She would walk in futile circles, sapping her strength while going nowhere. If she did not resist atrophy with every cell in her body, it would creep in as soon as she dropped her vigilance. I wanted to grab her hand and drag her kicking and screaming into the world of reason. I yearned for the knowledge that would dissolve this cloak of darkness encompassing her illness. The futility of my efforts to help my sister compelled me to seek answers. What I discovered was the fascinating field of psychology. The study of human behavior and the brain provided me with clarity and perspective on my sister’s mental illness. I was finally able to comprehend and appreciate the challenges of living with a psychiatric disorder, not to mention correct my indignant and critical attitude towards her.

As a psychology student at Northeastern, I have taken an interest in working with people, most recently with adults in a locked inpatient unit at McLean Hospital's psychotic disorders program. As a mental health specialist, I am an active participant in the therapeutic environment. I conduct patient interviews, complete patient assessments, supervise the unit, and take vital signs. Witnessing the most destructive mental illnesses, I have gained extremely valuable insight into my future career.

I have to confess that, at first, the thought of working in a locked unit was intimidating. My perception of individuals with psychotic illnesses severe enough to require hospitalization was definitely skewed by black-and-white definitions in books and stereotypical depictions in the media. In a matter of hours on my first day, however, that feeling quickly dissipated. One of the first patients I encountered was a woman with severe psychotic depression. Numb to life, she would only utter negative words of despair. Due to her inability to control her impulses to hurt herself, she was put on five-minute checks. The patient finally heeded the recommendations of the doctors to have electroconvulsive therapy, a highly controversial and misunderstood treatment. After only a week and a half of ECT, she awoke to living again. Her eyes, tainted from the fog of depression, cleared and became bright with life. I was able to meet the person buried under the clenches of her illness. The most fascinating part to me was that even now, over 60 years since ECT's development, the basic mechanisms of why it works remain unknown; people are only confident in its efficacy. This shortcoming is indicative of how important it is to invest in mental health research. There is so much to be learned about the human mind, and the infinite possibilities of research captivate me.

This curiosity has led me to several research experiences. In one laboratory, which investigates reticulospinal neurons, I learned how to use a high-speed camera to record the behaviors of larval zebra fish that had specific nerve cells ablated. We analyzed the detailed measurements of behavioral deficit resulting from such cell ablations. When I watched a tiny zebra fish for over three hours through a confocal microscope, waiting for it to feed on paramecium, the patience needed for research became apparent. My next research experience was drastically different: I assisted a graduate student in evaluating and demonstrating the cognitive abilities of the New Zealand keas. As the kea was trained in color discriminations tasks, I took immense satisfaction from watching the operant condition in action and enjoyed applying my knowledge in the lab.

Currently, for my senior honors thesis, I am conducting observational studies on a group of gorillas, analyzing the relationship of personality characteristics to social roles in a group of captive Western Lowland Gorillas. Although these varied research experiences have provided me with fundamental skills, I still feel the need for more training. Professional experiences, research, and undergraduate courses have further stimulated my interest in psychology and reinforced my conviction that I am well suited to the field. Moreover, these opportunities created a desire to pursue a career in clinical research.

Graduate school will enable me to develop vital research skills and the solid academic background that I need to be a successful researcher. A master's program in psychology will not only cultivate and refine my interest in clinical research, but also equip me to deal with the challenges of a PhD program. I have all the traits needed to be a good psychologist; undoubtedly, my devotion to my education will be the greatest asset of all.

點(diǎn)評(píng)：

這是一篇心理學(xué)專業(yè)的申請(qǐng)文書(shū)。

文章以一個(gè)病例作為開(kāi)頭，并且是身邊較為親近的人——妹妹。或許這在一定程度上可以理解為作者對(duì)心理治療產(chǎn)生興趣的根源，也很自然的引出了自己的專業(yè)領(lǐng)域?？梢哉f(shuō)，有其獨(dú)到之處，并且讓人感到很真實(shí)。
心理學(xué)是一門(mén)實(shí)踐性較強(qiáng)的學(xué)科，在一個(gè)個(gè)鮮活的案例中，才能更深入理解其學(xué)術(shù)理論，而作者也是把重點(diǎn)放在了對(duì)自己實(shí)踐經(jīng)驗(yàn)的描述上，對(duì)一個(gè)個(gè)接觸的病例的分析，以及在實(shí)驗(yàn)中學(xué)到的知識(shí)、想法，穿插性的表達(dá)，在敘述自己學(xué)術(shù)背景的同時(shí)，也表明了自己對(duì)這門(mén)學(xué)科的熱愛(ài)，同時(shí)也使自己的性格等方面的信息傳達(dá)給了讀者。

作者的豐富經(jīng)歷，使整個(gè)文章感覺(jué)很有活力，顯示了作為心理學(xué)學(xué)生所應(yīng)該具備的素質(zhì)，因此，可以說(shuō)是一篇能夠吸引住教授眼球的優(yōu)秀文書(shū)。

