I still remember the day I split open my Television remote into two halves, bored with all the toys I had then to play with. After a few days, I felt ashamed of my naughty act when I saw my grandma struggle to walk to the TV to operate the buttons that were fixed on it. So I tried to fix the remote and to my surprise found several colorful structures clinging to a tiny board inside one half of the remote. In an attempt to make it work again, I pressed those small structures against the tiny board .Suddenly I heard my grandma yell at me for switching channels. I couldn't believe that I had actually made the remote work. I felt so excited and proud of myself as if I had made the whole TV and the remote on my own. As a seven year old kid, I did not know then that the remote was actually not working because of some loose contact between the components. This incident made me develop passion towards electronics right from childhood.
In my tenth grade, I was more interested in the subjects of science and mathematics. I secured the second rank in school with 85% in the ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) board examination. Even at high school, I consistently did well in subjects related to science and mathematics which not only made me realize my strength but also paved the path for my career. Moreover, I chose the stream of Electronics and Instrumentation because I knew that I should be thorough with the fundamentals of electronics in order to achieve my goal of becoming an Embedded Designer.
I am pursuing my final year B.E in Electronics and Instrumentation at Panimalar Engineering College affiliated to Anna University and will be graduating in the year 2012.I currently hold a C.G.P.A (Cumulative Grade Point Average) of 8.5 out of 10.
I have always performed consistently well in academics and I have ranked among the top 5 in my class of 140 students. The subjects "Basics of Embedded Systems" and "Microprocessors and Microcontrollers" that I learnt in my Bachelor's degree of Engineering made me discover my passion towards the field of Embedded Systems. The laboratory sessions helped me understand the basic programming concepts of microcontrollers and microprocessors. I was always in the urge to learn more about the various hardware components that cling to the printed circuit boards inside electronic gadgets.
Because of this urge, I decided to learn more than what my curriculum covered and hence I enrolled myself to the course "P.G Diploma in Embedded Systems". Under this course, I was first taught to program the 8051 microcontroller and Liquid Crystal Display using Embedded C. I could successfully implement several projects by combining my own ideas with whatever I learnt.My first successful project using Embedded C programming was the "Implementation of a Ticket Counting Machine" which are used in buses. I have also worked with boards like ARM7 which made me relate the usage of Embedded Systems with day to day life. I wrote the code for "System unlocking based on password entry" using ARM7. The course gave me a lot of practical exposure and also made me crave for acquiring more knowledge and expertise in this field.
I'm currently working on my final year project which is "A web based system for home monitoring of patients with Parkinson's disease using wearable sensors". From this project I have gained lot of knowledge about the PIC microcontrollers and their programming. I also learnt the programming of motors used in the robotic arm (prototype).This project has been very challenging to me because of the effort required to reduce the size of the MEMS accelerometer sensor into the size of a button so that the patient would feel comfortable while wearing the jacket containing the sensors.
I'm also applying to grad schools fro electrical engineering and currently working on my SOP, here is my opinion,
the committee dont really care whether you like electric stuff since you were young (they already assume so since you did your bachelors in EE, ECE, etc). therefore, i agree with the last comment about the first paragraph.
They pretty much want you to demonstrate your eligibility to conduct research, your long term goals, etc.
Try to elaborate on the last two paragraphs to demonstrate your specificity of your research area.
As mentioned in the last comment, the more recent work, the better, do you have any published (or not published) work/research? I don't know, i haven't finished mine yet but I'd include my senior project (which you did mention), my summer work in lab with a professor, teaching assistant, honor thesis, my career goal (to be a college professor), my passion for education (which is why i wanna be come a professor),.
It depends on what you have accomplished. recommendations are definitely strong application pushers.
Again elaborate and be more specific on embedded systems, demonstrate knowledge in this area.
fix some grammatical and spelling mistakes (i.e. learnt--> learned)
These are not words on stone as im not a professional (im just a student like you), but just some recommendations that i've read online while working on my statement of purpose.
