Growing up in a small part of India where the word "computer" was an element of enigma, has worked both as a blessing and as a misfortune. Growing up in an environment where there was very little knowledge about computers and computing did reinforce my curiosity, but also served to be a hindrance in my pursuit of knowledge in the field of computing. However this did not deter me in my journey with computer science. My relationship with computers started at a very early age when I was a second grade student. My school had a single computer and during computer classes, my classmates and I would cringe inside a particular classroom trying to get a glimpse or feel of what they called a "computer". A couple of years later, a friend of mine urged me to accompany him to an Internet café that had recently opened. And that was how I was introduced to the world of computers. On that fateful day, I set up my first email account, and, as insignificant as it may seem, I was awestruck by the experience. From that moment on, I have developed an untamable curiosity for computers, which has led me to continuously raise questions about computers.
Being at MVJ College of Engineering has given me the opportunity to come forth and evolve intellectually as well as develop my technical skills. Apart from academics, my college education has help me to develop a self-sufficient persona and grow as an individual. The cultural and social diversity in the college has given me the opportunity to mingle with peers who came from all walks of life.
I had an initial plan of studying fresh with my undergraduate studies abroad after my 1st year of college at MVJ college of engineering but unfortunately I had to drop my plans as my family had some financial constraints at the time and since I didn't give the semester exams with much preparations I had to go through a year gap. Unfortunately, during my third year of college, following my doctor's advice I had to undergo a surgery as soon as possible and it was performed during my semester exams because of which I couldn't give my potential best during the third year final exams and resulted in poor grades.
As part of my final year project completion, I have done internship at Servelots Infotech at Bangalore for a duration of 6 months. During the internship we developed an android application whose primary purpose was to facilitate localized WI-FI peer to peer content sharing based on the android platform. Working on the project gave me the opportunity to learn many aspects of android programming and networking. The experience also helped me to refine my ability to be an efficient team player and contribute to the overall completion of the project. In the course of this intern I came upon the field of human computer Interaction. After a lot of research and independent work on HCI, I realized that this is a possible field of computer science for me to specialize in. I have been fascinated by the fact that perceptive and human centered design could attribute to the overall usability of a product or service . A particular example that stuck with me was a video made by a bunch of students demonstrating how a natural user interface can serve as a salvation for disabled people by creating an interface between the brain signals and the instruments that they wanted to manipulate.
I want to continue my further exploration of HCI and how it impacts the user experience regarding a product or service. My particular interests are in HCI applications related to education and health because I feel these domains are very much consequential to the Human-Technical relationship.
Iowa State University's MS in HCI program will help my pursuit for gaining more knowledge in the area of HCI and become a user experience researcher. I am looking forward to working with the world renowned faculties of your university and share a great learning experience. I will be privileged, if given the opportunity to pursue my Master's degree in HCI, and I am confident of evolving as a great user experience researcher and bring pride to your prestigious university.
Ratankumar, your personal background created a statement that really displays the difficulties that you went through in life in order to achieve your college goals. I see how hard working you are and how you had to overcome obstacle to get to where you are today. If you were writing a common app prompt for a college application, this essay would probably have been one of the more informative and notable ones from the candidate students. However, as a statement of purpose, it does not really deliver.
Like I said, the essay you wrote needs to be improved upon through redirection. You must discuss the correct and relevant information in your SOP so that the reviewer can properly consider your qualifications as a candidate for MS studies. It would be in the best interest of your application if you write a new essay that refers the reviewer to the following required statement of purpose information:
1. The reason you wish to apply for higher studies;
2. Your professional background;
3. Notable professional accomplishments related to internships or seminars / training completed;
4. What you hope to accomplish after completing this course;
5. University programs that you feel can help you achieve your academic and professional goals.
The information that you have in the essay right now is more for a personal statement than an SOP. the guidelines I provided above should help you get on track towards writing a proper statement of purpose draft.
Thank you @vangiespen really appreciate your suggestions... I have reviewed my sop to a more program centric manner ... kindly have a look ...
For my final year project completion, I did an internship at Servelots Infotech at Bangalore for a duration of 6 months. During the internship we developed an android application whose primary purpose was to facilitate localized WI-FI peer to peer content sharing based on the android platform. Working on the project gave me the opportunity to learn many aspects of android programming and networking. The experience also helped me to refine my ability to be an efficient team player.
While working on the final year project, one of the questions that my team had in mind was how we could design an intuitive and user centric interface for our application that will make the application friendlier and easy for the users to use the application. After some research and independent work, I stumbled upon HCI. From my own study of the interdisciplinary field of HCI, I learned the importance of user centered design and how it impacts the overall usability, accessibility and satisfaction of the user. Particularly, I have found myself always looking for a field which is the marriage of aesthetic design and technology and I have found just that in the field of HCI. This revelation has motivated me on my decision to pursue my future career as a UX designer and researcher. My experience with design has helped me while being the Chief Designer of "Technobuzz", the official publication of the Department of Computer Science and engineering of my undergraduate college and I am confident that these experiences will give me an insight on how important an aesthetically designed product is from the user's perception and help me with my future endeavor of becoming a UX researcher and designer.
