Dear Sir or Madam:

I am a Chinese student due to graduate this year with a B.S. from the Computer Department of the Northern Industrial University, a distinguished higher-learning institution based in Beijing, China's capital. I would like to apply for acceptance into your graduate program so that I can further my training in my chosen field of studies. All your assistance will be highly appreciated.

I was born in 1976 in Liaoning, the country's most industrialized province, with a population of about 40 million. My education began in 1983 in my hometown Liaoyang's Nanlinzi Primary School. I did so well at Nanlinzi that I won admission in 1986 into the Liaoning Experiemental Primary School, which groups together the province's best and brightest children. It was at the Liaoning Experimental Primary School that I set out to learn computer programming with the BASIC language at only 11 years of age, which is quite unusual among Chinese children even today. In 1988, I moved on into the Liaoning Experimental Middle School, the cream of the province's high schools. In this middle school, I persevered in enhancing my computer expertise, which enabled me to win the championship at a contest of computer knowledge that involved all the high schools in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning.

My schooling at the province's best high school paid off in 1994. That year, I gained acceptance into the Northern Industrial University on the strength of my impressive grades in the highly competitive National University Entrance Examinations, which are held annually nationwide to screen high school graduates for university education. In the four years since, I have been receiving systematic and comprehensive training in computer science, taking courses ranging from discrete mathematics, fundamentals of combinatorics, introduction to mathematical logic, assembly language, C language, data structure, compiler design theory, operating system, computer architecture and organization, to fundamentals of computer networks.

Meanwhile, I have also endeavored to improve my English proficiency. Recently, I took the TOFEL and GRE tests. Although the scores are still pending, I believe that they will be good.

I now would very much like to expand the horizon and insights that my education so far has endowed in me. Towards that end, I have checked around for a good Western university to go to. Judging by all that I know, I think your university suits my purpose the best. It would be a great privilege for me if I could join your graduate program to advance my training. Please send me an application package and all other material I might need to apply for acceptance.

Yours sincerely,