Inorganic chemistry and organic chemistryconcentrate on the composition, structures, properties and reactions ofsubstances. Analytical chemistry focuses on the content, composition,structures, and other information using varieties of analytical methods andinstruments. And my particular interest, physical chemistry, explains these on atheoreticallevel.
The vice-director of our department, Jing Lu, a renowned expert incomputationalchemistry, kindled my intense interest in physical chemistry. The succinctbut meaningful shordinger equation in quantum mechanics impresses me deeplyand I have immersed myself in the conciseness of quantum mechanicscompletely, studying in classes attentively and discussing with classmatesenthusiastically. I frequented the library to refer to some professional journals andperiodicalsto broaden my ken as well as keep abreast of the latest development in thisfield by attending lectures presented by academic masters.
Because of my deep interest in air pollution control, during my third yearI joined the research group of Professor Mingfei Zhou, who is one of themost distinguished experts in my department, and there I read plenty ofarticles, learned to write reports, as well as participated in the researchwork on matrix isolation. The first time to use FT-IR and laser wasunforgettable, and my project was to do the matrix isolation FTIR and theoreticalcalculationstudy on the reaction of laser ablated Be atom with molecular oxygen (O2) 10 K argon. With the help of 18O isotope substitution technique, wesuccessfullydetected the isolated ions BeO2+ and BeO2-, which was not reported before. Theoretical calculations based on DFT was also performed but areanomalouslynot consistent with our experiment results, we are now trying to solve theproblem using the ab initio computing methods such as MP2 and CCSD(T). Forthe similar experiment previously done by Lester Andrews first reportingthe rare gas complex ArBeO, we are more interested in the existence ofargonbonded cation ArBeO2+, so further experiments under low temperature Ne andXe matrices as well as correlative theoretical studies will going on.Anotherproject was to investigate the reaction of Chromium Chloride withunsaturatedsmall organic molecules such as alkene, alkyne and alkadiene. There is adebate of this reaction. K. B. Sharpless favored the [2+2] metallaoxetanetransition state structure while DFT calculation provided by T. Zieglerpreferred to [3+2] cycloadditon pathway and similar theoretical calculationdone by J. M. Mayer on the reaction of alkene with WO3 indicated theradicalmechanism. Through investigation of a large amount of articles I putforwardthe assumption of radical mechanism in photochemical reaction, which waslater proved by C. Limberg. But the reaction in the liquid phase, probablyundergoing cycloadditon pathway, is still indefinite and requires furtherresearch work.
Two years of research experience made me realize the insufficiency of onlydoing experiments and the significance of data results analysis, which ismuch more difficult and vital. So I began to learn by myself computationalchemistry based on Gaussian 98, which is of great help for absorptionassignment. And we performed investigation on the B6 clusters system including bareneutral, cationic, anionic, and dianion B6 clusters using (DFT) with regard
to their geometry properties, electronic stability, and aromatic character. Though the research work is said to be dull, tedious, or tough, I feeltruly excited at each unexpected discovery, the joy of which becomes thedrive and momentum of my work. Lack of the information provided by Ramanspectra, our tentative plan of completing several systems could not berealized, but I read books about Brillouin and Raman scattering for the reason,whichbrought me to a new horizon of learning. I am glad that our work hasestablishedan essential foundation for the development of a large project that is onthe reduction of exhaust gases in air pollution.
The idea of never being satisfied with what I have learned presentlyencouragesme to achieve far beyond anticipation and in the future I expect to furthermy education and research work in the US to broaden my ken. Both in andout of the classroom, the physical chemistry program at Boston Universityoffers me an ideal environment to continue my study. It provides acompetitiveand inspiring academic atmosphere, the chance for active and fruitfulresearch, the access to state-of-the-art facilities, and close interaction between students and its distinguished faculty. The research programPhotochemistryand Photonics is a demanding field needing frontier knowledge of physical, analytical, and inorganic chemistry, and I am confident to thrive in thisenvironment. I am looking forward to Boston University becoming my future.
