Statement of Purpose
"Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think"
Benjamin Disraeli
As a High School student, I had the chance to be admitted in one of the top schools in my city by passing a competitive entrance exam. During High School years, I became so fond of mathematics and my enthusiasm led me to a point that I ranked at top 10% amongst participants in the National Mathematical Olympiad in 2005. A prize was awarded to me by the school due to this accomplishment. I graduated from high school as one of the top students in the school. These achievements encouraged me to pursue my studies in a field with strong mathematical foundations.
Considering my love for mathematics, physics, and also the Engineering background of my father, I decided to start my undergraduate life by studying Mechanical Engineering. Although, I had the opportunity to continue my education in my home country but I have always sought to have the chance to experience studying at a highly ranked university outside my own country. Hence, I was brought to the point to provide myself with a better atmosphere of education. In this regard, I entered the Amirkabir University of Technology which is one of the leading engineering universities in Iran, as an exchange student in the collaborative program between Amirkabir University of Technology and the University of Birmingham.
During my early years at university, I voluntarily attended several seminars and workshops relating to Mechanical Engineering. This involvement motivated me to become familiar with several publications, fellow students, academia and industrial representatives. Moreover, I have been able to get an enhanced perspective and understanding of my field of study which led to increasing my knowledge and played an integral role in my future studies.
In order to improve my social and technical skills, I have taken part in several group projects such as designing an Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS), an Air Jack, a Sorting Mechanism, and constructing a functional Robofish. These projects have enabled me to put my theoretical knowledge into practical work. For instance, the procedure of designing and building a robotic structure was very fascinating to me. It entailed learning several principles and softwares and also putting them into action. Besides the numerous technical and useful privileges that I have gained from these projects, working in different groups and in some cases as the chairman has had a tremendous impact not only on my academic experiences but also on my everyday life. In this manner, I was benefited to absorb and develop different skills such as the ability of critical thinking, innovation, task management, responsible acting, and interpersonal aptitudes.
After studying two years at Amirkabir University of Technology, I entered the University of Birmingham. I was awarded a scholarship of 35% discount on tuition fees due to high academic performance. In this university because of having better facilities with innumerable opportunities, I became even more interested in researching in my field. In this manner instead of attaining a BSc degree, I chose to continue to get an MEng degree. In my final year of study a new module called "Synoptic Mechanical Engineering" was introduced in order to be a seminar-based course in which every session, an associated topic to the field would be discussed. The concept of this module engrossed me and therefore my enthusiasm for this course was intensified through the time as several stimulating issues were being introduced. Apart from my successful performance, it triggered many new ideas in my mind, and made real engineering challenges for me to contemplate. Since I have always been eager to experience new challenges, I worked on my final year project with the collaboration of Jaguar Land Rover Company (JLR). Through this project I applied Finite Element Analysis methods through software programs such as SolidWorks and Abaqus to predict the clamp load loss in tapered ball joints. Consequently, working on an industrial project familiarized me with both aspects of hypothetical and practical analysis. It is good to be mentioned that this project taught me how to link theory to practice in the most optimal approach. I am currently working more on this project, so that I could get improved results in order to publish a paper in near future.
Also while paying meticulous attention to my projects and courses; I tried not to disregard other aspects of life. I have played basketball since I was 11 years old, and I was admitted a license in this sport. Additionally, one of my interesting activities is hiking which is good to refresh mind and strengthen will power.
All in all, my ultimate goal is to continue my studies as a PhD student in the field of Mechanical Engineering in order to become a successful researcher and an academic scholar. In fact, I believe it is essential for an efficacious researcher to apply theoretical materials properly in designing and implementing practical systems. Despite the fact that attaining such achievements require huge amount of diligence and effort, it is obvious that supervision of qualified advisors and professional facilities have utmost importance. Considering these points and also the fact that your university enjoys reputable faculty members, I became interested in choosing the University of XXXX to be an ideal place for my PhD program. I am confident that I would be a prosperous PhD student in my field in case of acquiring the opportunity to continue my studies at this university.
Vala Namdarpournaghani
Maryam, you did not write a statement of purpose. What you wrote is a personal statement. I can understand why you might have confused the two, since both of these essays ask you to present the development of your interest in a particular field. You also should not present any deviation from your academic and professional information in your SOP. So the indication of your extra curricular activities definitely classify this current essay as a personal statement.
The Statement of purpose actually requires 4 specific sets of information that directly relate to your purpose for masters degree studies. What you provided here is not the complete, required information so let me give you some guidelines to help you revise the content of the essay in order to provide the best possible answer to the SOP prompt requirements.
First of all, a statement of purpose requires you to discuss your early interest in the field in an overview form. You don't need to back into the profession of your father, nor the earliest basis of your interest. What you should provide is a simple look at your college education, continuing into the types of related jobs, with details regarding your most recent training and interests in the field. These are the facts that create the basis of your interest in pursuing a masters degree. Normally, you should share your professional experience in the field, paying particular attention to any of the shortcomings that you have which awakened you to the fact that you need to have higher academic training in the field.
Then, you can transition into a paragraph that will allow you to discuss your personal reasons for believing that you need the additional education in this field. Consider your short term and long term career goals when developing this discussion in order to portray the logical professional hierarchy that you will be following. Make your career advancement plans in such a manner that it covers the first 5 years of your career, then your next 10 years.
Finally, you can move the discussion into the most important aspect of the statement of purpose. That is, why did you choose this particular university? How and why do you believe that this university can help you achieve those goals /purpose that you have set for yourself. Make sure that you call the reviewer's attention to the dissertation research that you plan on undertaking (if applicable) or the internships and various training programs that the university might be offering which can be of particular use to you in this field. That concluding paragraph should help you further strengthen the validity of your need or ambition for higher education.
Remember, the essay you wrote above will not be useless for your purpose of application. You can still use it as your personal statement when you need it. At the moment, what you should do is develop a proper statement of purpose so that you can provide the necessary SOP information to the reviewer along with your other application documents.
Maryam, I agree with Louisa, you did a personal statement and not an SOP.
An SOP is an essay highlighting your academic achievements and your future career and professional goals.
You are obviously having doubts on what to write in your essay, so I suggest you do the following guidelines.
- know the purpose of your essay
- it won't hurt to do a little research on your target audience for your essay
- know the informations and facts that should be included in your essay.
- conduct a healthy comparison of your essay or your ideas here on EF, a lot of students has written good SOP's already and they will definitely help you
get your essay done.
I'm not saying you have to completely do a new essay, just revised it and lead it towards stating your purpose, your goals and academic achievements should be the highlight of your essay. I wish to see your revised essay here on EF so we can assist you further.
