STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
My father struggled to get his secondary education and hence joined Indian Army just after his completion of secondary education. This may be the reason he always encouraged and endorsed us, to his highest potential, to get our education and I think I also never let him down. During the days when my Father was posted in Army Cantonment at Binnaguri, he used to take me to his workshops and I was always puzzled by the enormous power possessed by Heavy Army vehicles and tanks. There, I think, I started to develop interest in Mechanical Engineering. The jet planes and helicopters cruising above used to enthrall me with delight and I couldn't imagine the engineering skills human had developed to make airborne the tons of weight. But I was always puzzled by incapability of humans to fly like birds. The propensity towards Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering due to such an environment made me a daydreamer and I always dream to make flying cars and planes, in my future career, running on solar energy and water fuels, gadgets to make human airborne and fly like birds.
In my quest for knowledge and skills to be a perfect engineer, I started concentrating on fundamentals of Physics and Mathematics and excelled in academics. I was the District Topper in All India Secondary School Examination, 2004 with 92.8% marks and Second District Topper in All India Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, 2006 with 83.4% marks with an aggregate of 88.66% in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry together. I was also awarded School Rank and City Rank 1st in 7th National Science Olympiad, 2004. I secured admission in Mechanical Engineering program of Cochin University of Science and Technology and during my initial semesters itself I started participating in Robotics Competitions such as 'Line Follower TECHEN-VISION 09' and 'Transporter TATHVA 09' conducted by Cochin University College of Engineering and National Institute of Technology, Calicut respectively. Meanwhile, I wrote SAT on January 23, 2010 and got a respectable score of 1750/2400 (MATHS (650/800) CRITICAL READING (500/800) WRITING SECTION (600/800)). Subsequently, I was offered Bachelor of Engineering Program in Electrical Engineering at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, the only University I had applied for. I was also selected to serve as Global Scholar to represent India at "Global Young Leaders Conference (GYLC)" in 2010 at United States or at China. And I was invited to participate in "People to People Leadership Summit" in 2010 at New York, USA.
I presented papers on the topic "An Endeavour to Travel beyond Solar System" and "Future Concepts of Aviation" at a Paper Presentation event 'Spill d Beans' conducted by Cochin University College of Engineering in collaboration with INDIAN SOCIETY FOR NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING which definitely augmented my orator skills. During this event, a lecture on Chandrayan Mission by Late Dr. V.R. Ravindran, Divisional Head, Rocket Propellant Plant, Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, fueled my passion for Aerospace Engineering and pursued me to go beyond trivial knowledge which could be only gained through Postgraduate and Doctoral studies in Aerospace Engineering. I sharpened my skills on Engineering Subjects such as Fluid mechanics, Thermodynamics, Strength of Materials, Heat and Mass Transfer, Engineering Mechanics, Advanced Mechanics of Solids, Machine Design and opted for Finite Element Method and Propulsion as Elective Papers. During these semesters I maintained an aggregate percentage of 73% till semester sixth and was consistent Fourth topper in semester 1st and 2nd, semester 3rd and semester 6th. My penchant for Aerospace Engineering tempted me to read books such as Gas Turbine Theory by H Cohen and JFC Rogers, Fundamental of Aerodynamics by John D. Anderson Jr., Aerodynamics for Engineering Students by E.L. Houghton etc. to delve deeper into the field. I presented a seminar on self-designed concept aircraft named 'Stingray Prototype Solar Aircraft' which uses flapping motion of its wings for propulsion. My current Project is on Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis of Fixed Wing Aircraft with diverse morphology under the guidance of Dr. Senthil Prakash and it is helping me to learn the basics of Aerodynamics and hone my skills in analysis software such as ICEM CFD, ANSYS FLUENT. During my course on An Introduction to Finite Element Method, I did assignments on Finite Element Analysis of beam elements, 3 node Triangular elements etc. with help of Mathematical Tools such as MATLAB and Numerical Integration. I keep updating myself through frequent journals of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Society of Automobile Engineers and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Spectrum. I am also an active member of Association of Royal Mechanical Students of my college and participated in conducting various competitions in our college.
My greatest strength lies in my ability to connect Engineering with nature and use those attributes to approach practical problems. I think that my strong determination, diligence and ardent passion for Aerospace Engineering will surely help me to make innovations for the benefit for mankind.
I have thoroughly through your website and the ongoing research projects in your department that are quite appealing particularly on Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis of Turbulent Flows and Flapping Wing Aircraft which suits to my interest. I think PhD program in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from your prestigious University could fulfill my childhood dream and help me become a successful researcher. I appreciate for your time and patience and waiting to hear positively from you.
By:
Kuldeep Kumar
Mechanical Engineering
Cochin University of Science and Technology
I am applying to following Universities
University of Michigan
Texas A&M University, college station
Virginia Tech
Illinois Institute of technology
Please help me as deadlines are close
The overall Feel of your purpose for applying is clear .. although I would suggest you to work on a little more on your concluding paragraph ... as it is not that impressive ...
"I have thoroughly through your website and the ongoing research " -- doesn`t make sense ... Check for such obvious mistakes ..
Plz review mine --
"I have thoroughly through your website and the ongoing research "
Actually I meant "I have thoroughly gone through your website and the ongoing research "
Thanks for your suggestion
Can i have comments and suggestions on my essay from the moderators of this forum? I really need your views as soon as possible as I am applying on 15th Dec...