我的PS是自己觉得比较满意的地方，就是吹得比较满意。最初写第一句话的时候就跳出了别人通常写的人生成长型，由小见大型，而是直接表明自己想去国外读书的愿望。第二段是自己对专业的理解，接着是写自己大学怎么努力学习，怎么认真（全是在吹牛）。下面是研究，最后是提到对方的学校怎么吸引我，对自己以后的发展怎么有利。
PS写完了，做一份简洁明了的简历，突出自己的研究兴趣。三封推荐信从不同方面去夸自己如何如何好，自己用三种不同的语气写文章真是头大，是在不行就找英文水平比较高的同学帮忙写一封吧。
刚才看到goabroad有6.24 7.2 7.3的checkee接到电话，我的7.7check也快了吧:P--
刚刚收到check的电话，通知我被放出来了，哈哈，说来就来了:P
我的申请学校（最后结果也在下面列出）
No reply:Purdue,CMU
Admission:ENSCL
Interview:BostonU,WUStL,UArizona
Rejection:GIT,Georgetown,MSU,Tufts,SUNY-SB,WUStL,TAMU,Duke,Columbia,UCSF, Rice,Brandies,Brown,UMich,OSU,Dartmouth,UCR,CWRU
Offer:BostonU,UArizona,CUNY-GC
最后去了BostonU
下面写写等offer选offer的过程
.10早上起来受到BostonU的Email面试通知，让我1.17去面试。只记得那天考生化，平时就没怎么去上课，考试前根本不想复习，结果生化考完，历史最低的D。还记得那天wzwcat几天前面试ISU的offer来了，伊很高兴:P加上前面的Utah，伊好像拿了化学系最早的两个offer，牛呀，赞！
放假了之后没什么事情，也不想为了面试刻意准备什么，毕竟给面试的教授一种充分准备的感觉是不好的。记得BU面试当天有Upenn的offer在出国版报告，系里面三个研究生两个本科生都拿到了，现在想起来Upenn还是很nice的，但是这个学校的招生更倾向于女生。晚上在交大的浩然科技楼面试，就像是可视电话一样，好几个摄像头传送北京上海Boston的图象。具体的过程在goer和cliff的帖子里有，我这里zz一下:P
刚回来，计一下面试的流水账，希望对2月份的xdjm有点用面试官还是很nice的，只是那个lee的说话比较快，要注意听一下access－grid有点lag面的很常规，一般三四个问题主要是介绍一下你现在的工作，就按照原先准备的balabala一番你去bu的计划，根据个人情况说一下还问了你打算跟哪个教授此外还会问一些ps和resume上的问题PS：感觉北大那帮人的口语不大敢恭维，收TA的话，他们拼不过复旦的祝大家好运
看了goer的文章，我猜你一定是化学的，所以，为了广大无力同人，决定在灌一片。首先，从bu面世的通知时间上可以看出，所谓的deadline，根本不存在，小米们早就开始看我们的材料了，至此面世的就应该是他们处理的第一批。所以，没有接到面试通知也不用着急，据说2月份还有一次。
另外，bu的面世是多对多的那种，甚至连北京的学生我们也看得到。昨天是现北京，后上海，现化学后物理，所以我们就比较沾光。bu的化学物理面试管都是3个，(窃以为化学的小米要和蔼可亲的多)物理的同学要注意了，会有一个搞高能的主席(鬈毛)，一个理论的老头（说的话暴难懂)还有一个搞实验的阿三(算是最和蔼的一个了)程序基本上是这样的，先轮流自我介绍，然后他们会逐个问你问题。大多数是常规问题，但是昨天快到最后的时候，大概是他们来了状态，连问了几个专业名词有些是在是太难了，听都没听过。好了，怎么说也是我第一个美国面食，就关这么多了祝大家好运！
BU面试完其实想回家了，但是为了赌气等offer，就留了下来。大概1.23左右，三位本科的大牛收到了OSU的offer，这个学校似乎只看GPA，给的offer是系里面的GPA>3.6的，好像还有两位研究生大牛收到了OSU的offer。其它的人都是拒信。
