This is my Statement of Purpose for PhD in electrical engineering, mainly applying for solid state devices. Any suggestions on improving my SoP would be greatly appreciated. May I also ask if I should describe my research experiences more in grad school? Those are a bit far from solid state devices, and I had elaborated on them in my resume. I had already been working for 2 years in the industry already. Thank you very much.
Yours sincerely
Rosemary
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In the research program forum of ______ Company, a talk on tunnel field-effect transistors hugely inspired me to find an alternative way to push the boundary of devices by harnessing nanomaterials. This big picture covers materials, devices and semiconductor physics that I am strongly interested in. Therefore, beyond my materials knowledge, I am motivated to strengthen expertise on devices and systems at The University of ______, as well as to gain unique perspectives in the collaboration among multiple groups ranging from fabrication to circuits.
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Rosemary, don't worry so much about the effect of your masters grades on your PhD application. The reason I can say this is because You are no longer in college, applying for transfer to a different major or acceptance into a college department. Most of the concentration in your SOP will be upon your professional experience, seminars attended, and on the job training that is relevant to your chosen PhD field of study. I read your SOP and found that you have the proper qualifications for an effective statement of purpose. You just need to present it in the proper manner in order for it to become more effective as a part of your application. Try to answer the following questions in your SOP, consider it a prompt guide for your reference.
1. What is your current profession, how long have you held the position?
2. What are your goals in setting your sights on completing a PhD degree? Do you have any possible project proposal or thesis proposal that would prove to be beneficial to your field of work in the future?
3. How will the university you are applying to be able to help you achieve your goals? Name the professors, areas of study, and other relevant information relating to your goals and the course curriculum you wish to take in reference to this.
4. Mention anything else related to your work experience such as your seminars attended and on the job training or perhaps future internships you look forward to attending as additional information in your statement.
These are the normally expected questions and answers in a statement of purpose so you should be able to provide a well developed and written statement essay. Just stick to answering the basic questions and present other information in the other application essays you are expected to write.
Thanks a lot for your help!
I found that some of the questions you mentioned are hidden in my SOP. May I ask should I elaborate more on it?
How do I make them more effective?
Also, for my project proposal, I make it as a "research vision" in the last two paragraphs. Is it not eye-catching enough?
Thanks again!
When you write a statement of purpose, you need to be direct to the point and always elaborate on the portions that you believe will best help enhance your application. While I saw that you spoke of certain questions in your essay, it was quite veiled and had to be looked for by the reader. These reviewers always appreciate papers that present the information they need to find in a straightforward manner because they only have minutes to spare in reading each essay that comes across their desk. Try to revise the paper by using the 4 questions I provided and with regards to your project proposal, present that halfway through the paper. That is always interesting for the reviewer to read. Specially if you can show how the university can be of assistance to you in completing that project. It will after all, bring prestige to their university should your project turn out to be an industry changing project.
Thank you! Will this be better and clearer?
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Motivations
As an R&D engineer, in the research forum of __ Company, a talk on tunnel field-effect transistors hugely inspired me. By harnessing nanomaterials, I can find an alternative way to push the boundary of devices and extend Moore's law. This big picture covers materials, devices and semiconductor physics that I am strongly interested in.
Career Goals[b][...]
Rosemary, don't break down your statement of purpose into sections with headings. That is not the proper format for a SOP presentation. Just write this essay the way you would normally write an application essay. You need to further develop your motivation for pursuing this degree. It is too simplistic and requires that you present more information about your interest in the field and how you can benefit from these higher studies. Do not close the essay with a plea to the university for admission. That is not part of a purpose essay and may have an adverse effect on your application. Like I said before, just write this as a normal application essay. Develop further reasons that will highlight the fact that only the professors and courses offered at this university will be able to fill your academic needs. It is too short and does not really speak much about how attending their university will help you with your advanced studies. Try to develop the essay as best as you can then let me know if you have a word count so that when we reach the final version, I can help you bring it down to the proper word count :-)
As an R&D engineer in the __Company, I am passionate for pushing the boundary of devices by harnessing nanomaterials. From my student to work life, I am strongly interested in this big picture covering materials, devices and semiconductor physics. Since my university studies, my research project in photovoltaic devices involving semiconductor quantum dots aroused my interests in these fields. It is working in the electronic industry that inspired me: the challenges are to overcome the limits of miniaturization. Materials science and physics are the drivers to new devices. Hence, I am determined to dedicate myself to the research in nanoelectronic materials and devices to rejuvenate the field.
