SNU: Self-introduction (aptitude and motivation)
4000 bytes (about 600-700 English words)
Describe your aptitude and motivation for the department of your choice, including your preparation for this field of study, your academic achievement and commitment. You may also briefly elaborate on any extracurricular activities or work experiences.
What it’s really asking
SNU wants to know why this department, and why you are ready for it. This is the section that proves you have done the groundwork, academically and otherwise, to handle the major you have chosen.
Why they ask it
Because SNU admits you into a specific department, this is where reviewers decide whether your interest is real and prepared or just stated. Concrete evidence of readiness is the difference between a file that advances and one that does not.
Three ways in
Lead with preparation
List the actual courses, projects, or self-study that prepared you for this exact major, then pick the two that show the most depth.
Find the turning point
Identify the moment your interest in this field turned from casual to committed, and what you did about it afterward.
Map a strength to the field
Find one strength you have (a way of thinking, a skill, a habit) and show how it maps onto the demands of this department.
✕ Weak opening
“Ever since I was a child, I have been passionate about science and dreamed of attending a prestigious university.”
✓ Strong opening
“The first time a chemical equation balanced in my head before I wrote it down, I understood that I wanted to spend years inside that kind of problem.”
I apply to the Department of Materials Science and Engineering because I want to understand why batteries die, and then make them die more slowly. 1The question is not abstract for me. In my second year, I rebuilt an electric scooter from a junkyard frame, and within four months its lithium cells could no longer hold a morning commute. I assumed I had wired something wrong. I had not. The cells were simply aging, and I did not yet have the vocabulary to say why.
2That gap is what I have spent two years closing. I taught myself the basics of electrochemistry from open lecture notes, then realized I could not follow the arguments without solid-state chemistry, so I worked through a crystallography textbook and practiced indexing diffraction patterns until I could read a powder XRD plot the way I read a bus timetable. 3When my school's chemistry teacher offered after-hours lab access, I used it to run a small experiment: I cycled three sets of coin cells I assembled by hand, varying only the upper cutoff voltage, and logged capacity fade over sixty cycles. The cells charged to the highest voltage lost capacity nearly twice as fast. 4It was a result any battery researcher would call obvious, but producing it myself, with bad equipment and a borrowed multimeter, taught me more than the conclusion did. I learned that cathode degradation is partly a structural story, about transition-metal ions migrating and the host lattice losing its shape, and that materials science is where that story is actually told.
5My academic record reflects this focus rather than contradicting it. I ranked at the top of my year in chemistry and physics and took the most advanced mathematics my school offered, because I knew that diffusion and reaction kinetics are written in differential equations before they are written in words. 6Where my school fell short, in instrumentation and in advanced coursework, I compensated by enrolling in an online materials science sequence and completing it with the highest grade band, submitting every problem set on schedule across eight months while keeping up my regular studies. That stretch tested my commitment more honestly than any single grade could.
7Outside class, I run a small repair club that fixes broken electronics for neighbors, and I write short Korean-language explainers about how rechargeable batteries work for younger students who find the physics intimidating. 8Teaching forced me to be precise; you cannot hide a half-understood idea from a curious fourteen-year-old. I want to bring that same demand for precision to SNU, where strong battery and energy-materials research is already underway, and where I can finally trade my borrowed multimeter for the instruments and mentorship that turn a hobbyist's curiosity into the discipline of a researcher.9
- 1Opens by naming the exact department and stating a narrow, concrete problem. SNU rewards fit with a specific major over generic passion, so the first sentence already commits.
- 2Grounds motivation in a specific, verifiable experience rather than a claim of lifelong love. The admitted gap ("I did not have the vocabulary") sets up the case for needing this department.
- 3Shows preparation as a chain of self-directed steps, each motivated by the last. This is evidence of preparation, not just interest, which is exactly what SNU asks for.
- 4A concrete, modest, believable result with a real number. It demonstrates lab method and that the applicant can run a controlled comparison, signaling research readiness.
- 5Reframes a known result as a lesson in why the field matters. Connecting capacity fade to lattice structure shows genuine subject understanding, not buzzwords.
- 6Ties grades back to the major's actual demands. Framing math as a prerequisite for the field (not a brag) keeps the achievement claim purposeful.
- 7Turns a limitation into proof of commitment and time management. Honest about the school's constraints, which reads as credible rather than boastful.
- 8The required brief extracurricular mention, chosen to reinforce the same theme (batteries, teaching, accessibility) rather than padding with unrelated activities.
- 9Closes by linking the personal thread to SNU's specific research strengths and a forward-looking aim. The "borrowed multimeter" callback gives the essay a clean arc while keeping the tone humble and major-focused.
Stuck? Start here
- Which two pieces of academic preparation best prove I can handle this specific major?
- What was the exact moment my interest stopped being casual?
- What distinguishes this department from the next-closest field, and can I show I understand that?
Before you submit
- I named at least two concrete, verifiable forms of preparation.
- I made clear why THIS department, not just the broad subject.
- I removed every banned personal identifier (names, school, parents' jobs).
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