If you want to sing out, sing out…

… and if you want to be free, be free. Cause there’s a million things to be. (Cat Stevens)

I’ve always liked this song and I try to live by it, more or less. My mom also kept telling me kind of the same things (in her own words, of course) when I was growing up. So maybe that’s where this weird obsession with wanting to change the world and make it a better place comes from. The wish to make the world a better place surfaced pretty early in my childhood after reading some eye-opening books about environmental destruction. Now before completely weirding everyone out, I have to say that I grew up in the countryside, partly on a farm (and proud of it!), so I’ve always felt a strong connection to the environment. At a later point in my life, when I wanted to take action, I bought the book How to Make the World a Better Place. Honestly, this book wasn’t as helpful as its title might suggest. Still, no harm in trying, or better yet, reading.

I realized quickly that a solid education would be fundamental in order to achieve my, uhm, humble goal. Because as we all know, knowledge is power. After putting a lot of thought into what to study, and a gap year after high school which I partly spent in Costa Rica, I realized that the best course of action would be to study Ecology and English at the University of Salzburg. The wish to change the world (and two months living in the rain forest) led me to Ecology and my addiction to books (don’t we all have a little substance abuse problem?) and my love for the English language led me to English. 

Now how should you use your knowledge to change the world? In order to give this all a proper structure, here are the steps I intend to follow to achieve my goal:

 

Step 1: Attend university. Check.

Choosing the right field of study is an important first step. However, I think it is equally important to make the best out of one’s options and this includes choosing classes according to one’s interest. I succeeded pretty well in doing so this semester. My classes included learning how to blog (properly), and my crazy-long reading list covered everything from Henry James to Cecilia Ahern (believe me, there is a connection) and from Zoë Wicomb to Rudolfo Anaya. Just covering all the bases.

 

Step 2: Apply for a study abroad program. Check.

The painful application process has been explained thoroughly in my last few blog posts. They range from how to get started, listing the necessary application documents, explaining in more detail how to write a good letter of purpose and how to survive the TOEFL. The result of this struggle will be revealed in my next and final blog post.

 

Step 3: Get my degree(s). I’m on the road to getting my degrees at the moment. What I plan on doing with my degree will be explained in the next two steps.

 

Step 4: Write a book like T.C. Boyle’s A Friend of the Earth. Only my book is not only going to be dystopian, it is going to be sadly more realistic at the point of writing it. So you can see that on the road to achieving my ultimate goal I kind of also plan on becoming the next Jack(ie) Kerouac. I only want to change the story slightly to one without the substance abuse problems – still love his book, though, and dread the movie.

 

Step 5: After writing a couple of international bestsellers and becoming an internationally recognized writer/ecologist, I will use my knowledge and fame to appeal to people’s ecological consciousness and, at the same time, try to combine this with love for literature. And I know that those darn books kill our trees. As a reward for my hard work and effort to make the world a better place, I hope I will receive the Nobel Peace Prize or a Nobel Prize in Literature. I am fine with either one of them, really. 

But this is not all. Even if you have not taken my previous points seriously (which you actually should, at least partially), I do think it will become increasingly important to raise awareness for, and to promote interdisciplinary studies.

It should be clear by now that my schedule for the next decade is going to be pretty busy. On the bright side, I am finally able to answer the ever-annoying question of „Where do you see yourself in ten years?“ And if all of my best-laid plans should not work out, I’ll just become a yoga instructor in Panama.

Yours truly,

Lemon

With a little help from my friends

Or to be more precise, from one of my professors, I got by and was able to write a (hopefully convincing enough) letter of purpose. The letter of purpose is the first and probably most important application document that people, usually the coordinator, will look at. Like I mentioned in my last post, you give your reasons for choosing that specific university and explain your academic goals. But that’s not everything. Selling yourself is equally important, even though you should always try to relate this back to the university, your academic goals, etc.

Now, what should you have done up to the point where you start writing your letter of purpose (for the sake of space, I'll just refer to it as LoP in the future.) You should have chosen one (or preferably more) universities you are interested in, established contact with the coordinator (and had a meeting), and consequently come up with a mental list of reasons (or literally written down) for your choice of university. Before you get started with this, let me share some of my wisdom. Having your CV in front of you (more on that in one of my next posts), can be very helpful. In your LoP, you should manage to combine your sparkling personality traits with your life achievements and relate them to your chosen university, courses that the university offers, your general academic goals, and why this particular university would actually benefit from having you there. Don’t forget to mention why you would like to study abroad at that particular time in your academic career, either. You might even want to mention something about it having a link to your dissertation (even if that won’t happen for another couple of semesters). In the end, your LoP should clearly show that you are a very (hopefully even the) most desirable candidate for your chosen university. As I’ve mentioned above, I had a little (or a lot) of help from one of my professors. Since not everyone out there will have that possibility, I’ll try to share as much of what I’ve learned during that time to make it easier for my fellow sufferers.