1.30，大年三十，早上起来看见twp jj发帖子说BU的offer到了，马上去看自己的邮箱，我的邮箱里也有offer，总算可以抱着offer过年了^_^
寒假刚刚过去，CUNY的教授来信给我介绍他的研究，当时没怎么想就说自己很感兴趣，以后就没有消息了，直到3.25左右CUNY化学系寄来了offer letter，4.8寄来了I-20，没有预感的offer……
开学之后没几天抽空去杭州玩，临走之前收到UArizona的email通知要我的电话，杭州回来后才知道那里的教授已经打电话到我的宿舍，可是没找到我。又用email联系了一回，接着电话就来了：
9:05手机响了被面试又是偷袭，我ft当时抱着一个泵正要去清洗满手是泵油掀开手机对方头一句就是May I speak to Mr ... ?紧张ing支支吾吾的说了两句幸好手机信号差，国际长途听不清1就挂了电话打到实验室了还好1说不要紧张，放松下面就是聊天问题如下：1本科生还是研究生2简要介绍自己的研究3是不是考了TSE（回答没考，1又问为什么不考，ft，40的TSE能见人吗？）4是不是已经有offer了（能说有吗？）5是不是有UMich的面试（天哪，1信息很灵通嘛，我的UMich呀，还没给我面试通知）
6简要介绍我的老家（呵呵，跟1的lp是一个省的）7伊说对我的口语比较满意8告诉我1最近很忙，结果要等一个星期
补充：本来打到寝室，我不在，感谢bobleaf把我的手机号告诉面试教授，bg伊是少不了的UArizona Chem:P
不出所料，两天后UArizona的offer来了，这个学校12月底就听说有offer发出，估计是那种如果前面有人拒了就从后面的waiting list替补的学校，这一点不同于OSU，OSU自从offer全被系里的大牛拒掉之后就再也没有offer发给中国人。
后来就是听说MSU发offer了，总共发了3个，要求3.15前必须答复，deng大概就是那时候确定的吧。后来听说几位大牛如icesnow和ry jj拿到了priceton，kunchong和vicente拿到了Uchicago，还有两个基地班的Winscosin-Madison。另外UMich来了三个教授到化学系宣讲。UMich也是很nice的学校，后来给了这里好像是5个offer。其他的SUNY-SB给了大概3个，也是很友好的学校，VT给了两个，Emory两个，NYU两个，TAMU两个，Rochester，ISU，UCR，UCD，UCSB，Purdue，GIT，RPI，UWashington，JHU，应该都只有一个offer。lakewater的NYU，arrowroot的UNC-CH都是很不错的学校，我envy一下。
3月底是WUStL的面试，在和平饭店，两个教授，一个考察口语和研究兴趣，另一个考察专业词汇，朗读一段课本中节选的文章，说出大致意思，同时还问了一些关于研究的问题，问得很细致。然后就是……我被拒了……，给了化学系两个offer，高分子一个offer。4.10Brandeis告诉我在waiting list上，douya也是，4.15的时候douya拿到了Brandeis，ft早不来。后来还是有同学去brandies的。还有Indiana U-Bloomington在4.15以后给了两个offer。
到此为止，全部结束。我在3月底答应了BostonU。
由于学校搞错了I-20拖到6.25才给我，7.7签证又被check，今天刚刚受到电话通知，check也结束了。就在这里总结一下:P
其实回过头看看走的每一步，都不是那么顺利，准备考试和签证，办手续，做材料的过程中要跟不同的人打交道，也算是锻炼吧:P
这里要感谢版面上的同学和好朋友们（99的同学，好朋友，兄弟，00的ddmm，id真的是太多了，就不一一列出了），是你们给了我很多鼓励和帮助，使我在最困难的时候撑了下来。
你们都像一本厚书，阿牛只读了其中的一部分，但已感到春风拂面……
编辑：Sisly