My objective is to become a researcher in nanostructures for various applicable devices, especially with Ge/Si nanowires and two-dimensional crystals such as graphene. Since The University of __ has long been famous for the Microelectronics Research Center and the collaboration among multiple groups range from fabrication to modeling, I look forward to doing research here.
My enthusiasm is demonstrated by past activities focusing mainly on nanomaterials and semiconductor fabrication. One of them is leveraging the low overpotential of the active sites in enzymes to design highly catalytic elctrocatalysts by electrospun nanofibers. Another one is experimenting with carbon nanotubes, graphene, matal oxides and conducting polymers to enhance the performance of supercapacitors as an intern in __. By tuning graphene materials in the carbon nanotube composites, outstanding charge transport properties can be achieved. Moreover, I constructed a reasonable mechanism about the phenomenon appeared in the experiments based on many relevant studies. That aroused my interests in investigating and applying the magic of the materials to boost electronic devices.
A crucial part of my decision-making process is the internship in __, which served as a master thesis and affected 25% of my overall graduate grade point average. Turned to working in __ and participated in the research forum of the company, inspired me to pursue my research interests in academia.
It was researching in semiconductor fabrication for __ that illuminated my future prospects for electronic devices. In the research forum of the company, talks on the physics of extreme-bandgap semiconductors and two-dimensional crystals that drive new devices such as low power electronics hugely stimulated me. Aside from that, I clarified that my strengths are utilizing fundamental sciences to drive technology breakthroughs. My university studies in Electronics, Light-Matter Interaction and Quantum Physics made me sharp in identifying key issues arose from physical mechanisms. Also, additional fundamental knowledge in plasma physics and tool hardware design facilitated plasma etch development, as all these design concepts and parameters interact with each other and contributed to fabrication results. Thus, I look forward to specializing my knowledge further and further.
My responsibilities as an R&D engineer include researching in __ using __ technology. The purpose is to overcome lithography challenges through new patterning method. I co-worked with colleagues and achieved to provide larger process window. New structures are achieved and a patent is under application for this work. I learned to develop film scheme, process flows and dry etch process recipes, and various tools such as optical emission spectroscopy, critical-dimension scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope analysis. I also utilized design of experiment (DOE) to analyze results statistically using JMP and MS Excel, and optimize the parameters for improving selectivity in gate etch process.
In the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, my research interests coincide with those of Professor __, Professor __and Professor __. My research vision is to develop Ge/Si core/shell nanowire field effect transistors. Moreover, to work on fundamentals in semiconductor nanowires, bandgap engineering, structures and carrier transport behaviors. I expect to apply those to the technology-driven industry and bring convenience to daily life.
My research enthusiasm for electronic materials and devices has prepared me to take it as my life-long career, and I can make a great contribution in the field if with the aid of The University of __.
This is a very good version Rosemary. It contains all of the necessary points that highlight your proficiency in the profession. However, it contains one small flaw. Towards the end of the essay you mention hoping to achieve these plans through the help of the university. Yet you do not make any mention of how the university can help you attain these objectives? Does the university offer an internship program or training module that you know will be able to help hone your skills? Discuss it. Are there any professors you look forward to working? Mention them by name and why you hope to work with them. Do you have a project idea in the future? How can the laboratory and research materials / sources of the university help you further that investigation? These are essential parts that drive your career towards the future, highlighting the ability of the university to help make these visions a reality.
Thank you for your points!
May I ask do you think that the first paragraph stating my motivation to the field a bit redundant?
Not at all Rosemary. The first paragraph, in my opinion, works well for its purpose. You could even develop it further if you wish to. I would suggest that you add the following paragraph to your motivation though:
It was researching in semiconductor fabrication for __ that illuminated my future prospects [...]
Don't you think that this would make an excellent addition to your motivation and also give it more weight? The essay is really good at this point. The slight modification I am suggesting could make it even better. I hope that you consider it should you decide to revise the essay one more time :-)
Thank you very much! You are right, when this part moves to the second paragraph, there is an astonish effect to the whole article. I will use this one as my final version. Thanks again!