"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle" as Steve Jobs said. The above quote kept me pondered for almost 2 years before I took the most important and remarkable decision in my life of pursuing higher education in Master of Computer Science (MCS). The very same reason which made me apply to XXXXX University, one of the most prominent Universities in the world.
This decision was not very simple to take without considering many facts since my childhood. It all started when I was in my fourth grade, I was introduced to one of the most significant inventions in human history, The Computer. I fell in love with it in the very first moment I saw. It stupefied me by performing many unimaginable operations quite fast and accurate despite its small size. The changes it brought in my school influenced me a lot. One such example is that before introducing Computer in my school, my teachers had a laborious task of calculating marks of all students in the class, find out average and normalize marks to award grades and ranks. By using computer and a software program, this arduous task was completed in a week time which previously took 3-4 weeks for 1000 students in my school.
The impressive computation speed and accuracy changed my thought process and helped me in excelling in academics. During my School days I was introduced to BASIC, FORTRAN, MS-DOS, C and other programming languages during my schooling in which I always excelled by securing First position in my class. In my tenth grade I prepared an html site for my school with static HTML pages. With the guidance of my Computer Science Teacher, I developed a program in 'C' combining my Mathematical and programming skills for normalization of marks and awarding grades which was successfully used by my school. This gave me enough confidence and made me feel that I took the initial step of achieving my goal of becoming an expert in the field of Software Engineering.
The other fact was being a topper from First grade till Tenth grade and a recipient of Pratibha award at District level in Seventh grade from Government of Andhra Pradesh stands for my excellence in academics. I also received Certificate of Merit from Ministry of Human Resources, India for my excellence in Tenth grade. I secured State 11th rank from a pool of about 7 lakh students and received Certificate of merit from Andhra Pradesh State Government during my higher secondary education. I also won an Award of Excellence from Elite Educational Institutions for Mathematics and from other institutions at district level for my excellence in Mathematics and Science. All these enhanced my proclivity towards Mathematics and Science. This made me take Mathematics and Science as my majors in higher secondary education. I excelled even in these by securing 100 percent in Mathematics which I continued from my tenth grade and 99.2 percent in Physics. With a strong liking I did choose Engineering. I secured a rank in top 0.8% of an All India Engineering Entrance Examination with more than 5,25,000 aspirants. I had to take an important decision of my life. It was whether to take engineering branch in one of the best Engineering colleges of India apart from Computer Science, the branch which I loved the most or to take up Computer Science in a college not that good as National Institute of Technology, Warangal (NITW), an Institution of National Importance (INI), which has been consistently among top-10 Engineering Colleges in India. I eventually landed up in taking Chemical Engineering at National Institute of Technology, Warangal NITW. (How to put this convincingly?????)
I excelled even in Chemical Engineering being in top fifteen of my class of 66 members. But there was quite discontentment despite my excellence in Chemical Engineering which can be observed from my excellence in core subjects of Chemical Engineering like Heat and Mass Transfer, Chemical Reaction Engineering etc. I scored well in some Chemical Engineering subjects which had Programming i.e., Computational Methods in Chemical Engineering Lab in which I was the second topper. I scored well in Problem Solving using Computer Programming using C and C++ in my first year and I secured third position in my class. I used to satiate my inmost feeling of quelling my hunger towards Computer Science and Software by participating in several contests conducted by IBM. In that contest we were asked to provide software solutions for problems being faced in college. I identified and made a pilot project for online payment of college fee and hostel dues which was well received by the Student Community. I did the web application development part using Java, MY SQL and J2EE. I also developed a chat messenger using Java while I was in college. All these helped me in framing a better idea of how to apply Computer Science concepts in solving many problems being faced.
Finally in 2008, I watched the famous Stanford Commencement Speech by Late Sir Steve Jobs, who is my source of inspiration in life. There he mentioned the most inspiring and heedful words which struck me in awe and the question eventually rose whether I was really in love in what I was doing. I remembered all my love towards Computer and Software engineering and finally after exhaustive self-questionnaire, I made up my mind of career and life in Computer Science and in particularly Software engineering. My goal was clear and I did not deter from the path I chose.
