Mei Hanbing: Being Well-Prepared to Get the Offer from the University of Oxford Within a Month

Recently, Mei Hanbing, a WKU senior student majoring in English, was admitted to the Department of Education of Oxford University, the fifth best according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023. She applied for the Master’s program on March 1st and passed the initial review and interview before her admission to Oxford University was confirmed in less than one month.

What impressed the interviewers is her fulfilling life during her four-year university journey. She got a 3.96 GPA and a band score of 8 in IELTS (7.0 in each section). She has done the research four times and taken several internships in the field of education.

On the path toward her education dream, she has been well prepared and ready to seize any opportunities.

Graduate of 2023: Mei Hanbing

Major: English

Graduate School: University of Oxford

Research Excellence Makes Her One of the Ten Successful Candidates Globally

Mei Hanbing did not expect to receive the invitation to the interview from the University of Oxford, which only enrolls about ten MSc students in Education worldwide every year. How could Mei, a fresh graduate from the Chinese Mainland without rich work experience in education and overseas undergraduate background, meet the admission requirements and stand out in the stiff competition?

“In addition to a high IELTS score and two recommendation letters from WKU’s renowned teachers, I also owe my thanks to the two Student Partnering with Faculty (SpF) research programs during my undergraduate study. It helped improve my academic ability and consolidated the foundation of doing research. Besides, I develop a clear plan for my future research orientation,” explained Mei.

In fact, WKU organized Student Research Day annually. It is common for professors to lead students in scientific research programs, and it is not rare to see undergraduate students publish papers in international core journals and participate in international academic conferences. Since 2015, there have been 370 students from WKU taking part in 126 SpF/SpS programs, including Mei Hanbing. She said, “WKU allows me to embrace a broad research platform and international academic resources. Without the support of WKU and the SpF experience, I cannot go to Oxford.”

So how should non-native English speakers establish their identity if they plan to pursue teaching as a career path? Mei found out her research interest in classroom study and took WKU as an example to investigate EFL students’ perception of native and non-native English speaker teachers in the aspects of linguistic, teaching, and personal factors. Unlike other team research projects, she had to complete 400 survey questionnaires, 16 interviews and other steps all on her own.

After six months of exploration and hard work, Mei presented the latest findings of this research at the 5th International Conference on Advanced Research in Education in February of this year. A paper on the research was also included in the journal International Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education.

Taking Courage to Try All the Way from WKU to Oxford

In 2019, Mei was enrolled in WKU after passing the “3-in-1” Comprehensive Examination. At university, she develops an international vision and a diverse thinking model. She has been recognized Excellence in Test for English Majors-Band 4 (TEM-4), scored 663 in College English Test-6 (CET-6), and got 8.0 in IELTS. English proficiency makes it possible for her to apply for education programs at top-ranking universities.

“I found her to exhibit limitless potential and witnessed her making remarkable progress in both course learning and conducting research. She would excel in any academic program that she is determined to pursue,” commented Professor Leah Li Echiverri in the recommendation letter she wrote for Mei.

Mei has been prepared for the future career in education. Over the past four years, she has taken six internships in educational institutions. She makes up her mind to pursue the dream of teaching and educating. At WKU, excellent students can apply to work as peer tutors to provide 1-on-1 tutoring to those who want guidance on specific parts of the courses. She registered soon after she learned about this opportunity and was exempted from the exam for her outstanding English competence. As a peer mentor, she tutored students frequently in her spare time. In this process, she could not only review what she had learned but also inspire and help her peers.

Moreover, she is very enthusiastic about charity and serving the public good. As an English major, she participated in the Reading Buddy project initiated by WKU Bud Union, and provided non-profit education in such forms as picture book teaching and reading, creative games, and intellectual development. She also won the second place in the growth stage-social entrepreneurship competition at the University Startup World Cup 2022 Award Ceremony & International Science Technology and Innovation Cooperation Forum.

Mei Hanbing is looking forward to the future, and her first goal is to study students’ adaptability development at Oxford. She said, “I want to graduate with a distinction degree. If possible, I will continue pursuing a doctoral degree and then teach at a university to make a contribution to education equity. ”