Sample SOP for MS in Computer Science in the US - Mid-Career

Personal Statement

Growing up, I loved studying Math and Science. Math class never got boring as I would love to compete with classmates to be the first person to solve problems. My fondness for solving math problems attracted me to Computer Science. In high school, I chose CS as an elective. The teacher was so amazing and charismatic that it sparked my interest in the field. He was able to explain complex computer science concepts specifically with regards to OOP and C++ with ease. In the computer class, I enjoyed the process of 'describing' the solution to a computer in the form of code. This experience drove me to explore more of computer science and hence I decided to pursue a bachelor's in computers.

I graduated high school with 89% and pursued a Bachelor's degree in Information Science from [UNIVERSITY_NAME]. There I explored core subjects such as Operating Systems, Computer Organization, and Database Management Systems. I especially enjoyed learning the concepts theoretically and then applying them in the laboratory. While in college, I took part in various coding competitions organized by college fests across the city. It enabled me to hone my problem-solving skills as well as meet new people. I also published a survey on brainwave analytics in the [JOURNAL_NAME] in 2017. This paper surveyed various aspects related to brainwaves such as the types of brainwaves, how to measure them, and the various applications of information gathered from them. While in college I worked on 'RoboEscape' which is a video game created in the Unity game engine. We displayed it at a booth in the annual department fest [EVENT_NAME]. For my final year project, I worked with [COMPANY_NAME] on bringing their calibration services online. I gathered the requirements and worked on the front-end code for developing the menus required for calibrating the various types of instruments. I also did an internship at [COMPANY_NAME] where I wrote code for their Arduino components and tested them.

After completing my undergraduate degree, I joined [COMPANY_NAME] as a Software Engineer. Here I honed my coding skills further with the help of experienced senior programmers who taught me to write quality code and the ins and outs of coding in Visual Studio C++. Along with this technical training, I learned a lot about the domain as well i.e how Inventory management, accounting, and compliance are done in SMEs. I also learned how user requirements influenced the design choices of [COMPANY_NAME].

For the past two years, I have been working in [COMPANY_NAME] in the UI Engine team. I developed a feature that improves the functionality of buttons in [COMPANY_NAME] i.e the Button Framework. This was an important project as it would be highly visible and was reasonably complex. To develop this framework, I worked with Windows APIs such as Messageloop and Graphical Device Interface (GDI). I am proud to say that my contributions were included in [PRODUCT_NAME] release 1.0 and are currently being used by hundreds of thousands of customers in India and abroad. Our team was recognized for its diligent and exceptional work on product delivery and awarded the Impact Group award. Currently, I am working on enhancements and other improvements in the UI Engine layer. Working at [COMPANY_NAME] has taught me how to break down tasks, manage my time efficiently, and code analysis.

During this time I also gained web development skills and used them in projects such as [PROJECT_NAME] which is a dynamic and responsive website that beautifully displays trip information for different cities and [PROJECT_NAME] which displays the latest news for select topics in a clean format. It fetches news content from [COMPANY_NAME]'s RSS feed using REST API and deployed using netlify. I also picked up the MERN stack and applied it to projects such as [PROJECT_NAME] which is a scalable and distributed eCommerce application the front end of which was built using React and the backend using Express NodeJS with MongoDB database and REST APIs.

Having done my bachelor's degree and worked at [COMPANY_NAME] for 3 years I gained a lot of skills to develop quality world-class products. With this master's degree, I can level up and gain deeper knowledge in computer science and apply my skills there. I would love to work with people like [PROFESSOR_NAME] and [PROFESSOR_NAME]; their research works, especially on "What science can do for Democracy" and "Large-Scale Data Challenges in Future Power Grids" respectively, drives my interest to learn from them. Clubs such as [CLUB_NAME], [CLUB_NAME], and [CLUB_NAME] will help me apply my skills and knowledge to develop real-world solutions as well as meet and exchange ideas with students from all over the world.

[UNIVERSITY_NAME] is my top choice for an MS in Computer Science. I look forward to a favorable review of my application and being on campus at [UNIVERSITY_NAME] in the spring of 2022.