Because I'm awful at English, the aim of this SOP is not necessary to be creative but to fulfill as precise as possible the requirements.
The requirements are:
Statement of purpose:The statement of purpose should not exceed 1000 words. You are required to describe your academic background and your career strategy. Please be precise about the objectives you wish to reach through your studies at X.
Any feedback, especially if it is negative, is welcomed !
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"Knowledge is the food of soul" Plato
I wish to pursue my graduate studies at your esteemed institution, as I believe that a Masters degree will help me take a step further towards my ultimate goal, which is to develop myself as a mature researcher in computer architecture.
My first contact with VHDL language and Y circuits was in the first year of my undergraduate studies during the Logic Design course. I was so absorbed by the new things I saw for the first time, that it was no problem to take the exam with the maximum grade.
In the following semesters I followed two courses during which I truly began to discover the secrets of the digital system design with Ys. The first one was the Computer Architecture course. For the semester project, I was required to build a pipelined MIPS microprocessor in VHDL. Even though I completed the requirements before the deadline, I spent extra time working on it in order to add some extra features. The second one was the Design with Microprocessors course . My semester project for this course was a Y based embedded text processor. Also here I worked for the first time with the ATMega64 AVR processor.
Among the other courses I followed, there were several more which captured my interest: Operating Systems Design, Structure of Computer Systems, Image Processing , Pattern Recognition Systems and Artificial Intelligence.
During my undergraduate studies I had the honor to come in contact with Prof Dr. Eng. Sergiu Nedevschi and his research team from Image Processing and Pattern Recognition Group (Computer Vision) who introduced me for the first time into a research environment and gave me the possibility to learn new things. Inevitable, this influenced my decision in choosing the subject for the bachelor thesis. (FPGA-based optical flow detection) At the moment, I look forward to finalize my thesis and write a scientific paper regarding the work done and the conclusions derived.
Because studying did not pose a problem (I am in the top 5-10 % of my year), i tried to broaden my knowledge and try new experiences by taking a job. This decision was benefic for me because it also gave me an insight into the industry.
One job is at a construction company, where I have worked on various applications such as applications for drawing schematics of different structures (pillars and shallow foundations) according to a mathematical model or applications for detecting some specific text and geometric figures in construction plans. I still work at this last application with great pleasure because I can experiment and apply different algorithms and concepts learned at Image Processing and Artificial Intelligence courses on real world problems.
The second job that I have is as an intern software engineer at the R&D branch from Romania of the National Instruments Company. What it began as a 3 months internship continued as a part time job. At moment, I work on the Real Time team on the LabVIEW Real Time 2011 module ( PharlapETS and VxWorks operating systems), but soon I will leave this team in order to join a newly created one: the FPGA team.
This year I will finish the forth and the last year of the Technical University and I consider that I need to take a step further to deepen my knowledge. While short listing universities, I found that Ecole Polytehnique is a perfect match for my interests and it can offer me what I want through the CS master. In addition, I intend to choose one of the seven available specializations, namely the Computer Engineering specialization. Projects such as "Implementation of Floating Point on FPGAs" or "Instruction-level power model for OpenRISC processor" from the Processor Architecture Laboratory hold my interest the most and I would considerate myself fortunate if I would have the opportunity to work on similar projects.
My plans for the future are to obtain a masters degree at EPFL, follow this up with a PhD and in the end I want to be able to do research in computer architecture. Another intention of mine is to apply also for your Research Scholars Msc Program.
I am certain that application to Ecole is the best possible way to accomplish my goals and I hope that you find my previous work experience and academic qualifications well-suited for a Master's degree in Computer Science.
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I wish to pursue my graduate studies at your esteemed institution, as I believe that a Masters degree will help me take a step further towards my ultimate goal, which is to develop myself as a mature researcher in computer architecture.
This uses a lot of words to express something very simple. You can use half the number of words and add a whole new dimension to the sentence. Know what I mean? Revise this important first sentence so that it expresses an interesting idea.
Hey, as I continue to read I see that this is very impressive. My only complaint is that the sentence above is sort of empty of meaning. You should use that intro to try to really make the reader understand your outlook on this field you are entering. Inspire the reader.
forth fourth and the last year ...
:-)
Greetings,
First, I really liked that you took the time to mention the research professor. Admission faculty love it when you honor former professors. There are some slight grammar errors to deal with; replace 'Inevitable' with "Inevitably", for example. There are some other things, like "benefic" that need to be fixed, but if English is your second language then it is indeed quite impressive that your grasp of the language is so complete!
The one recommendation I would make is that your essay could use a better "hook" to draw them in. It isn't a matter of fact that essays are better when they start with "I", but imagine that you are the person reading yours and 3000 other essays. Remember to choose a sentence that will interest the reader over the rest of your competition.
Take these steps and you should have a winner!
Cameron
The second job that I have is as an intern software engineer at the R&D branch from Romania of the National Instruments Company
I later joined the R&D wing of National Instruments at Romania as an intern software engineer.
This year I will finish the forth and the last year of the Technical University To make it more clear you can mention it as "Engineering at TU" and as Kevin has mentioned - it should be fourth.
My plans for the future are to obtain a masters degree at EPFL, follow this up with a PhD and in the end ultimately, I want to be able to do research in computer architecture
