Graduate /
Applying for a Master's degree in telecommunications and Network engineering at SMU. [3]
I am applying for a Master's degree in telecommunications and network engineering at Southern Methodist University (SMU), and i would like to check with you if my Statement of Purpose is good or not. please give me your recommendations...here it is:
Earning a Master of Science degree with a major in Telecommunications and Network Engineering from Southern Methodist University and through Fulbright scholarship is a step toward achieving my dream of becoming a significant contributor in the advancement and development of the telecommunications industry in my country.
After the political changes that took place in Libya, competent engineers have more opportunities to participate in the development of their country's infrastructure and services. An example of a development plan is the Evolved High Speed Packet Access (also known as HSPA+) project which was launched in the past few months to improve the network of one mobile network operator. Seeing these projects and changes in our country is an inspiration for us to go for better education, better jobs, and better achievements that reflect positively on our country's development.
After a very competitive selection process, I am now granted a Fulbright scholarship which I believe-combined with your master's program, will open the doors for me toward a brighter future. What made me apply to this program is its combination of the networking concepts and technologies such as the switching and routing protocols, VoIP, MPLS, and QoS management, with the basic and advanced topics in wireless telecommunications (where I would like to specialize). These areas are my main focus and where I would like to pursue my telecom career with.
To be well prepared for this program and any other master's program in telecommunications, I took a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) routing and switching training course, and started teaching some courses related to communications engineering as a part time job in the evening, where I can benefit from reviewing the basics of communications engineering while teaching them to young undergraduates, and at the same time, make some extra money in addition to my job as a sales engineer in a private ISP (Internet Service Provider) company.
In my last semester of study at the University of Tripoli, Ericsson (Libya branch) selected the top 5 students in the electrical and electronics engineering department to participate in a training program. I was among those top 5 students, and we attended this training for 4 months. During this program, I worked with the Italian team (Ericsson team in Libya branch) on the Mobile Switching Centers (MSC's) in Tripoli, and on the microwave links, such as the mini-link TN. We also studied modules such as GSM System Overview, Microwave Network Systems, WCDMA Overview, LTE Overview, and Mobile Backhauling. This training program had the most influencing factor of me realizing how significant the impact we can have on people's lives, and also made me more interested in the telecom industry after seeing it in practice and not only on books.
My plan after I get this Master's degree is to work for an international telecommunications company (e.g. Ericsson or Huawei) in the RAN (Radio Access Network) part or the microwave transmission part, and be involved in the next generation systems (e.g. LTE/4G) which are planned to be implemented in Libya for further network development. After significant years of experience I would like to move to work in the public sector in my country, where I can have more effect on the services being delivered to Libyan citizens and be with more value to myself and my country. The fact that many engineers who graduated from this program at SMU work for several international companies (Ericsson, Huawei, Samsung, etc.) makes me more motivated to go for my plan and have such goal. A success story that I always like to tell is the minister of telecommunications and informatics who held this position after the revolution that took place in Libya in 2011, he was an ex Ericsson employee who worked approximately for 10 years in Ericsson.
I graduated with a B.Sc. degree in telecommunications engineering among the top 5 students in my class with 83.5% GPA. Currently I have one contribution in the telecommunications field, which is a paper that my colleague and I published in the International Journal of Information and Electronics Engineering (IJIEE Vol.4 no.6). In the paper, we analyzed the effect of rain on Free Space Optics (FSO) based on data measured in the Libyan climate. We used Carbonneau's empirical model to estimate the maximum allowable FSO link length in 14 cities in Libya. Before this publication, it was accepted as a poster in the SPIE (Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers) conference in Dresden, Germany, but we could not attend the conference due to lack of financial aid from the university.
I would like to have more contributions in the wireless mobile/cellular telecommunications field, and I believe that this master's program will give me the technical foundation and the skills (e.g. software programs and design approaches) needed for me to participate in the development of wireless telecommunications in general, and on the personal level, provide me with a solid base toward achieving my plans and dream.