After that I was selected for Infosys Technologies Limited, a MNC which is the second biggest Software Company in India. After joining I was given rigorous training in different concepts of Computer Science. We were trained in Operating Systems, Working on UNIX, Programming languages like C, Object Oriented Programming languages like C++, Java, Data Base Management Systems (DBMS), Relational Data Base Management Systems (RDBMS), Data Structures, Design and Analysis of Algorithms, Software Engineering, User Experience Design (UXD) and Web Technologies like Java Persistent API, Hibernate and Java Server Faces all of which I loved a lot. My proclivity towards software and programming increased there also. I showed my excellence in my computer programming skills by scoring 4.9/5 GPA out of 10000 odd people who were present in the same batch. This boosted my confidence that with my skills and persistent hard work I could master my skills in Computer Science and Software Engineering and achieve my goal. I did a project using C++ and re-engineered it in Java. After being trained in several Technologies and various Computer Science Concepts we were given a project involving various concepts like Data Structures, Java, Databases (ORACLE) and Web technologies and in which I was awarded an 'A' grade.
Later I was posted to a prestigious project in Infosys for Income Tax Department of India (ITD), an e-Governance Project. This project drastically reduced the time in processing of Income Tax Returns from about 1-2 years to barely a month.
I worked in the Production Support Team initially in this project. I still remember the day on which I found out the root cause of maximum number of cursors injected by the application code which resulted in bringing down the portal. It stood out for my problem solving skills and analytical skills which eventually won many accolades from my managers and other team members. I worked as well as a Developer in this prestigious project. I worked on the web application development in this project which uses Model-View-Controller Architecture. This included development of Webservices which follows SOA, IBM WebSphere Portlets and worked on ETL development also. I came forward and took up the development of a new Portlet which requires handling of large amount of data transfer between Application tier and Database tier which involves lot of complex operations and completed it quite effectively which shows my personality of accepting challenges and solving complex problems. I worked for many releases in this project which gave me deep perceptivity in the Software Development Life Cycle. I recently started working at Oracle for its Core Fusion CRM Development. In Oracle, I am working on a product for marketing wing of Oracle using Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) based on MVC Architecture. I infer that with these experiences and proclivity towards Software Engineering I can rise and take up the challenge of Masters in Software Engineering and in particularly solving complex problems and developing Enterprise Applications.
"One of the hardest decisions you will ever face in life is choosing whether to try harder or walk away - Anonymous". While working, I understood software Industry standards and I want to expand my horizon of knowledge in Software Domain, understand latest technologies which keep changing with time. Self-study was enough to effectively treat the problems that I encountered in the past, but I have reached the point in my professional development and individual study where a master degree in computer science is required for my continued growth in the field.
Basically as a person who loves to face challenges and a person who enjoys solving complex problems, I feel that with strong technical acumen and a perfect blend of excellent research activities and balanced academic program from your school is the perfect choice for me. XXXXX University being one of the most prestigious institutions and having world class faculty in research and development in Software Engineering will help me achieve my goal and satisfy my quest for a guidance which can achieve my goal. I am very eager to work with Professors like XXXXX who is doing phenomenal research in the field of Software Engineering. Given a chance which will be an opportunity of life time, I will achieve my goal with great perseverance and make significant contribution for the field of Software Engineering and Enterprise Applications.
Finally I thank the admission committee for taking time to read through this and review my application.
neehar: all in all it is very good. Well-phrased, showing interest and formality and strong command of the English Language. Looking at it from the university's side, I would love to know more about your academic achievements and interest in research. Even if you haven't have made much of that, you could highlight it through your work. For instance, I have "studied" WebSphere Portal thoroughly to be able to come up with this solution. I was thrilled studying lines of codes and trying to come up with the answer. There is one answer where you almost seam apologetic for the lack of academic study: "Self-study was enough to effectively treat the problems that I encountered in the past, but I have reached the point in my professional development and individual study where a master degree in computer science is required for my continued growth in the field."
