Program： Teenager & Juvenile Developmental Psychology
In my undergraduate program， I received education across two fields—a degreeprogram in law at the Law School of _ University and a degree program inpsychology at _ University. My rigorous academic trainings across those twofields have given me necessary qualifications for pursuing a more advancedprogram either in psychology or in law， endowing me with a unique advantage ininterdisciplinary knowledge.
As far as I am concerned， law and psychology are reciprocal. They all pertainto human behavior. As a matter of fact， my thesis in law， entitled “ _” exploresjuvenile delinquency by examining the complicated psychological factors of theyounger generation of China in family， school and neighborhood settings.However， there are essential differences between them. In terms of the causalrelationships of human behavior， law is primarily concerned with the treatmentof the consequences of human behavior while psychology probes into themotivations that cause people to act as they do. In the framework of humanrelations， law aims at orderly and well-regulated social relationship whilepsychology， with its interventions into the process of human development， seeksto facilitate the healthy development of the individuals.
While law and psychology are both indispensable to the proper functioning ofour society， when it comes to making a choice between those two fields in whichto pursue a graduate program， I decide to opt for a program in DevelopmentalPsychology. My decision is motivated by the fact that law can only deal with theaftermath of human behavior whereas psychology can provide preventive measuresagainst possible negative human behavior. Child & adolescent psychology， afield I am interested in， may facilitate the development of healthy personalitystructure that may enable children and adolescents interact with the society ina harmonious manner.
I have received sound academic trainings that a student of psychology canexpect in China， excelling particularly in Developmental Psychology， CognitivePsychology， Experimental Psychology and other core courses， all of which haveimparted to me the necessary theoretical knowledge. My 87/100 GPA in Psychologyhas made me the top student in my class and the winner of a series of theuniversity's top-level scholarships. As an undergraduate， I have attempted atsome tentative research by submitting essays and research papers toprovincial-level and university-level journals (please refer to my Resume)。 Inperforming those researches， I find that I have benefited considerably from mysolid mathematics foundation and the related methodology—my score for theAdvanced Mathematics course is 98/100 while the SPSS was nearly full mark. Ihave mastered important statistical and quantitative methods， computerprogramming and LISREL with much facility and I excel in designing experimentsand preparing questionnaires.
I started to perform formal academic research at the Developmental PsychologyLab in _ University two years by working as a research assistant to Prof. _， aleading Chinese scholar on social development in childhood and adolescence andpeer relations. By focusing on the peer relations， social cognition， socialself-concept， attributions， and past social experiences， I completed afull-length research paper _， which became a poster presentation at the _. Myresearch indicates that in addition to maintaining an appropriate level ofsocial self-concept and optimistic attributional style， it is essentiallyworthwhile to emphasize another two strategies to improve the positive peernominations： to pay special attention to the attributions to negative events ofthe life， and to attribute social popularity or success to some stable causes.Based on my distinguished academic performance， I attended the _ and the _.
Off campus， I have worked as a social worker offering psychologicalconsulting for the “No Worry Teenagers” column for the authoritative journal _，dealing with the problems concerning interpersonal relations and socialcognition of adolescents and young adults. This experience allowed me to gaininsight into many important aspects of the mental lives of this group of peoplebeyond the mere statistical data. However， it is a regret that my knowledge isinsufficient to offer adequate consulting service to my audience of such diversebackgrounds. This fact reveals to me the need to undertake more advanced studiesto improve my professional competence.
I am strongly interested in the developmental psychology of adolescentsbecause by helping adolescents build up a healthy psychology that may enablethem to successfully integrate into the competitive world of adults， hence fewersocial problems could be created. In my proposed program， I would like toconcentrate on the following subjects： social cognitive and social-emotionaldevelopment in childhood and adolescence; peer relations and family relationsand their influence on development; resilience in high risk settings;development of self-esteem; gender differences and similarities， and researchmethods. The University of _'s graduate education is very strong in thosefields. Your faculty consists of distinguished professors who come from leadinguniversities and have made important research achievements. Your program offersstudents a total of 14 labs， among which Multiple Identities and InterpersonalInteractions Lab is most relevant to my study. I expect that your Ph.D. programcan give me instruction in the fundamental theories and knowledge ofdevelopmental psychology and also give me rigorous training in planning，conducting and evaluating research. I would like to identify Prof._ as mypotential advisor， whose research interests covers a wide spectrum， includingmost of the fields I am interested in.
To me， psychology means care， psychological research is to find out how tocare and psychological service is to offer the care. My career objective is todevelop into a research-oriented professor who can perform substantial researchon adolescent psychology. I will study those features of psychology that Chineseadolescents share with their _ counterparts as China is under heavy influencesof _ culture. But I would also examine the role of traditional Chinese culturein shaping the psychology of Chinese adolescents. Apart from my professionalactivities， I will continue to offer voluntary， non-profit consulting servicesto those who are in need. Adolescent psychological consulting is only of recentorigin and much is to be improved. My prospective _ education will enable me tomake important contributions in this regard.
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