Editor's note:

As one of the earliest Sino-foreign cooperative education institutions in China, the School of International Exchange of Shandong Agricultural University has experienced 20 years of development and has closely focused on the knowledge as the basis, ability as the center and quality as the goal. The trinity talent training model of knowledge, ability and quality has trained a total of 3,911 applied international talents for the society. The average employment rate in the past five years has been more than 85%, and the postgraduate study rate has exceeded 60%. The postgraduate study rate of the 2023 graduates Reaching 67.4%, a record high, forming the characteristics of Sino-foreign cooperative education employment work of “high employment rate and high further education rate”.

Currently, the employment of graduates of the class of 2024 is in full swing. All teachers, students and staff are working together, taking recruitment, training and employment as a systematic project, with the goal of two no less than and the five one As a starting point, we should carry out our work with heart, strength and affection, pay close attention to the implementation of employment promotion, and strive to achieve graduation education that is attractive, employment guidance that is heart-warming, employment services that are heart-warming, and employment tracking that is considerate, so as to effectively promote graduates to find more full and higher-quality employment. In order to promote excellence and set examples, we will explore the deeds of outstanding graduates in postgraduate applications, postgraduate entrance examinations, and employment, and create a good atmosphere in which students have role models in their studies, goals in their actions, and they strive to catch up with others and surpass them.

Personal profile: Kang Jiali, a member of the Communist Party of China, majoring in business administration in the class of 2020, serves as the deputy monitor and study committee member of the first class of business administration in the School of International Exchange, and won the school's first-class scholarship, third-class scholarship, individual social practice award, and three good students and school outstanding students Graduate honorary title. Currently, I have received graduate admission offers from 2 British universities and 4 Australian universities, and I am waiting for offers from 3 universities.

Average application score: 90.22

Schools to apply for:

U.K:

University of Manchester

University of Bristol

Hongkong:

University of Hong Kong (waiting for offer)

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (waiting for offer)

Australia:

University of Melbourne (waiting for offer)

University of Sydney

University of New South Wales

Monash University

Queensland university

Learning insights:

Hello everyone, I am Kang Jiayi from the first class of the 20th National Diploma. Before I knew it, my college life was coming to an end. At the end of this time of sweat and enthusiasm, I successively received admission notices from four universities including the University of Sydney in Australia, and the Universities of Manchester and Bristol in the UK. The achievement of this small achievement makes me feel happy and happy, and I am very honored to share with you my four-year study experience in college. Here I would like to use exploration, breakthrough, persistence and ending to describe this period of time.

  Exploring is the epitome of my freshman year. When I first entered college, I was ignorant and wanted to grow and transform, but I didn't know how to do it. The blindness in doing things has become my weakness. For example, if you can't complete basic homework, you just want to expand additional knowledge; you don't pay attention to advanced mathematics learning, etc. In such a state, test scores on weekdays are often unsatisfactory. Fortunately, the head teacher and my friends discovered my learning problems in time and reminded me. After that, my grades gradually improved in the second half of my freshman year, but due to my blindness I ended up with poor grades.

  Breakthrough is the summary of my sophomore year. After revision during my freshman year, the idea of seeking “efficiency” began to guide my learning and growth. Based on the advantages of running schools in China and Germany, I initially set “being prepared to go abroad” as my university goal. After communicating with teachers and agents, I began to plan and arrange my studies. I also have clear goals for professional courses, internships and IELTS. My “breakthrough” began during my sophomore year. In the process of studying professional courses, I achieved preview before class, concentration in class and review after class. Under the guidance of this closed-loop learning model, my professional course scores have also made significant gains. In terms of scientific research and internship, I also started to prepare. During the summer vacation of my sophomore year, I participated in an internship that was consistent with my target major. During the winter vacation of my sophomore year, I participated in IELTS study and examination, and I also clarified my shortcomings - speaking.

  Persistence is the foundation of my junior year. The accumulation of my sophomore year made my development goals for my junior year clearer. Stabilizing professional course results, overcoming the speaking shortcomings and publishing papers guide me. In terms of my usual professional course results, I adhered to the study mode of my sophomore year. In addition, I used my spare time to participate in specialized IELTS speaking training. I often catch the high-speed train between the two cities of Jinan and Tai'an. Under such a rhythm, my leisure time has been greatly compressed. However, there are also some incidents in this process. Due to poor time control, a paper in one subject was not submitted on time and resulted in failure. The first time I faced this situation, I panicked. After communicating with the teacher, I learned that there was still an opportunity to make up the exam. I have to say that FOM’s make-up exam mechanism helped me. After careful preparation, my paper passed successfully and got a score of 1.7. This also paved the way for me to provide better average grades in school in the future. Therefore, whenever my classmates ask me whether retaining my FOM student status will help me apply for graduate school, yes is often my answer. The background of Sino-foreign cooperative education and the mechanism of re-examination are all objective and visible advantages of retaining FOM student status. During the winter vacation of my junior year, I took the IELTS test while the iron was hot and achieved satisfactory results. The achievement of scientific research results is also one of my goals in my junior year. During the summer vacation, I participated in a scientific research project and successfully published a paper. I also participated in the second internship period. Overall, my junior year goal was successfully accomplished.