Universities would love for you to show them what you can add to them, rather than what they add to you. All in all, it lacked this sense of confidence that makes it appealing for the university to have you. You explained pretty well why you would like to have them, but you didn't explain with the same degree why they would like to have you.
Hi Raef,
First of all thanks for effort in reading through and giving your valuable suggestions. I initially thought that the sentence you highlighted value but now it seems in the other way. Anyway i will make changes and post.
Thanks,
Neehar
Thanks Neehar, I would be looking for your new version. Keep up the good work. Bye the way, I lovedddd the essay comments; it was truly helpful.
"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle" as Steve Jobs said. The above quote kept me pondered for almost 2 years before I took the most important and remarkable decision in my life of pursuing higher education in Master of Computer Science (MCS). The very same reason which made me apply to XXXXX, one of the most prominent Universities in the world.
This decision was not very simple to take without considering many facts since my childhood. It all started when I was in my fourth grade, I was introduced to one of the most significant inventions in human history, The Computer. I fell in love with it in the very first moment I saw. It stupefied me by performing many unimaginable operations quite fast and accurate despite its small size. The changes it brought in my school influenced me a lot. One such example is that before introducing Computer in my school, my teachers had a laborious task of calculating marks of all students in the class, find out average and normalize marks to award grades and ranks. By using computer and a software program, this arduous task was completed in a week time which previously took 3-4 weeks for 1000 students in my school.
The impressive computation speed and accuracy changed my thought process and helped me in excelling in academics. During my School days I was introduced to BASIC, FORTRAN, MS-DOS, C and other programming languages during my schooling in which I always excelled by securing First position in my class. In my tenth grade I prepared an html site for my school with static HTML pages. In my eighth grade with the guidance of my Computer Science Teacher, I developed a program in 'C' combining my Mathematical and programming skills for normalization of marks and awarding grades which was successfully used by my school. This gave me enough confidence and made me feel that I took the initial step of achieving my goal of becoming an expert in the field of Software Engineering.
I was the topper from First grade till Tenth grade and a recipient of "Pratibha award" at District level in Seventh grade from Government of Andhra Pradesh. I received "Certificate of Merit" from Ministry of Human Resources, India. I secured State 11th rank from a pool of about 7 lakh students during my higher secondary education. I also won an Award of Excellence from Elite Educational Institutions for excellence in Mathematics and Science. All these enhanced my proclivity towards Mathematics and Science and made me take those as my majors in higher secondary education. I excelled in them by scoring 100% in Mathematics and 99.2% in Physics. With a strong liking I chose Engineering. I secured a rank in top 0.9% of an All India Engineering Entrance Examination with more than 5,25,000 aspirants. I took Chemical Engineering at National Institute of Technology, Warangal (NITW), an Institution of National Importance (INI), which has been consistently among top-10 Engineering Colleges in India.
I excelled even in Chemical Engineering being in top fifteen of my class of 66 members. But there was quite discontentment despite my excellence in Chemical Engineering which can be seen in core areas of Chemical Engineering. I was the second topper in Computational Methods in Chemical Engineering Lab and secured third place in Problem Solving using Computer Programming in my first year.
I used to satiate my inmost feeling of quelling my hunger towards Computer Science and Software by participating in several contests conducted by IBM. In one of those we were asked to provide software solutions for problems being faced in college. I identified a problem and made a pilot project for online payment of college fee and hostel dues which was well received by the Student Community. I did web application development part using Java, MY SQL and J2EE. I also developed a chat messenger using Java while I was in college. All these helped me in framing a better idea of how Computer Science concepts can be applied in solving many problems being faced.
