Hi, it's great to find this place. I am applying data science graduate program for a few US universities. My background is Math/Statistics and relevant working experience. I aspire to enter the data science field in Bay area, because it's closely related to my background and interest. I will feel more confident if I acquire additional needed skills and network opportunities from a University. This is my SOP , please point out any grammar errors or provide any comments. I'll appreciate it!
statement of purpose for the data science graduate program
In a typical day, when I see Amazon recommending products, Facebook pushing customized advertisement for me, Google self-driving car operating on the street, the popular TV show Netflix produced, I am amazed by what today's large volume of data and cutting edge technology could achieve, helping individual or organization to make wise decisions, and improving and optimizing existing process in an unprecedented way.
In fact, apart from the applications mentioned above, data-driven analysis has been also widely used in Marketing, Sales, Human Resources, Travel, Delivery Logistics, Risk Management, Healthcare, Government policy and every possible industry where data gets generated. As one might imagine, the use of data science will become more ubiquitous. I feel excited about the wide application of data science nowadays, especially in tracking infectious disease, curing cancer and personalizing education which are meaningful for the whole society. With my strength and interest ,I want to contribute to that age of evolution. Thus, a Master Degree of Data science is a logic culmination of my passion for solving such problems through data analytics.
I am sensitive to numbers and curious about mathematical logic behind a phenomenon since childhood. Thus I chose my undergraduate major in Applied Mathematics. In 2006 and 2007, I received 3rd Prize Academic Scholarship for excellent academic performance and contribution to school. I took a number of theoretical mathematical courses while I am always interested in their practical application. In my graduation design, I chose the topic of application of SVM in clustering images. From this experience, my understanding of how to leverage data and mathematical technique to solve realistic problems grows. As probability and mathematical statistics are my strength and the idea of drawing conclusions and making decisions in the face of uncertainty fascinated me. That motivated me to continue to pursue a Master Degree in Statistics at XXX University.
From my graduate study in Statistics at XXX, I learned statistical theory and their applications in depth, which are fundamental for my later work. Over the course of graduate study, I tutored undergraduate students with applied linear model and SAS programming. During the second year of my Master degree, I received an internship opportunity at XXX(XXX) in XXX.Throughout my stay at XXX, I learned various aspect of data analysis project and gained abundant hands-on experience, including acquiring information from household survey data using SQL , formatting data and making graphs in Excel using VBA, and extracting education indicators using STATA. I played a major role in the team to perform end-to-end quantitative analysis and present result to senior researcher.
After graduating from XXX, I joined a social science research company XXX as a SAS programmer and statistical analyst. In 2013, I received "Excellent employee of the year" award from the company. While working at XXX, I applied my statistical analysis knowledge and programming skills to a wide variety of data-oriented projects. One aspect of my work is as SAS programmer to execute data processing plans for creating administrative data collections for Common Core of Data and contribute to Report and Dissemination team by providing descriptive statistics for answering client's research question or for reporting purpose, from which I accumulated solid data manipulation skills, and I also gained a good sense of how to work with data correctly. For example, which weight and replicate weights should be applied when running student-centric analysis to generate unbiased estimate; which variable to be used when deciding students race/ethnicity, student reported or school reported one; which group of observations should be selected for analysis. Such seemingly trivial choices, if done incorrectly, will eventually lead to bias estimates.
Another aspect of my work involves conducting statistical analysis for various research studies. For example, one project is predicting reading passages difficulty for grade 4 and 8 students with passage characteristics factors using linear regression model and factor analysis in order to enhance the assessment staff's understanding of what kind of passage is suitable for the targeted assessed students. Another example is implementing bootstrap method to determine Mathematics and History assessment framework content coverage variability in order to provide a quantifiable method for education researcher to evaluate in what extend the educational objectives are covered in assessment. Among many of the projects I contributed to, some are published on American Education Research Annual Meeting and Department of Education website, providing valuable insights for education policy makers and researchers.Throughout my work at XXX, I find a great sense of fulfillment in answering questions through data analytics. In the meantime, I gradually realized the core concept of data analytics skills and mindset can be generalized to wider settings as I mentioned earlier.
With the advent of big data, more enterprises are incorporating data analytics when building strategic applications and making decisions. I want to enter the data science-field in the recognition of the fact that repositioning my career in this direction is essential for me to remain relevant, effective and employable. However, after doing some initial research on data scientist responsibilities in industry, I realized that I need to acquire additional data science skills, such as machine learning, computer coding skills and business communication skills. That aims me to invest myself of future learning in Degree of Analytics to bridge the gap between me and data scientist.
While my short term career goal is to be a data scientist after obtaining the degree, my long term career goal is to build my own enterprise focusing on providing data analytics consulting services in the future. With this goal in mind I decided to study in an institute that helps me further my goals. I am looking for a school that provides professional skills, hands-on experience and networking opportunities needed to be successful in a business setting.
University of XXX Analytics program provides a unique interdisciplinary structured curriculum in the field of data science, covering mathematical and computational technical skills and business communication and management science knowledges. In addition, the program provides a distinctive practicum opportunities to students. Due to its superior location, the birthplace for the world-class leading companies like Google, Uber, Facebook, Dropbox and many more, students will have a chance to work on projects for these companies. Last but not least, because the faculty in the program represent multidisciplinary nature of data science who have background in Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, Finance, Business, and some are data scientist actively working in the data science field. I believe they will bring their academic professions and industrial experience through instruction which is exactly what I desired. Overall, the program will provide foundations that are essential for me to enter the industry in short term and also provide networking opportunities that is beneficial in long term. Thus, University of XXX is my choice for the graduate studies. I am very optimistic about the future of my career, by being there.
At University of XXX, I hope to get an opportunity to meet the expert from academic and top management of some high-tech companies and gain hands-on experience in running ground-breaking data analytics projects. I would also believe that I will make excellent contribution to the atmosphere at XXX and subsequently be a successful data scientist with my passion and aspiration.Holt Educational Consultant - / 14,801 
4780 Fei, you need to better focus the content of your SOP in order to create a more chronological discussion for the reviewer. If you can map out your purpose in a logical order, the reviewer will tend to better connect your information and quite possibly, allow him to remember more important and highlight points of your statement.
Make sure that you state the purpose of your desire for higher study immediately. In your current version, this does not come in until almost the end of your essay. That is never the place where the the purpose should be positioned. That is always mentioned as early as possible within the essay. The first paragraph will be the best place to explain this.
In paragraph 2 you must explain what your current work position is and how it relates to your plans for your career future. This is the point where you should explain how you see big data becoming an integral part of future business and other fields. Segue this statement into a transition for your college background in the third paragraph.
The third paragraph should summarize your college education and any accolades or awards that you received during this time. All the information, including the awards should relate to your current career. If possible, transition into any additional training that you have received, including your most recent. Remember, explain how these are all relevant to your interest in big data and why it will help you become a better MS student in the field of Data Science.
Your fourth paragraph should give an overview of your immediate short term plans. Covering 5 years. Don't go too far into the long term because that will require even more additional study on your part which may no longer be included in the coverage of your MS course.
Finally, make sure to drive home the point as to why you have chosen this particular university and why no other university can help you achieve your course objectives. It may help if you have a clear path towards a potential research question regarding big data that you can pursue as a student at the university. If you can exemplify how you will utilize the university facilities or work with their professors to help you develop the response to your question, the university might consider your application more seriously than they would have without it. This advice only applies if you are enrolling in a thesis based masters degree. It is not required for non-thesis programs.
