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Why chemical engineering? 'My decision stemmed from exploring and understanding myself'



lhj216216 1 / -  
Sep 26, 2015   #1
SOP / MS / chemical engineering / could you read and correct my sop?

My decision for going to graduate school stemmed from exploring and understanding myself. To be honest, I was not self-aware until I underwent various psychological tests such as the MBTI, and Holland's code tests, which assesses both disposition and aptitude. These tests served as the inspiration and driving force that lead me to become self-aware. In order to achieve a higher level of self-awareness, I constantly assessed my behavior and attitude towards various aspects of my life including, but not limited to course work, lectures, and team projects during my undergraduate career. As result of my efforts to self-analyze, I found that I have an inquiring attitude to learning, which leads me to immerse myself in new content in the desire for pure knowledge. The more I learn about a subject, the more I want to know why and how I can apply it to the world around me and how I can utilize it towards achieving my goals and better worlds. There is a famous saying from Abraham Lincoln, which states, "I will study and prepare myself, and someday my chance will come." Which I believe sums up my outlook and passion for knowledge. I, eventually, concluded going to graduate school would act as a milestone to develop myself as a researcher, satisfying not only my desire for learning in more depth, but also my inquisitive and explorative mindset.

As I conclude my final years in my undergraduate degree, I find myself thinking back to two important experiences that made fueled my desire to continue onto graduate school. The first was that a graduate students' life would suit me well. When I was a junior, I productively spent my summer vacation to simulate a graduate students' life in order to truly understand what I will be going through in graduate school. This was accomplished with the aid of a professor who researches new & renewable energy in her laboratory. My crucial realization was that graduate students not only had a passion to satisfy their own intellectual curiosity, but they also knew how to concretize their passion by planning, experimenting, and analyzing all variables in order to gain success using the necessary tools as well as engaging in intellectual discussion with one another. I admired these aspects of their lives and aspire to include myself in such a life as well. Certainly, their life was not easy due to the insufficient time that they have to study their research areas and experiments. However, since the graduate school life would be like a marathon as a long-term personal plan based on an indefatigable passion, I became convinced that I could develop myself like them by utilizing my desire for satisfying my intellectual curiosity through the graduate school.

The other experience was that I was able to engage in various research activities and found myself longing for these activities through a final year dissertation. Under my academic advisor's recommendation, I began researching process design. Through this, I designed a chemical plant producing 10,000 BPD premium gasoline called alkylate, combining simulation using Aspen HYSYS, which is a representative simulation program in chemical plant design. Within the process of completing my final year dissertation, I realized that precise investigation for advanced researches and a literature investigation was quite imperative in order to work academically. This is because the purpose of research is to discover new things or improve advanced research. In addition, since the chemical plant design is proceeded by various stages combining conceptual design, simulation and synthesis, it served as a very good experience to practice critical thinking in various situations. Specifically, since the recycling system that needed to make up feed required accurate conditions for input and output, I had to consider not just the immediate results, but the prediction of the next results and further plan for not only each unit of process, but also the process as a whole through comprehensive thinking. As a result, through the repetitive simulation to match the whole process with a recycling system day and night, the consistent research to back it up, and interaction with my advisor and colleagues in order to find out what I did not know, overlooked, and had yet to solve, I was able to confirm my longing for research activities once again.

The most distinguishing features of chemical engineering from other fields of study is being able to look at things from the macroscopic world such as the unit operation to the microscopic world including the transport phenomena and physical chemistry. If the undergraduate study and final year dissertation was centered on a basic practice of the macroscopic world, I hope to learn and earnestly research the area of the Nano world. Nanotechnology is a breakthrough technology that has sparked a very strong interest in me due to a potential to change the existing paradigm in a myriad of areas such as Biology, information technology, Material studies, and the energy conversion industry. By controlling the atoms and structure pattern in nanoscale, many new functions or systems are possible, unlike when they exist in macroscopic size due to their high surface area and quantum size effect. I hope to research and utilize these functions to make Nano-energy system of production, storage, and conversion more efficient and effective. I believe that nanotechnology will be the key to create a new picture of future society and this is the reason why I want to study and research nanotechnology.