  Closing was the context of my senior year. In my senior year, I started the “last step” of preparing for graduate school application—preparing transcripts, certification materials, documents, and submitting applications. The preparation of transcripts and certification materials was successfully completed with the help of teachers. Regarding the document, I finalized it after discussions with the agency, and I have two suggestions for everyone. First, we must pay attention to logic. The process of researching or deepening understanding of a certain module should be written in a logical chain series, and gradually lead to your application intention and employment plan. Second, we must pay attention to personalization. Detailed experiences should be presented, and your own reflections such as small discoveries and insights in the field can also be added to the document. In this way, the final paperwork was completed quickly with the help of the agent. After the graduate application work comes to an end, I also want to try other ending methods. Taking advantage of my status as a fresh graduate, I took part in the public and editorial examinations. After all, the pace never stops and the growth continues.

            Youth is tempered by the fire of passion and struggle, and condensed by the light of hope and enthusiasm. Time flies, exploration, breakthrough, persistence and finishing have drawn a unique answer sheet for my four years of college. In the future, we and I will still need to hold on to the torch of youth and continue to move forward boldly without fear!

Thoughts on applying for graduate school:

Applying for graduate school is a process that requires long-term preparation. If you want to achieve good results, you must work hard in advance. As long as you do enough preliminary preparations, applying for graduate school is not a difficult task and can even be used as an alternative. In my opinion, the key to applying for graduate school is to grasp several key points, including determining the target school and major, finding matching scientific research internship opportunities, maintaining good class grades, and obtaining required language scores. The importance of these points is also ordered according to my personal understanding.

First of all, determining the target school and major is the guiding light for successful postgraduate application. Only when the goal is clear can subsequent work be carried out in an orderly manner. In this regard, I have summarized three steps for your reference. First, screen the majors and schools you are interested in from the perspective of major rankings, school reputation and future job requirements. Second, you can collect admission requirements through the school's official website, and gradually determine the target colleges and majors based on the guidance of the agency. Third, comprehensively summarize the conditions of all target colleges in terms of school grades, language scores, scientific research and internships.

Secondly, qualified in-class grades are the “main support” for a successful postgraduate application. Schools in various regions usually use internal grades and language scores as rigid indicators for application. Different schools have different requirements for internal grades, so students need to check the specific requirements on the official website. This work can be done during the goal setting process. In addition, everyone should also pay attention to performance points. Higher-ranked schools place more emphasis on performance points, and schools in the UK will also give priority to performance points. Grade points are linked to subject credits. For example, if you score high in high school mathematics during your freshman year, it will have a greater impact on your grade points and students need to pay more attention.

Furthermore, matching scientific research and internship experience are the “hidden conditions” for successful postgraduate application. One scientific research project, one scientific research paper, two internships is my experience in the process of preparing for graduate school application. Although not a hard requirement, scientific research and internship experience are crucial for the school to evaluate the soft skills of applicants. These two experiences must be consistent with the target major, and it is best to highlight personal strengths. For example, choose a well-known and influential scientific research project, or intern at a well-known company. Students who want to change majors can also use scientific research and internships as a springboard to increase the chance of successful application.

Finally, qualified language scores are an “important guarantee” for a successful postgraduate application. Schools in different regions have different language policies. Australian schools usually provide opportunities for language classes and have relatively loose requirements for language scores. Therefore, students whose IELTS scores are not satisfactory in China may consider applying to more schools in Australia. Schools in Hong Kong place more emphasis on language scores, and most applicants have higher IELTS scores. Therefore, applicants with less outstanding IELTS scores are relatively at a disadvantage.

Whether it is a scientific research internship or getting an ideal IELTS score, it takes time and dedication. However, each of us has limited time and energy. Therefore, applying for graduate school requires everyone to consider comprehensively, plan reasonably, and try to assemble the most satisfactory application materials within a limited time. There is no road in this world that is in vain. Every investment and effort actually has an echo, but you may not be able to hear it at this moment. I hope that each of us will be full of confidence, full of passion, and go all out. Finally, I wish everyone that all their wishes come true and the future is bright!