MIT, Massachusettes Institute of Technology(美國(guó))麻省理工學(xué)院。可以說(shuō)，麻省理工學(xué)院是美國(guó)最好的理工科大學(xué)，其學(xué)術(shù)聲譽(yù)與哈佛、斯坦福齊名，三分天下，同列全美之冠。該校建于1861年，學(xué)生有9600人，研究生占一半左右，招收的學(xué)生來(lái)自全美50州，還有來(lái)自世界各地100多個(gè)國(guó)家和地區(qū)的學(xué)生，后者占總學(xué)生人數(shù)21%，在全美大學(xué)中比例最高。究生院共有五所：建筑規(guī)劃研究生院、工科研究生院、人文社會(huì)學(xué)研究生院、管理研究生院、自然科學(xué)研究生院及健康科學(xué)研究生院。麻省理工學(xué)院管理研究生院的MBA課程非常出色，曾名列美國(guó)MBA排行榜榜首。在全世界MBA十大排行榜（美國(guó)占六位）上，它也榜上有名。它的新生入學(xué)平均GMAT分為680分，管理信息系統(tǒng)、生產(chǎn)運(yùn)作管理、定量分析課程獲1997年排名第1。

研究生專(zhuān)業(yè)：金融/財(cái)政學(xué)、管理信息、創(chuàng)業(yè)學(xué)、國(guó)際貿(mào)易、生產(chǎn)運(yùn)作、航天工程、化學(xué)工程、土木工程、電子工程、機(jī)械工程、冶金工程、原子能工程、工商管理、建筑學(xué)、生物與生命科學(xué)、工程學(xué)與應(yīng)用科學(xué)、計(jì)算機(jī)與信息科學(xué)、醫(yī)學(xué)、社會(huì)科學(xué)、通信與新聞學(xué)、物理科學(xué)、數(shù)學(xué)、自然科學(xué)、哲學(xué)、心理學(xué)。

以下為MIT對(duì)personal statement的要求。原文地址為：http://web.mit.edu/persian/www/RESOURCES/node9.html

Personal Statement

Personal statement is a text one or two pages long, about what you want to do and how much you are prepared to pursue your ambitions. You should try to explain your interests. You should connect together different working experiences you have had, to give a perfect picture of what you have done and their relevance to what you want to do in the future.

（一兩頁(yè)，介紹你想做什么，和做了什么準(zhǔn)備，應(yīng)該將不同的工作經(jīng)歷串連成章。）

In writing your interests you should not be too general or too narrow-minded. It might not be good to say ``I love physics''. （不要說(shuō)我愛(ài)物理這樣的老掉牙句子）This is a statement which does not carry any information and they already expect you to like your major when you are applying for it. Writing something like ``I have done research on Astrophysics, Particle Physics, and Condensed Matter'' indicates that you do not know what Physics is or you do not have any idea how wide these branches of physics are.（應(yīng)該專(zhuān)業(yè)，指明是什么專(zhuān)業(yè)的什么領(lǐng)域） It also shows you are just a student who has been to a couple of lectures and is fascinated by these subjects, but does not have any clue what they are. A more accurate statement can be ``Considering my background and my interest, I will focus on Number Theory in my PhD''. You might find better sentences.

[Houman Alborzi's notes] The personal statement is your only piece of creative writing in your application packet. You should cover the following topics in it: Why grad school. Why abroad. Why the school you are applying to. Why the major/program you are applying to. What are your strong points. What are your weak points. Any excuses for any weak points in your application packet, (low GPA, GRE, ..., bad grades in courses and so on). What are you going to do after getting your degree. The goal is to convince the admission committee that by admitting you over others they produce a better PhD holder at the end. They love hard working people. They love people who can write well in English. They are professors and love people who like teaching. They are researchers and love people who like research. Keep all these in mind when writing your statement. But, be honset. It is very easy to smell dishonesty.
（應(yīng)該寫(xiě)明為何選擇讀研究生，為何到國(guó)外，為何是這個(gè)學(xué)校，申請(qǐng)什么專(zhuān)業(yè)，優(yōu)勢(shì)和劣勢(shì)是什么，為何某項(xiàng)比較差。）
[Houman Alborzi's notes] A peculiar thing of Iranian personal statements I have read is that they all start with a far recollection of the person's childhood. I did it myself, and have seen it all the others I have read. Well, I do not why, but it is really funny to see the same format among the statements. （不要雷同，伊朗學(xué)生的ps都是以童年開(kāi)始的。）

You may have the impression that if you claim something about your interest, they will force you to do work on it during your program. Although, it is always good to be honest and straightforward. But sometimes you are not really sure what you want to do for your PhD, then do not be afraid. If you take up something in the beginning, there is always a chance to later switch to other subjects in the same department. Also, people do not look at your personal statement every day to see what you have claimed when you were applying.

If you are highly interested to get into a specific university, it is a good idea to prepare a separate Personal Statement for them and describe why you are interested to get into their program and how your skills and experiences are appropriate for that department.