The most important reason why I want to attend the xxxx chemical engineering graduate school is that this department considers the worth of communication. xxxx chemical engineering department gives students a chance to grow through interdisciplinary activities, multiple advisors, and even the fact that the chemical engineering building built like a community square in order to facilitate interaction among peers and mentors. In addition, xxxx, I believe, is taking the head in the research of nanotechnology. This is because xxx is equipped with many centers and laboratories with state-of-the-art facilities that allows xxxx to pay closer attention to nanotechnology. Thus, I want to follow in this flow and make a synergy effect with xxxx

My ultimate career goal is to become a great researcher and enroll into M.S using the thesis option that xxxx offer, which will definitely act as a stepping-stone towards my future goals. Since I know that life is quite unpredictable like the nanoscale world, big goals are made of small goals, and therefore I have planned each stage to success. First, the immediate goal is to study advanced subjects and experience in-depth research activities of nanotechnology through a M.S with thesis. Acquiring the ability to produce high-quality research on my own through a doctoral course is the next goal. Finally, as a professional researcher, I want to work in a specialized organization that researches nanotechnology, which will allow me to get involved in cooperative research with various fields of study that can utilize nanotechnology for a better world and solve a myriad of problems faced by global society from energy depletion and environmental issues to personal diseases.

People who know the importance of education usually emphasize lifelong education. I also agree with this saying because I feel that the world of knowledge is vast and always evolving. If I try to enter a major company for money just after graduating from university, the day will come when I regret missing the opportunity to expand my knowledge through studying. Therefore, after contemplating my life and myself, I am prepared to begin a long-term journey that would be the best choice for me, even though I know that the journey will be never-ending. Thus, if admitted, I want not only to become a student who is able to contribute to your faculties and graduate students both academically and personally, but also to learn many things from them in order to become a competent researcher. Lastly, I truly thank you for your consideration and look forward to joining your graduate school.

vangiespen - / 4077  
Sep 26, 2015   #2
Hyun, you are discussing a statement of purpose. So there is no room in the essay for your psychological background. It does not have any clear connection with your desire to get an MS in chemical engineering. The first part of your essay is really unnecessary in the development of your SOP. Your ability and your desire to learn does not really have any impact upon the reviewer. He is not interested in why you think the life of a graduate student would suit you. What he is interested in though are your internship and professional accomplishments in the field of chemical engineering (if any).

It is because of the focus of the reviewer that I believe your essay is too long and not as informative as it should be. You need to review your essay and pick out the portions that will best portray your abilities and accomplishments as a professional in this field. You can skip paragraphs one and two because these cause your essay to run longer than it should.

Since you do not really have any professional background to speak of at the moment (since you are an undergraduate), you should work on highlighting the research aspect of your academic life. If I were to write your essay, I would use the following paragraph to open my essay. :

My ultimate career goal is to become a great researcher and enroll into M.S using the thesis option that xxxx offer, which will definitely act as a stepping-stone towards my future goals.

If you work on developing this portion essay by introducing some sort of future research that you want to undertake with the university's help, then maybe your lack of professional experience prior to applying for masters studies may not matter so much. Normally, an MS applicant has at least 3 years experience in the field before he applies for admission to higher studies. Since you don't have that kind of experience, we should direct the attention of the reviewer towards your future goals instead. That way you can show them that you at least have a solid career path that you want to pursue after graduation.

The last paragraph that you have right now can be revised to better reflect your desire for admission to this university. It should be revised after you revise the earlier part of your essay. That way you will have written a totally new essay that better depicts your interest in graduate studies. If you post the revision in this thread, we can help you further polish it.


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