So far it seems simple enough. The first problem you’ll come across before starting to write is the question: how and where do I start? The introduction of the LoP is definitely the hardest part. So in order not to completely freak out after half an hour and maybe one written sentence, do what I did: do not start with the introduction. After a slight obsession with my two picks, I knew exactly why I wanted to go to these particular universities. So it wasn’t too hard to start there. Some of the points I mentioned in my LoP were the reputation of the universities, their locations (e.g. close to the ocean), special science labs, to name but a few. Not to lose sight of the big picture here: this was only one paragraph of my LoP. In the end I had about 1,000 words, just so you know. And from what I can see now while writing this blog post, it’ll probably end up being about the same length.

Well, now how do you continue? To guide you through all the things you have to consider, I’ll state a few questions that my professor asked me at the beginning of this (sometimes torturous) writing procedure:

· Why did you choose XYZ university in academic terms? Which courses do you intend to take? What reputation does XYZ have? What are their specialist research areas? Link this to your own research/interests.
· Social aspect: Consider what you find appealing about campus life, societies (e.g. international societies), etc.
· What can you offer them? Mention your traveling experience, independence, maturity, problem solving skills, previous job experience, etc.

My LoP was more or less arranged in these three sections. After a more general introduction where I referred to my traveling experience and why I am studying English (apart from my second major in a natural science), the second paragraph was about the particular university, how I came to know about it, what I do know about it (e.g. about its societies, special courses and science labs), and what fascinates me about it (campus, libraries, location, reputation). Then I moved on to my academic goals. I wrote (and here I quote from my first draft, i.e. still unrevised) “[m]y academic goals include the complete mastery of the English language”. There were worries after this statement that I actually wanted to conquer the world or something like that, so I decided to revise it. Just to make it clear: I do not want to conquer the world... yet.

In the last part of my LoP, I concentrated on “selling” myself. That means I referred to my work (hence the advice with the CV) and travel experience. By pointing out the most important lessons I’ve learned from these experiences, I could show how they helped me become an independent and mature person who is adept at solving problems (and who one day will “take over the world”). In this section you could also mention some of your extra-curricular activities, e.g. if you play in a brass band (FYI, I don’t do that), volunteer for the Red Cross, or if you are a tutor. This would answer the last questions I mentioned above, about what you can offer the university.

After answering the questions, you’ll still have to come up with a good conclusion (and of course introduction). In the conclusion you should just emphasize again why you would benefit from a particular university and how that university could also benefit from you – it’s always a give and take, isn’t it? And definitely give it to someone else (e.g. a friend or colleague) to read before you submit it. This person will hopefully think it's coherent and logical. Don’t forget to proof-read it, either. Remember that Word can check spelling and grammar; and even though you shouldn’t completely rely on this feature, it can be very helpful.)

That’s it for now after, as I predicted, about 1,000 words.

Yours truly,

Lemon

Where to start...

Where to start…

Since my last post with its teasing cliffhanger some time has passed. So I thought I’d finally start to share my wisdom about the required application documents. From the information lecture and my talks with the coordinators, I pretty much knew what I was supposed to hand in by the end of the application deadline (which is a completely different kettle of fish and was pretty nerve-wracking, too; considering that I am a vegetarian). But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I (and every other poor soul who applies for an exchange program overseas) had/will have to hand in the following documents:

1.      Letter of purpose: Here you need to state the reasons why you chose the specific university, explain your academic goals and achievements, etc.

2.      CV: Well, you really oughta know what that is about.

3.      2 reference letters: NB these should not be written either by yourself or your mother – we all know she loves you and thinks that you are the best, but her opinion is not what the people in the admissions office want to read.

4.      Results of your TOEFL exam: Do not underestimate this exam. Even as an English major you better know what’s coming because it ain’t easy.

5.      Transcript of your grades in English: You can actually print these out and get a stamp affixed at the administration (Prüfungsreferat).

6.      Application form from your chosen university: Sounds simple, but it often isn’t. It could be that program coordinators or application forms change, or that other unexpected things happen. I guess you can see my point that this is a real fun one.

Taken together, these documents may not seem overwhelming or scary. But believe me, they are. And if you’re as lucky as I am, that is only half of what you’ll have to deal with. More things are coming your way that you would have never thought possible. This is a time of endurance, patience, and desire for chocolate. But look on the bright side: once you are done, you’ll come out much stronger. I was wondering about how hard it must be to prepare for and finish a triathlon or a marathon – but at least these are over in a day, right?

Okay, I am really sorry if I scared someone with my list or with my subtle sarcasm. It is important, however, to realize that the application process is not a piece of cake (now that is the type of food that I enjoy). It’s going to be long and hard but worth it once you are wandering around campus in a land far, far away. Again, keep things in perspective and think positive, but be realistic. And do expect to be investing a lot of time and nerves (hence the chocolate).

After giving this short overview about required application documents my plan is to go into more detail over the next couple of weeks. I’ll try to share some of the advice that I was given, some useful links, and the assurance that you are not alone out there.

Yours truly,

Lemon