Nowadays, with so much emphasis on user-centered design, the significance of designing and enhancing the user experience seems necessary and I feel the need to continue my exploration in this field. Iowa State University's MS in HCI program will help my pursuit for gaining more knowledge in the field of HCI and become a user experience researcher and designer by providing me with the opportunity of working with the world renowned faculties and state of the art research labs working innovative projects, HomCam and Team Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Which are some of my particular interest. I offer you a passionate student that will take his education from ISU and augment his unique blend of creativity and technical skills to create memorable, enjoyable, and desirable experiences for users, ultimately as a User Designer and Researcher. I would love to work on a project that integrate education with aesthetically designed technology to create an unforgettable, experience for the learners. Iowa State University is committed to graduating its students with the hands-on professional skills that are necessary in successfully reaching their goals. I will be privileged, if given the opportunity to pursue my Master's degree in HCI, and I am confident of evolving as a great user experience researcher and bring pride to your prestigious university
Ratz, this is an improvement but you still have a long way to go before you actually get to the correct version of your statement of purpose. Let me list down some guide statements form your revision that can help you better direct your essay:
Your opening statement:
Nowadays, with so much emphasis on user-centered design, the significance of designing and enhancing the user experience seems necessary and I feel the need to continue my exploration in this field
Your purpose:
From my own study of the interdisciplinary field of HCI, I learned the importance of user centered design and how it impacts the overall usability, accessibility and satisfaction of the user. Particularly, I have found myself always looking for a field which is the marriage of aesthetic design and technology and I have found just that in the field of HCI. This revelation has motivated me on my decision to pursue my future career as a UX designer and researcher
- How do you see yourself becoming a professional in this field in the next 5 years? How about the next 10? Discuss it in this portion.
Your relevant experience:
For my final year project completion, I did an internship at Servelots Infotech at Bangalore for a duration of 6 months. During the internship we developed an android application whose primary purpose was to facilitate localized WI-FI peer to peer content sharing based on the android platform. Working on the project gave me the opportunity to learn many aspects of android programming and networking. The experience also helped me to refine my ability to be an efficient team player.
- Try to include any awards or accolades in this part. Relate your work and internship experiences to your expectations as a future professional in the field.
Now, what you have to do is build upon those statements in order to strengthen your statement of purpose. These are excellent foundations for your discussion but you need to also give an overview of your college major. No more than one paragraph somewhere between your purpose and your relevant experience. Then you can conclude the essay. Here's hoping for further improvement in the next draft :-)
Thank you again @vangiespen ... I have quite some changes to my sop according to your guidelines ... please have a look...
Nowadays, with so much emphasis on user-centered design, the significance of designing and enhancing the user experience seems necessary. From my own study of the interdisciplinary field of HCI, I learned the importance of user centered design and how it impacts the overall usability, accessibility and satisfaction of the user. Particularly, I have always found myself looking for a field which is the marriage of aesthetic design and technology and I have found just that in the field of HCI. This revelation has motivated me on my decision to pursue my future career as a UX designer and researcher. I want to further put my future endeavor in improving the ways we interact and learn with technology, so that people can learn faster and effectively with interfaces that are more natural and accessible, especially for people who are at a physical or geographical disadvantage.
For my final year project completion, I did an internship at Servelots Infotech at Bangalore for a duration of 6 months. During the internship we developed an android application whose primary purpose was to facilitate localized WI-FI peer to peer content sharing based on the android platform. Working on the project gave me the opportunity to learn many aspects of android programming and networking. The experience also helped me to refine my ability to be an efficient team player. While working on the final year project, one of the questions that my team had in mind was how we could design an intuitive and user centric interface for our application that will make the application friendlier and easy for the users to use the application. Our team tried went for a minimalistic approach for the interface and diverting most of the work to the backend. Also we paid extra attention to the design of the visual elements of the application so as to complement the overall visual appeal of the application. We also made an effort to see how the end user reacts to our application by handing it to a few colleagues and it gave us an insight on the different ways we can improve our application. Throughout the project we concentrated on the improving the functionality as well as presenting user-centric design for our application.
My experience with design has helped me while being the Chief Designer of "Technobuzz", the official publication of the Department of Computer Science and engineering of my undergraduate college and I am confident that these experiences will give me an insight on how important an aesthetically designed product is from the user's perception and help me with my future endeavor of becoming a UX researcher and designer.
Iowa State University's MS in HCI program will help my pursuit for gaining more knowledge in the area of HCI and become a user experience researcher by providing me with the opportunity of working with the world renowned faculties and state of the art research labs working on innovative projects, HomCam and Team Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Which are some of my particular interest and the User Experience lab being my key interest. I offer you a passionate student that will take his education from ISU and augment his unique blend of creativity and technical skills to create memorable, enjoyable, and desirable experiences for users, ultimately as a User Designer and Researcher. I would love to work on a project that integrates education with aesthetically designed technology to create an unforgettable, experience for the learners who are at a physical or geographic disadvantage. Iowa State University is committed to graduating its students with the hands-on professional skills that are necessary in successfully reaching their goals. I will be privileged, if given the opportunity to pursue my Master's degree in HCI, and I am confident of evolving as a great user experience researcher and bring pride to your prestigious university.