譯文：

當(dāng)無(wú)處可去的時(shí)候，她會(huì)不停的走圈子以宣泄她的精力。如果她不用全身的細(xì)胞去對(duì)抗萎縮，那么只要她稍一松懈，這種萎縮將會(huì)很快蔓延到她的全身。我想抓住她的雙手，把她從無(wú)端的打鬧和尖叫中解救出來(lái)重返正常人的生活。我急切的想知道治療她疾病的知識(shí)。想幫助我妹妹的信念支持著我去尋找答案。這時(shí)我發(fā)現(xiàn)了心理學(xué)中一個(gè)令人著迷的領(lǐng)域。關(guān)于人類行為和腦的研究是我對(duì)妹妹的精神疾病有了清晰的認(rèn)識(shí)，并使我看到了治好她的病的前景。我終于能夠理解感激這種與精神錯(cuò)亂的患者生活在一起的狀態(tài)，而不是沖著妹妹發(fā)泄我的不滿和極端的意見(jiàn)。

作為Northeastern的一個(gè)心理學(xué)專業(yè)的學(xué)生。我對(duì)和病人一起工作有很大的興趣，特別是最近在McLean醫(yī)院的精神錯(cuò)亂的項(xiàng)目中，我和該醫(yī)院的成年病人相處的很好。作為一個(gè)精神衛(wèi)生的專家，在這個(gè)醫(yī)療項(xiàng)目中我是個(gè)積極分子。我管理病人的會(huì)見(jiàn)時(shí)間，完成對(duì)病人的評(píng)估，觀察病人，紀(jì)錄典型癥狀。目擊了最有破壞力的精神疾病，我已經(jīng)對(duì)我的將來(lái)的職業(yè)有了很好的洞察。

我不得不坦白的說(shuō)，一開(kāi)始，跟被監(jiān)管的病人工作的想法是不情愿的。我所理解的這些精神病人是極端需要住院治療的，并且是被書(shū)本歪曲和媒體多方位描寫(xiě)的典型例子。但在我去醫(yī)院的幾個(gè)小時(shí)后這種想法便很快消散了。我遇到的第一個(gè)病人是一位患有嚴(yán)重抑郁的女患者。由于對(duì)生活的麻木，她只能重復(fù)消極的詞語(yǔ)。鑒于她嚴(yán)重的自我傷害傾向，醫(yī)院對(duì)她實(shí)行每隔五分鐘檢查的制度。最終醫(yī)生建議對(duì)她實(shí)行電擊療法，一種頗有爭(zhēng)議和容易引起誤解的療法。在經(jīng)過(guò)一周半的電擊療法后，她對(duì)生活有產(chǎn)生了興趣。我可以看到一個(gè)戰(zhàn)勝了自己精神疾病的患者。到現(xiàn)在為止我仍有一個(gè)巨大的迷惑，雖然電擊療法已經(jīng)發(fā)展了六十年，但它的治療疾病的原理仍不明確。人們只是信任它的療效。這種迷惑證明了對(duì)精神健康的研究的重要性。關(guān)于人類精神的研究還有很多東西要去學(xué)習(xí)，正是這種無(wú)限的探索領(lǐng)域吸引了我。

這種好奇心是我有了更多的實(shí)驗(yàn)經(jīng)歷。在一個(gè)研究脊髓細(xì)胞的實(shí)驗(yàn)室中，我學(xué)會(huì)了如何用高速相機(jī)拍攝斑馬魚(yú)細(xì)胞放電現(xiàn)象。我們仔細(xì)分析了由細(xì)胞放電導(dǎo)致的行為測(cè)量值的放大。當(dāng)我通過(guò)共焦顯微鏡觀察斑馬魚(yú)三個(gè)小時(shí)，為了等待它進(jìn)食草履蟲(chóng)時(shí)，我發(fā)現(xiàn)耐心是極為重要的。另一個(gè)試驗(yàn)經(jīng)歷則完全不同，我作為一個(gè)研究生的助手，協(xié)助他完成對(duì)新西蘭鸚鵡認(rèn)知能力的估計(jì)和證明。在訓(xùn)練鸚鵡辨別色彩的同時(shí)，我從觀察受控對(duì)象中得到的極大的滿足，并且我享受著在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里應(yīng)用自己知識(shí)的過(guò)程。

最近，為了我的高年級(jí)論文，我負(fù)責(zé)了一項(xiàng)觀察大猩猩的研究。分析西部弟低地大猩猩的個(gè)性特質(zhì)和群落角色之間的關(guān)系。通過(guò)多樣化的實(shí)驗(yàn)經(jīng)驗(yàn)，我獲得了基本是實(shí)驗(yàn)技巧。但我還需要更多的這方面的知識(shí)。我對(duì)心理學(xué)方面專業(yè)的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，試驗(yàn)，和研究生課程有著極大的興趣，并且這些也更加堅(jiān)定了我適合心理學(xué)這一領(lǐng)域的信念。此外，這些試驗(yàn)的機(jī)會(huì)也使我更加傾向于臨床治療職業(yè)。

研究生教育可以提供我成為成功研究員的一切要素包括提升我的試驗(yàn)技巧，鞏固的專業(yè)背景。心理學(xué)碩士課程不僅可以培養(yǎng)和鞏固我對(duì)臨床研究的興趣，而且可以讓我挑戰(zhàn)更有難度的博士課程。我身上包含著成為一名優(yōu)秀心理學(xué)者的全部特征，毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，我對(duì)心理學(xué)巨大的投入是最大的資產(chǎn)。