I have been writing a SOP for quite a few days now. Just wanted a helping hand. If someone can guide me if i am going in the right way of writing a good SOP.
Thanks in advance.
Learning acquired in youth arrests the evils of old age. While most children slept off at night listening to Grandma's fairy tales and spooky stories, I slept off playing with my 1:40 scaled Red Ferrari Testarossa gifted by my Dad. At an early age, I found my idol, the Renaissance man, Leonardo Da Vinci who bestowed in me the passion and the motivating force behind my academic career. The constant attempt to build things both technically advanced and artistically beautiful is what I pursue in my life. Inspired by the talents of the Renaissance, I treat cars as organic creatures, not different sheet metal bodies bolted onto four wheels. My artistic hand and an avid inclination towards the aesthetics of cars is an added advantage for me in sketching cars.
Right from my school days, I found myself inclined to Mathematics and was fascinated by the intricacies of Physics. Sketching and an innate passion for cars, which spun their web of aura around me, headed me straight into Mechanical Engineering. I joined one of the reputed universities in India, VIT University, whose school of mechanical and building sciences (SMBS) was Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology(ABET) accredited, with a motive to learn as much as I can to move ahead in pursuing my lifelong cherished dream. My college life kicked off with my selection into the University's International SAE Mini Baja team as a member of the Design team. This project allowed me to take my theoretical knowledge beyond the classroom and into the workshop. The sheer dedication and hard work of our whole team led us to complete the whole design, manufacture it and road test it for the International event to be held at Wisconsin, USA. My first abroad trip to US with the car that we built and competing with every other International team imbibed in me a sense of competitiveness. The exposure that I got from there filled me with a zeal to definitely follow my dreams and work much harder to pursue my Master Studies. Then, my second idol, Sir Malcolm Sayer who preferred to be called as an 'aerodynamicist' rather than a designer, entered my life. This special person had remained a hidden mystery to me since childhood, until recently when I realised he was the man behind my favourite, the Jaguar E-type. His unique abilities to combine art and science and to build one of the most beautiful cars ever made just left a huge impact on me. My sketch of the E-type was personally appreciated by Malcolm Sayer's grandson, Sir Sam Sayer himself and he cordially sent me a small booklet about the biography of Malcolm Sayer, as a token of gratitude all the way from United Kingdom. My personal acquaintance with Ferrari designer Emanuele Nicosia and his appreciation for my work pushed me to the limits for pursuing my studies in aerodynamics.
I started channelizing my hard work and focus on studying aerodynamics of road vehicles. Now designing cars with an aerodynamics purpose in mind makes sense to me. Nothing can inspire me more than Formula One. The technicalities and competitiveness involved in race cars portrays the epitome of aerodynamic development on road vehicles.
My research project started off when I stumbled upon a patent regarding the optimisation of side view mirrors on road cars. My willingness to find the right setup for the design and the confirmation from Mr. Eugene Olson, whose patent it was, to go ahead on the research led me to design and optimise the mirror. The positive results obtained boosted me to author a research paper on it. Subsequently, I studied on high lift airfoils and using them to work as air brakes on race cars. This project of mine was guided by my Computational Fluid Dynamics Professor at college, whose immense help and proper guidance made it a success. With my primary target to work on a Formula one project, boosted me to study the science and technical issues behind the underbody diffusers on race cars. Taking Formula 3 as a workbench, I simulated the underbody diffusers attached to a bluff body. With different ground clearances and varying ramp angles, I was able to find the right setup for the race car from the results obtained. I also have worked on the design of a Formula SAE radiator as my University design project which took me into the aerothermodynamics field of automobiles. Accommodating the perfect radiator having size constraints and gaining the maximum thermal efficiency was my motive behind this project.
These projects not only nurtured my knowledge on aerodynamics, but also pushed me to learn more and to pursue my Master studies on Race car Aerodynamics. Racing cars are always designed keeping two things in mind. Maximising the aerodynamic efficiency of the car with the stringent technical regulations as your constraints. My research work on optimising aerodynamics on road vehicles and projects like Mini Baja which work on a specific rule book, taught me the exact same thing. I believe that extracting the right combination of aerodynamics and aesthetics is what fetches a unique, utterly purposeful and beautiful car.
Southampton is the best and only place to offer courses on race car aerodynamics. The strong faculty involved in extensive research on race cars tempts me the most. The magnificent R. J. Mitchell Wind Tunnel allures me to actually work inside it on the most advanced projects carried out over there. After going through the details of the research facilities available at your university, I ascertained that they are catering to the field of interests of mine. Southampton is an apt place for me to embark upon my academic career. Being a prospective student for new challenging ideas, I believe that an opportunity for higher education in Southampton would be a unique fortuity to test and prove my ability and also to enrich and broaden my keen with transition to a new setting. Over the years, I have evolved into a person who can work efficiently in a team and who appreciates the value of discussion and exchange of ideas.
I proclaim that I shall pursue my goals with passion, hard work and dedication and will live up to the epitome of standards set by Southampton.
-Soumya
