I always seek new challenges!; Research Assistant (MS) Petroleum Engineer- SOP

Im subjected to "write one page essay focusing on your career and research goals." for my MS in Saudi University.
English is not my native language so I know my SOP is rife with grammatical mistakes, devoid of appropriate vocabs and many sentences will require re-phrasing. this draft should be of one page so I need to cut down trivial and redundant statements and tailor my SOP with more concrete and touching sentences. I will be very obliged if you find time to make it more attractive, put suitable words and re-phrase sentences, making my chances higher over others.

Statement Of Purpose (SOP)

Being an enthusiastic adventurous, I would like to say that throughout my life curiosity and finding new things have been the main traits of my personality. I found myself well suited to engineering because it is the perfect field for independent thinkers, always trying something innovative, creative and foremost, logical. The same answer can with many different methods, but the only thing that matters is correct logic and then the most optimum solution. I always seek new challenges, new questions and new answers and I do believe that it has been this lust for innovation which has led me toward educational success Throughout my school career, I consistently maintained excellent academic records and after enrolling into the most reputable institute XYZ University of Engineering & Technology, my academic preparation was to gain knowledge and subject in depth rather than just getting marks though I was able to put up good marks on board and maintaining the top positions among my peers with aggregate percentage of 87.07%.

In my undergraduate years, I've acquired a strong and comprehensive background in the fundamentals of the basic Petroleum Engineering subjects with working experience of petroleum related softwares such as IPM (PROSPER, GAP, MBAL) and ECLIPSE. Well Testing Interpretation, Reservoir Engineering, Production Engineering and Simulation are the subjects which captivated my interest right from the beginning, when I studied them by the most inspiring teachers I ever had, always giving exposure of their master's degree and field work, motivating me to study them in greater depth.

During my last year of undergraduate I came across a project given by Pakistan's largest E&P Company as "Rotary Steerable System (RSS) as a Solution to Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) Problems". Being enthusiastic in learning about latest technology, I opted for it. The project deals with planning ERD wells, problems encounter during ERD and troubleshooting, study of how the employment of RSS will ease ERD and comparison of new and old technologies in successful drilling of the target zone. I probe deeper into our project by reading many SPE technical papers and working on actual field data. The project also includes the working experience of using Landmark's COMPASS drilling software.

Moreover, internship at XYZ Gas Field in 2011 with involvement in water monitoring well testing for more than 20 producing well to know WGR (Water Gas Ratio) and deliverability well head, had really left an indelible impression of being so meticulous and wary about collecting data and experience of test procedures and equipment involved. It sounds really fascinating that well testing involves dealing with formations many thousands of feet underground through a piece of pipe that may be only a few inches in diameter. The only way to tell what is happening deep underground is through various measurements of pressure, temperature, flow rates, etc. This impression really stimulated my love for this subject.

The focus on unconventional sources such as tight gas has increased worldwide with the widening gap in demand and supply of natural gas and a declining trend towards production of conventional fossil fuels. The good news is that Pakistan has entered the 'Tight Gas' club, with reserves estimate in the range of 24 trillion cubic feet (TCF) to 40 TCF in various basins. Extracting tight gas requires the use of proven, state-of-the-art technologies for seismic acquisition and processing, drilling, reservoir stimulation, well testing and development plans entailing massive investments with longer recovery cycle. An enormous number of challenges in the development of unconventional resources have instigated my interest in the pursuit of graduate studies.

One of the other reasons to pursue graduate studies is non-availability of quality professionals in Pakistan particularly in field development, because of this the explored reserves are not being produced optimally and some are still untapped. If I want to grab a piece of this upcoming opportunity, I will have to accept the challenge today.

I intend to master the Petroleum engineering area in the rich and flexible environment of a top university in ABC University. After completing my master's degree, I would like to go into an extensive research in ways to optimize the production from tight gas, enabling me to achieve my goal by exploiting my country's own reserves. I will feel honor and pleased to serve my country after graduating from ABC, and will play a vibrant part in the energy sector. I envision a career in this field as a culmination of my varied interest and I would appreciate the opportunity to pursue this at ABC.

Being part of ABC, the institute with most diversified students, would help me to become a successful researcher as I believe the department has a positive blend of resources and attitude for shaping a student to an excellent researcher. I am confident that I would surely synchronize to your standards. I believe to have a mutually beneficial association with your university to contribute my best towards making a successful research endeavor.

I HAVE always sought new challenges or I always seek

Throughout my school career, I HAVE consistently maintained excellent academic records.

There are a few more grammatical errors.

This is your opening sentence and therefore it needs to be presented with a punch. This is not organized properly and sounds a bit crowded.


... I feel you should improve its presentation, it needs to flow more logically. Also you should not tell them the things they already know.... This is what I suggest for these two lines.

I am pretty adventurous in nature and my curiosity never ends. This is the reason why I'm so attracted to the discipline of Engineering.


.... I think this sentence sounds bit repetitive.... It may read better without this line

Dear Dumi,.
Thanks for valuable suggestion. I still believe my SOP is devoid of the opening punch that every SOP must have. I have tried to show my personality, my enthusiasm for engineering. I will be very grateful if you can kindly make it more punching and more attractive by modifying it. I am also trying on my end. Also point out grammatical mistakes in the proceeding para and other technical flaws of my draft. Thanks again.

.... Let's give a try!


I am pretty adventurous and my curiosity never ends. These personality traits naturally advented my love for engineering, a discipline that requires a person to be more analytic, logical, creative and innovative.

Also rather than talking about your academic achievements in the very first para, I guess you talk about some experience to conform that you have a great passion for engineering. That line should be followed after the one above :)

Is it okay now? my first para!!
"From a very young age, I enjoyed solving mathematical problems and showed a great talent for that. That was the advent of my strong passion in maths, physics and eventually in Petroleum engineering. I am pretty adventurous in nature and my curiosity never ends. I always seek new challenges, new questions and new answers and I have a strong penchant for learning and creativity. I do believe that it has been this lust for innovation which has led me toward educational success. Throughout my school career, I consistently maintained excellent academic records and after enrolling into the most reputable institute XYZ University of Engineering & Technology, my academic preparation was to gain knowledge and subject in depth rather than just getting marks. It is the thirst for knowledge that always motivated me and helped me maintain the top positions among my peers with aggregate percentage of 87%."