Thanking You
Kuldeep Kumar
SOP for MSc. Coursework in Mechanical Engineering at NUS Singapore
Hello Everybody
I will be applying to NUS Singapore for MSc. coursework in Mechanical Engineering. Needs review and comment on my 'letter of intent' to NUS
Waiting for a prompt reply... :)
I would appreciate any comments and review on it...
OBJECTIVE OF PURSUING THIS COURSE
(State why you wish to pursue this Course and how you would use the knowledge you gain from it in practice. You may wish to indicate any other relevant information (eg: Membership of Professional Organisations, Scholarships/Prizes/Awards, etc) which will help you in your application.
During the days when my father was in Indian Army, I had the opportunity to visit The Indian Air Force Museum, Palam and Indian Air Force base at Hasimara. The jet fighters and helicopters taking off from there enthralled me with delight and at that time I was unable to imagine the engineering skills human had developed to make the tons of weight airborne. Moreover, my perceptual skills have always perplexed me with awe and delight while watching the unsteady flight and the impeccable landing of the natural flyers. At the same time, I was always baffled by the lack of engineering skills that could make humans airborne like birds. Hence, the quest for my query and the subsequent events therein during my high school years intrigued me to go for undergraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering.
My inherent predilection for the elementary subjects during my high school years and undergraduate studies has helped me to excel in academics. I was the District Topper in All India Secondary School Examination, 2004 and Second District Topper in All India Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, 2006 and hence, was awarded with Gold Medal Merit award and Merit scholarship. I was also awarded City Rank 1st in 7th National Science Olympiad, 2004. I was consistently ranked fourth in 1st and 2nd semester, 3rd semester, and 6th semester and overall ranked fifth out of the 67 students in my class. In my 4th semester, I presented papers on 'An Endeavour to Travel beyond Solar System' and 'The Future Concepts of Aviation' at an Inter-college level fest. As my papers investigated the use of Plasma Propulsion Technology for interplanetary space explorations and intercontinental travels; I took this opportunity to go through many of the journals and the books on Plasma Dynamics to diversify my knowledge. During this event, a presentation on the 'Chandrayaan Mission' by Late Dr. V.R. Ravindran, Divisional Head of Rocket Propellant Plant, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, fuelled my passion for propulsion methods and motivated me to go beyond the conventional knowledge which could be gained only through Postgraduate and Doctoral studies.
In order to acquire the sufficient competencies in my field of endeavour, I have tried to hone my skills in numerical methods and analysis and designing software packages. During my course on the elective paper 705(B) Finite Element Method, I learnt numerical solution methods using mathematical tool MATLAB and Numerical Integration under the guidance of Assistant Professor Dr. Sunil Kumar N. I have gained extensive leadership skills and profound research and problem solving abilities through my Final year project on 'Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis of wing of an Aircraft' under the guidance of Associate Professor Dr. Senthil Prakash. The project was focused on aerodynamic analysis of an aircraft wing with National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) series 23015 using structured and unstructured meshing of the domain through ANSYS 13.0 ICEM CFD, analysis using ANSYS FLUENT and surface modelling using CATIA V5R20. My seminar on the self-designed concept aircraft namely 'Stingray Prototype Solar Aircraft' investigated the use flapping-wing aerodynamics and propulsion techniques for inter-terrestrial travels. I developed a strong foundation in engineering subjects by delving into books such as 'Thermodynamics-An Engineering Approach' by Cengel and Boles, 'Fluid Mechanics' by Frank M White, 'Strength of Materials' by Timoshenko, 'Finite Element Method' by Dr. J.N. Reddy, 'Mechanical Vibrations' by S.S. Rao as well as from video lectures of MIT open course ware. Apart from B.TECH curriculum, my penchant for Aerospace Engineering intrigued me to read books such as 'Gas Turbine Theory' by H Cohen and JFC Rogers, Aerothermodynamics of Gas turbine and Rocket propulsion by Gordon C. Oates, Fundamental of Aerodynamics by John D. Anderson Jr. and Aerodynamics for Engineering Students by E.L. Houghton to delve deeper into the field. I keep updating myself through frequent reading of journals from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Society of Automobile Engineers, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Spectrum and research papers from various esteemed Universities.
I want to use this opportunity at National University of Singapore with all my strong determination, diligence and commitment to gain sufficient knowledge and skills on fundamentals of aerodynamics and existing propulsion techniques and, henceforth, research on new, feasible, less expensive and flexible alternative to the traditional propulsion systems during my doctoral studies. I would need the necessary skills and competencies in Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis to supplement my research so I would like to take courses on Computational Fluid Dynamics and Computational Aerodynamics along with Jet and Rocket Propulsion. Meanwhile, I am also looking forward to research on the prospects of flapping-wing aerodynamics and propulsion system as well as on prototype 'water turbine engines' working on water as fuels unlike the gas turbine engines running on conventional fuels. Hence, I am truly convinced that a coursework in Mechanical Engineering from National University of Singapore with courses pertaining to my research interest will not only boost my knowledge and skills but also provide me with the necessary competence to become a successful researcher enabling me to make fruitful contributions to the development of mankind, in the best possible way, as it is among the best institutes for Mechanical Engineering with Internationally renowned faculties and research laboratories.
By:
Kuldeep Kumar
Mechanical Engineering
Cochin University of Science and Technology
