university of hong kong personal statement

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university of hong kong personal statement

A "Personal Statement" is an important vehicle through which you introduce yourself to a third party for a specific purpose - enrolling in a graduate school, applying for a scholarship, seeking an internship opportunity, or applying for a job. To write a good Personal Statement, the skills required are as delicate as creating Coffee Art - and practice makes perfect! The following sections will introduce key qualities of good Personal Statements. The recommended links provide both practical and user-friendly tips, samples/templates, and textbook resources on writing Personal Statements (i) for Academic Purposes; and (ii) for Career Purposes.

Essentials for Personal Statements

Effective Personal Statements can open the door to an interview, selection for admission to graduate schools, or even help you to secure a scholarship – but just remember "COFFEE ART"

Samples For Academic Use - By Discipline

By Subject / By University / Mature Students / Postgraduate Study - Samples
Accountancy - Samples
Anthropology - Samples
Architecture - Samples
Art & Design - Samples
Bioengineering - Samples
Biomedical - Samples
Biotechnology - Samples
Business – A sample for a master degree application
Business and Management - Samples
Criminology - Samples
Computer and IT - Samples
Computer Science - Samples
Dentistry - Samples
Economics - Samples
Education - Samples
Electronic and Engineering - "Which Types of Skills are Expected to be Demonstrated?" (See Entry Profile Item in English on the left of the boxes) – Resources from University of Nottingham
Engineering - Samples
English - Samples
English Literature - Samples
English and Psychology - Samples
Environmental Science - Samples
Film - Samples
Finance - Samples
History - Samples
International Relations - Samples
Languages - Samples
Law - Samples
Linguistics - Samples
Marketing - Samples
Mathematics - Samples
Media - Samples
Medicine - Samples
Music - Samples
Neuroscience - Samples
Pharmacy - Samples
Philosophy - Samples
Photography - Samples
Physics - Samples
Politics - Samples
Psychology - Samples
Radiography - Samples
Social Work - Samples
Sociology - Samples
Sports Science - Samples
Theology - Samples
Travel and Tourism - Samples
Veterinary Science - Samples

Recommended Print Resources

Inspirations.

“Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.”

“I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”

Winston Churchill

“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.”

Mortimer Adler

“Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will.”

Vernon Howard

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

Benjamin Franklin

“Be observing constantly. Stay open minded. Be eager to learn and improve.”

John Wooden

“Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.”

Abigail Adams

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”

Application Procedures

The successful submission of an online application consists of the following steps:

1. Establish your account

Register your account when you use the online system for the first time.
Provide full name, a valid email address and a username. Your account will be identified by the username in future.
Check the box indicating that you agree to the general points pursuant to the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance as set out in the Personal Information Collection Statement and the General Data Protection Regulation to complete the registration procedure.
Write down your user name and password for future reference.
If you forget your password, click Forget Password on the login page.
If you are applying for more than one field/programme of study, please register with a new username and complete a new online application form for each one.

2. Complete the online application form

The online application system is best viewed with Internet Explorer 6 or above.
Fill in the requested information and click Save and then Continue to save the data entered and proceed to next section. The system will logout if the screen is inactive for 20 minutes.
Click Logout if you want to exit and continue later.
Click Preview to check all your information.

3. Payment of application fees

After you have filled in all the requested information in each section in order, you will come to the Payment and Submission section. All application fees once paid are non-refundable.
Please pay by credit card (Visa or Mastercard) only, other cards including debit card is not acceptable.
You will not be able to change your application details online once you have paid your application fee.
All application fees once paid are non-refundable and non-transferrable.
An acknowledgement email with application number will be sent to you for a successfully submitted application.

4. Documents to support your application

Please click "Instructions and Supporting Documents" listed under your chosen programme(s). Please note that documents once submitted will not be returned, and will be destroyed if the application is unsuccessful. All documents should be submitted to the relevant faculty by the application deadline.

General supporting documents include:

Officially certified degree certificate(s)^ and transcript(s)^ of your undergraduate studies.
Official score report on an English Language proficiency test such as TOEFL# (The TOEFL code of HKU is 9671) or IELTS#, for applicants with qualifications from institutions outside Hong Kong where the language of instruction and examination is not English.
Any other documents required by individual programmes, for example: GMAT score* and Referees' reports.