Finally in 2008, I watched the famous Stanford Commencement Speech by Late Sir Steve Jobs, who is my source of inspiration in life. There he mentioned the most inspiring and heedful words which struck me in awe and the question eventually rose whether I was really in love in what I was doing. I remembered all my love towards Computer and Software engineering and finally after exhaustive self-questionnaire, I made up my mind of career and life in Computer Science and in particularly Software engineering. My goal was clear and took a decision of not to deter from the path I chose.
After that I was selected for Infosys Technologies Limited, a MNC which is the second biggest Software Company in India. After joining I have undergone rigorous training in different concepts of Computer Science. I was trained in Operating Systems, Programming on UNIX, Programming languages like C, Object Oriented Programming languages like C++, Java, Data Base Management Systems (DBMS), Relational Data Base Management Systems (RDBMS), Data Structures, Design and Analysis of Algorithms, Software Engineering, User Experience Design (UXD) and Web Technologies like Java Persistent API, Hibernate and Java Server Faces all of which I loved a lot. My proclivity towards software and programming increased there also. I showed my excellence in my computer programming skills by scoring 4.9/5 GPA out of 10000 odd people who were present in the same batch. This boosted my confidence that with my skills and persistent hard work I could master my skills in Computer Science and Software Engineering and achieve my goal. I did a project using C++ and re-engineered it in Java. I did a project for e-business site involving various concepts like Data Structures, Java, Databases (ORACLE) and Web technologies and in which I was awarded an 'A' grade with 95 percentile.
Later I was posted to a prestigious project in Infosys for Income Tax Department of India (ITD), an e-Governance Project. This project drastically reduced the time in processing of Income Tax Returns from about 1-2 years to barely a month which won "Prime Minister's Award", "Gold Award" for e-governance projects.
I worked in the Production Support Team initially in this project. I still remember the day on which I found out the root cause of maximum number of cursors injected by the application code which resulted in bringing down the portal. It stood out for my problem solving skills and analytical skills which eventually won many accolades from my managers and other team members. I worked in the core development in this prestigious project. I worked on the web application development in this project which uses Model-View-Controller Architecture. This included development of Webservices which follows SOA, IBM WebSphere Portlets and worked on ETL development also. I came forward and took up the development of a new Portlet which requires handling of large amount of data transfer between Application tier and Database tier involving lot of complex operations and completed it quite effectively which shows my personality of accepting challenges and solving complex problems. I worked for many releases in this project which gave me deep perceptivity in the Software Development Life Cycle. I studied and worked on implementing security for webservices used in our project and implemented successfully.
I recently started working at Oracle Corporation for its Core Fusion CRM Development. In Oracle, I am working on a product for marketing wing of Oracle using Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) based on MVC Architecture. I infer that with these experiences and proclivity towards Software Engineering I can rise and take up the challenge of Masters in Computer Science with a Specialization in Software Engineering.
"One of the hardest decisions you will ever face in life is choosing whether to try harder or walk away - Anonymous". As a person who likes to take challenges, I want to try harder in my life of pursuing higher education and achieving my goal. While working, I understood software Industry standards and I want to expand my horizon of knowledge in Software Domain, understand latest technologies which keep changing with time. The three areas in MCS program with specialization "Software Engineering" in Systems area, "Databases" in Applications and "Programming Languages and theory" in Foundations will enable me to achieve my goal.
I feel that with strong technical acumen, strong motivation, good intellectual ability, work experience will help me to do justice to the needs and demands of graduate study. I am very eager to work with Professors like James S Collofello who is doing phenomenal research in the field of Software Engineering and I eagerly look forward to be a part of XXX intellectual hub and participate in research activities going on. Given a chance which will be an opportunity of life time, I will achieve my goal with great perseverance and make significant contribution for the field of Software Engineering in areas like Software Process Models, Enterprise Applications and Software Project Management.
Finally I thank the admission committee for taking time to read through this and review my application.
Please give your opinions.
Excellent! Now shows more passion and fire. If I was in the admission office, I would love to have you :) Hope it works out fine for you and you get admitted :)
Thanks :)
