Being studious and applying mathematics to solve problems within the course and also in my daily life, I have become very confident in my mathematical ability and greatly enjoy the subject. I feel well suited to a degree in mathematics and statistics. I am a person who likes to think things through and I relish a mental challenge and I have been pleased and excited by the discoveries I have made on my own in this subject. I like it because it forces me to make logical judgments and it helps to solve practical problems. For example, in China I used to help as volunteer to serve the people who lived in a depressed area. I was the supervisor for a group of 44 students and had to allocate them to about 12 different houses in the area according to the talents of the students and the needs of the house and I did this using statistical methods. Also, during my study of A-Level, I have become very interested in the study of discrete mathematics, something I had never met in China. We were learning about the route inspection problems, but in a limited way and I thought what about applying this to a town or a city instead of just a small local area? When I researched this further, I was able to look at the data and investigate the best solution. I got quite excited about the method and was impressed by its possibilities. I started A-Level statistics with only a basic knowledge of it from China. I have enjoyed seeing how pure mathematics can be applied to real-life statistical situations and how knowledge of statistics is important when trying to model events which occur randomly. The formal Mathematics teaching in China had led me to believe that there is always one correct answer, but studying statistics has made me realize that is not necessarily the case! This is what real life is like; there are so much unpredictable factors but on the other hand they have to be worked out and I feel great in facing these challenges. I also won the gold certificate in 2004 for the UK senior mathematical challenge.

I am quite active as a person. The sport that I am especially interested in is basketball and I have a natural ability for it. It is a shame that I have double lessons when the college team is training so I can’t get in, but I play basketball with my friends almost everyday. I have learnt co-operation as basketball is one of the sports that cannot be played without teamwork. Besides this I also enjoy playing badminton, table tennis and many other kinds of sports. I do want to try golf if I have chance one day.

As an international student, I try to attend as many activities as possible. It can help me get into different society and I do enjoy it and benefit from it. One of them was the Humber Bridge charity walk for the “British Heart Foundation”. I attended both last year and this year. I improved my communication skills and made some new friends at the same time.

My life is quite colourful outside college. As reading my specialist area is fantasy. For example “Dragon Lance”, which is also one of my favourite series. It takes me into another dimension: a world of sword and magic, and plenty of unbelievable creatures like dragons. Therefore I love fantastic movies. Dancing like Michael Jackson is always a dream of mine. I am so fond of his style. I like listening to music as well, especially “Secret Garden”. It is so perfect that I can feel my soul is being touched.

I possess a secure higher mathematics foundation; have good logical thinking ability and a strong comprehensive analytical capacity. The most important thing is, I am full of interest and a desire to pursue mathematics. I want the opportunity to broaden my horizons and also to stretch myself to my full mathematical potential. I feel that university offers me the best opportunity to be able to do this. I will have a good time and make great progress.