5. Online application

Proceed to choose your programme and establish an account. If you already have established a user account for your application, login to retrieve your application.

* Only GMAT scores recorded in the five years before the date of application are considered. # Only TOEFL/IELTS scores recorded in the two years before the date of application are considered. ^(i) Bachelor degree should be conferred on or before August 31 of the current admission year. And, documents which are not in English should be accompanied by a formally certified translation in English by the issuing authority or lawyer or notary public or consulate general or certified translator or court translator. (ii) For qualifications obtained from universities in Mainland China: Online Verification Report of Higher Education Qualification Certificate (教育部学历证书电子注册备案表) and Online Verification Report of Higher Education Degree Certificate (中国高等教育学位在线验证报告) issued by the CHSI (学信网) is required.

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Application
Application Guides

How to Apply

Before you fill in and submit us the application, please read this page and visit the website(s) of the respective programme(s) to which you wish to apply for admission for updates on the programme requirements.

Advance Offer

To facilitate outstanding candidates in making informed decisions among all early offers they receive from various universities, candidates who apply to CUHK on or before 14 November 2024 will be considered for an advance offer. In this round, successful applicants may be given a firm or conditional offer depending on individual merits, and those selected for advance offers will be notified from December 2024.

Applicants who are not selected for an advance offer will automatically compete on equal footing with all other applicants in the Regular round, the application deadline of which is 9 January 2025.

Application Deadline

Regular Round Deadline: 9 January 2025

Please read the application guide and online application step-by-step guide before completing the application as they contain important information and guidelines that will assist you in completing and submitting your application.

Application Guide

Online Application Step-by-Step Guide

Supporting Documents

To facilitate the processing of your application, please make sure that you have fully completed and uploaded the following supporting documents (if available):

(i) Copies of your Hong Kong Identity Card, Dependant Visa, Passport and Entry Permit, if applicable (For verification purposes only. It will be deleted from the applicant’s file after the said purpose has been served.)

(ii) Copies of your academic transcripts, public examinations results and other credentials (if applicable):

high school reports/ transcripts and graduation certificate/ diploma
diploma/ sub-degree transcripts and graduation certificate
university transcripts/ degree certificate
result slip(s) of public examination(s) (e.g. IB/ SAT/ AP/ ACT/ GCE/ GCSE/ IGCSE/ Gaokao/ others). The University Code for College Board (for submission of SAT/ AP results) is 5690, and for ACT it is 7050.
English/ Chinese language test results (e.g. TOEFL/ IELTS/ others). The University Code for submission of TOEFL results is 0812.
certificates in support of professional/ academic achievements

(iii) Personal Statement (Resume/ Curriculum Vitae (optional))

(iv) Recommendation of an academic referee (online or by hardcopy)

Via online system: You can submit up to 3 referees’ information and check the referee submission status in the section “Online Recommendation Form” after submitting the online application and settling the application fee. Your referee will then receive an invitation email to log in to the “Online Confidential Recommendation System” to complete the Confidential Recommendation/ Referee Report. A referee can use the same account and password to complete the recommendations for different applicants who have invited him/ her as their referee. The referee will not receive a second password from us.

By hardcopy: You can print the Confidential Recommendation Form in the section “Paper Recommendation Form”. The completed form should be sent in a sealed envelope by post by either you or your referee directly to our office.

Counselors/ teachers who would like to submit a recommendation

Kindly make use of our Online Confidential Recommendation System to submit your recommendation. Please ask your students to nominate you as a referee by providing your particulars in the “Online Recommendation Form” section in the online application, after submitting the online application and settling the application fee. You will then receive from our system 2 emails which contain your login information. A referee can use the same account and password to complete the recommendations for different applicants who have invited him/ her as their referee. A referee will not receive a second password from us. Please login to your account at your earliest convenience and the system will guide you through the recommendation submission process.

For enquiries, please submit them here .

Application Fee

You will need to pay a non-refundable application fee of HK$450 for 2025 entry via ONLINE payment by either VISA or MASTERCARD through our Online Application System at the time of submission.